How healthy are you really? One way to find out is to have a hair follicle analysis.

For almost 80 years hair analysis has commonly examined a person’s hair samples for chemicals such as arsenic poisoning or illegal drugs, or provided DNA for paternity and criminal cases. As a scalp hair lives for five to six years, its self-contained follicle, like a root or plant bulb, keeps a longer record of what passes through the body than blood or urine sampling.

Modern methods are sensitive enough to find traces of minerals/metals/drugs that are a thousandth of a gram (microgram), or a nanogram (one billionth of a gram) or even a picogram (one thousandth of a nanogram) per gram of hair. It makes sense that hair follicle analysis is also now being used to assess the influences our environment is having on us.

It offers people of all ages a detailed personal wellness profile, so they can see what to target – what to avoid, or which minerals, vitamins and other nutrients they need more of. It could simply be to boost their immune system to beat winter lurgies, or to kick-start their journey towards a more optimised state. They can then correct any imbalance with food or supplementation.

Four hairs are plucked from the back of the head for examination, and the follicle is unaffected by hair colouring or how short the hair is. Analysis takes 15 minutes and provides a comprehensive personalised booklet of a person’s environmental influence in relation to 16 minerals and 16 vitamins, 23 amino acids, omegas (3, 6 and 9), 13 antioxidants and exposure to food additives, viruses, mould and spores, fungi and bacteria, parasites, toxic metals, radiation, chemicals, EMF and ELF, and food sensitivities. Each of these is presented in an easy to understand pie chart.

The actual analysis is done in Germany from an assessment centre that uses CE-approved bio-resonance technologies, manufactured to EN ISO13485 standards, and which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from secure servers. It is overseen and supported by a team of doctors, bio-information specialists and computer engineers. People can then examine their results with their health professional, and discuss ways to address imbalances.

Hair analysis is available by booking at the following stores: