Hair as a Biomarker: What Strands Reveal About Your Health
Your hair archives hormones, stress, and toxins — discover how scientists read it like a health diary.
Hair isn’t just cosmetic — it records months of biological history. Researchers examined hair samples to measure hormones, trace metals, and stress molecules, showing how each strand functions like a health timeline. This could make hair analysis a non-invasive diagnostic tool for long-term metabolic or hormonal disorders.
- Hair cortisol concentration correlates with chronic stress levels over 3-month periods.
- Detectable markers include zinc, mercury, and steroid hormones.
- Hair sampling proved non-invasive and stable for storage at room temperature.
- Potential in monitoring thyroid dysfunction and chronic fatigue syndrome.
- AI-assisted spectroscopy improved accuracy of biomarker detection by 25%.
Hair’s slow growth provides a unique longitudinal health record unavailable from blood or saliva. This method could democratize preventive diagnostics.
External contamination (cosmetics, pollution) can affect readings. More calibration is needed for population-wide standards.
Citation & Review Team
Review Team
Author: The Follicle Forum research team
Fact-Checker: Dermatology Researcher
Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice.