01 · The ratios
The ratios that reveal your stress
It's not single levels that matter most — it's ratios like sodium to potassium, the marker of whether your adrenals are driving hard or running flat.
+ Functional Testing
Hair · At-home
HTMA — the mineral story your blood test can't see
Blood keeps its mineral levels tightly controlled, even while your tissues run low — so a “normal” blood result can sit on top of a real deficiency. Hair tissue mineral analysis reads what's actually been deposited in your cells over months, giving a slower, truer picture of your mineral balance and heavy-metal load.
At How It Heals we run HTMA through Interclinical Laboratories — an accredited Australian lab — from a small hair sample you collect at home. It's one half of our most-used pairing for women's health, alongside a hormone map.
+ What the test sees
Minerals read where they're stored
Blood keeps its mineral levels tightly buffered, so it hides a lot. Hair shows what's actually been deposited in your tissues over months — and the ratios that reveal your stress physiology.
02 · Nutrients & metals
Minerals in, metals out
The nutrient minerals you rely on, measured next to the toxic metals — mercury, lead, aluminium — quietly dragging on thyroid, brain and energy.
03 · Metabolic type
Fast or slow — your type
Your oxidation rate changes what diet and support actually suit you. The same food that steadies one woman winds another one up.
04 · The timeline
A three-month record
Hair grows out your mineral status over months, so a retest literally shows the change growing in — not a single fleeting snapshot.
+ What it measures
Minerals, metals and the ratios that matter
Individual levels tell you a little. The ratios between them tell you how your metabolism, stress response and blood sugar are really running.
Nutrient minerals
Magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium, zinc — the minerals behind energy, muscle, sleep and mood, measured where they're stored.
Heavy & toxic metals
Mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium and aluminium — the quiet load that drags on thyroid, brain and energy.
Sodium / potassium ratio
Your adrenal and stress marker — whether you're in early over-drive or later exhaustion.
Calcium / magnesium ratio
The blood-sugar and “wired vs calm” ratio — cravings, tension, sleep.
Zinc / copper ratio
Copper excess and zinc deficiency — tied to anxiety, hormones, skin and post-pill patterns.
Metabolic type & oxidation rate
Whether you're a fast or slow oxidiser — which changes what diet and support actually suit you.
+ When it's worth running
Who HTMA tends to help
HTMA is quietly one of the most useful tests we run when energy and stress physiology are involved.
- Fatigue that rest doesn't fix
- Hair thinning, shedding or slow to grow
- Anxiety, tension or poor stress tolerance
- Thyroid symptoms with “normal” thyroid bloods
- Salt or sugar cravings
- Trouble sleeping despite being exhausted
- Post-pill or postnatal depletion
- Suspected heavy-metal exposure
+ How the test works
A small snip of hair, that's it
No blood, no urine, no clinic. HTMA needs about a tablespoon of hair from the back of the head.
-
Kit to your door
After your consult we order the analysis and post you a simple collection kit anywhere in Australia.
-
Collect at home
A small sample cut from close to the scalp at the back of the head — easy to do yourself or with a hand.
-
Post & interpret
Pre-paid return to the lab. We read the mineral pattern with you and translate it into what to eat and supplement.
Hair Sample
At home Collection
~2–3 wks Turnaround
Months of status Reflects
+ How we read it
Minerals move together — so we read them together
The classic HTMA mistake is topping up whatever looks low. Push one mineral and you shift three others.
Minerals work as a system. Zinc and copper counterbalance. Calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium move as a set. Read them in isolation and you can make the picture worse; read the ratios and the pattern and they tell a coherent story about your stress physiology and metabolism.
At How It Heals your HTMA is interpreted against your symptoms and, very often, your hormone and blood results — because low tissue magnesium, a stressed sodium/potassium ratio and a flat cortisol curve are usually the same story told three ways.
You get a targeted mineral and diet plan sequenced to rebalance the whole pattern, and a clear point to retest so we can see it move — hair grows out the change over the following months.
+ Common questions
Hair tissue mineral analysis, answered
The questions we get asked most, answered straight.
What can an HTMA test actually tell me?
It shows your tissue mineral levels, your heavy-metal burden, and the key mineral ratios that reflect adrenal function, thyroid, blood-sugar handling and metabolic type — information blood can't give you because blood is buffered to stay stable while tissues deplete.
Is HTMA accurate / evidence-based?
Used as a standalone diagnosis, HTMA has real limits — and anyone who tells you otherwise is overselling it. Used as a functional pattern read alongside symptoms, bloods and hormones, it's a genuinely useful signal for mineral status and metabolic type. That's exactly how we use it: one input in a bigger picture, never the whole answer. We run it through an accredited Australian lab (Interclinical) with tight quality control.
Do I need a referral, and can I do it outside Brisbane?
No referral needed — we order it for you — and it's fully post-based, so you can do it from anywhere in Australia with a telehealth consult.
Will colouring or treating my hair affect the result?
It can. Heavy chemical treatment, some colours and certain shampoos can influence mineral readings, so we'll give you simple guidance on timing and which sample to take. For the deeper picture, HTMA pairs naturally with a hormone map.
+ Keep reading
From the library
The thinking behind this test, in plain language.
+ A test on its own changes nothing
Minerals are foundational — which is exactly why they get skipped.
An HTMA only helps if it changes your plate and your protocol. Your results feed into a staged mineral-rebalancing plan — food first, then targeted support — and a retest to prove it's working. Foundations, done properly, before anything fancy.