What is HTMA?
Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis
Basic nutrition is so overlooked but it is so essential for overall health and wellness. Many other practitioners put a heavy focus on harsh detoxing or they want to set you up with dozens of supplements. We know there is a better way that is safer, less expensive, and more effective. When you give the body exactly what it needs it knows how to heal.
Minerals are considered to be the spark plugs of life so if your minerals are low or imbalanced then your entire body can struggle. We need minerals for hormonal balancing, mental health, digestion, energy, hair health, and everything else that you can think of!
What is Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis?
Hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) tests for crucial minerals like magnesium, potassium, sodium, calcium, zinc and copper. It also tests for toxic metals like mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and aluminum- all of which can create massive health issues. HTMA’s main focus is on the ratios of the main minerals. The ratios show us trends in metabolism, thyroid health, adrenal health, hormonal balance, blood sugar balance, and cardiovascular health.
A properly read HTMA can help you to determine your gut function, liver health, if you’re using up nutrients due to stress (like infections, mold, etc), and more! If you are not sure where to start your healing journey, HTMA is your answer. It’s the best test to determine overall strength of the body, and can set up your foundation before you move on to work on underlying infections, mold illness, or heavy metal detox.
We believe in helping the body to gain strength FIRST before jumping into heavy detoxing. This way you can reduce the severity of detox reactions, prevent the wasting of minerals, and know exactly what needs the most work at this point in time.
We now also include an herbal constitution assessment with our HTMA testing to help match the best herbs to your specific needs.
What Can HTMA help me with?
- Fixing Mineral Imbalances and Deficiencies
- Increase Nutrient Absorption
- Supporting Overall Detox of Heavy Metals and other Toxins
- Overall Health and Wellness
- Supporting Adrenal Health
- Strengthening Your Immune System
- Supporting Women’s Health During Preconception, Pregnancy, or Postpartum
What Does Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis Test For?
Minerals
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Sodium
- Potassium
- Copper
- zinc
- phosphorus
- iron
- manganese
- chromium
- cobalt
- selenium
- sulfur
- molybdenum
- and 14 trace minerals including lithium and germanium
Heavy Metals
- Uranium
- Mercury
- Arsenic
- Aluminum
- Lead
- Cadmium
- Beryllium
Mineral Ratios
- Metabolic Rate/ Nervous system health: Calcium/Phosphorus
- Vitality, Adrenals, and Life/Death Ratio: Sodium/Potassium
- Thyroid : Calcium/Potassium
- Hormone (Estrogen/testosterone/progesterone): Zinc/Copper
- Adrenals: Sodium/Magnesium
- Blood Sugar/Cardiovascular Health: Calcium/Magnesium
We Help You Build Healthy Habits & Realistic Routines
Our main goal is to help you to realize that you already know how to heal yourself. Our bodies are incredible and when we give it the tools that we need to heal (minerals, healthy foods, herbal remedies, etc) it knows exactly what to do! We want to help you to realize the importance and power that a real, whole foods based diet has for your health and wellness. Health is not about cutting calories or struggling to find that one magic pill. It’s about embracing a healthy lifestyle to reduce illness, reduce stress, and increase your vitality for life!
What you get with our HTMA Package
- Either an email consult (20-page report) or a 1 hour phone call to go over results.
- The HTMA Report from Trace Elements Lab
- Our recommendations based on your current symptoms and HTMA pattern
- Our analysis of the HTMA report
- Basic email support for 2 months after your consult (1 email per week to answer questions about your plan)
- Recommendations for gut healing, detox support, adrenal health, nervous system support, nutritional needs, and more.
- Herb recommendations based on your herbal constitution (if applicable)
- You’ll be matched with the practitioner that will suit your needs best.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn How it Works!
Choosing a Practitioner/Consult Option
Our current HTMA Practitioners are Kristin, Breezy, and Celeste. If you have a preference for practitioner or you are retesting, please put their name in the Order Notes section on the checkout page. If you do not have a preference for practitioner, you’ll be assigned to the practitioner with the best availability.
We have 2 options for our HTMA programs: email or phone consults. Kristin only offers email consults. Breezy and Celeste offer phone or email.
Please note that we do our best to help our clients in as timely a manner as possible and we will follow practitioner requests as best we can. If you have a preference for a practitioner or consult type, be sure to put your request in the order Notes at Checkout.
What is the difference between a phone consult and email consult?
Since early 2020, Kristin has been doing only email consults for clients, and this has actually turned out to be a real hit with many clients. The email consults have literally everything written out- the analysis, the recommendations, and then a much more in-depth report on what is going on with your HTMA and why we recommend the specific items on our list.
This method has been so much easier to keep as a reference vs phone calls because you don’t have to remember everything that was said to you over a phone call: you can just check your report and read it over as many times as you need to! Email consults are available with all Sassy Holistics practitioners, so if you are ordering with Breezy or Celeste you can request an email consult as well.
What if i dye my hair?
4-6 weeks of new growth is preferred for the HTMA test. The sample is that is needed is as close to the scalp as possible. If your hair dye has bleach or peroxide, you will have to either wait for new growth (or leave a hidden section un-dyed) or you can send fingernails or pubic hair. We encourage scalp hair though as that is the most accurate sample. The lab does not accept beard, armpit, or other hair.
How long does the HTMA process take?
This whole process only takes about 3-4 weeks from the time you order to the time of the consult for a phone consult. Once you place your order, you will get an email within 1-3 business days about how to take the hair sample and where to send it. For email consults, it takes about 4 weeks to receive your full written email report from the time that you first order. The time frame depends on the speed of mail, how busy the lab is, and how many reports we have to do at the time.
Can I do this while pregnant or nursing?
Absolutely! It’s never too soon to work on replenishment of minerals, and I encourage women to do HTMA even before they think about conception. We have special suggestions for those that are pregnant or nursing since we cannot always use the same items as everyone else. HTMA can help to regain your strength quicker after childbirth or help to build up nutrient stores before you hit the postpartum period.
What is the difference between HTMA and blood tests?
Blood, saliva, urine, and stool samples are only able to show that exact moment in time that they were tested. They are a snapshot of what is going on, and they can change significantly within minutes or hours. A hair sample shows us about 3-4 months of time so it gives a MUCH better view on how you are using your minerals. There are some blood panels that can help though, as listed above.
Can I use an HSA Card?
This seems to depend on the company that you have the card with. We have had many people that were able to use an HSA card, and we’ve had others that were able to submit a claim for reimbursement. Check with your company to see what they allow.
What if I am sensitive to new supplements or foods?
My favorite phrase is “turtle speed”, and we use that approach with pretty much everyone at this point. We didn’t get sick overnight, so rushing the healing process doesn’t always work out. We go low and slow with our recommendations, and at the pace that YOU need.
Are there restrictions on location?
We cannot accept samples from NY state, but the rest of the US is absolutely ok. There are some restrictions on international clients though, so email me if you have questions, or we’ll talk about it when you order. Please be advised that international orders will have a longer wait time to get results back.
How often should we retest HTMA?
Hair tissue mineral analysis shows us about 3 months of time- it’s a very solid view on what your body has been doing when it comes to your mineral levels over a longer period of time (versus blood or other tests). The main reason why we retest the HTMA every 3-4 months is huge- you want to make sure that you are still needing the program that you were originally put on!
Retesting ensures that we’re either on the right track still and do not need to deviate too much from what we are doing, OR it could actually be that things have shifted so significantly that it would be time to change everything around.
I’ve also seen in just 3-4 months where the minerals get significantly better and then we can move onto the next stages of healing depending on what the person is going through- usually more detox support for things like EBV, parasites, heavy metals, etc. Retesting gives us the best insight on how strong a person is getting in the process and when we can start introducing more into the healing program.
We also offer a retest discount price if you test within 6 months of your first test!
What if I already have an htma?
We offer consults with existing HTMAs as long as they are less than 4 months old. We highly recommend using tests from TEI or ARL labs, but we will accept tests from other labs as long as they have the same minerals that we usually look at. Just choose the option “consult with existing HTMA” with your preferred practitioner.
What htma lab do you use?
We use TEI Labs for our tests as they do not wash the hair samples when they receive them. The hair-washing procedure that some labs use can actually skew results for certain minerals like zinc, potassium, and sodium.
Do you offer any discounts on htma?
We do offer family or bulk discounts if you plan on ordering more than 1 HTMA. Email me at sassyholistics.com to inquire about this pricing.
Extra Information
- We reserve the right to decline service to anyone that might not be a good fit for our programs.
- Please understand that we do not recommend any synthetic or isolated supplements in our programs (for example, we will never put vitamin D, B12, iron, etc in isolated, synthetic supplement form). Our protocols are just suggestions based on your personal biochemistry using items that we know can help you heal- it is up to you to decide what to implement and stick with.
- It usually takes about 3-4 weeks to get your report/consult. 1 week to send you the HTMA kit, 1-2 weeks to get results back from the lab, 1-2 weeks until we get your report done. This can be longer if you are outside of the US.
- Refund Policy: Refunds are available if you have ordered within the last 30 days and have not submitted your hair sample yet. Tests are void after 1 year from purchase.