Great product. Doctor's Data offers two hair testing kits that I've seen: the kit being reviewed here - the "Toxic & Essential Elements" kit, and a more basic kit - the "Toxic Element Exposure" kit. The kit being reviewed here, the "Toxic & Essential Elements" kit, offers a more complete picture of your health situation because it shows both the toxic elements (lead, mercury, etc.) and the essential ones (sodium, potassium, etc.). In addition, it also allows you to compare key mineral ratios. It calculates a few of these rations for you: Ca/Mg (calcium to magnesium), Ca/P (calcium to phosphorus), Na/K (sodium to potassium), Zn/Cu (zinc to copper) and Zn/Cd (zinc to cadmium). Hair mineral analysis is handy because blood tests may not always give you the complete picture of the mineral levels inside your cells. Plus, why keep buying mineral supplements without really knowing if you need them? - or maybe you really need another mineral you haven't considered.You can use head hair or pubic hair. You can also mention if you've dyed your hair recently and the lab will compensate for it. Stainless steel scissors are mentioned as the requested cutting device. The kit comes with instructions and a paper scale to weigh your hair - keep adding small amounts of hair until the scale tips. Complete some fields on the included form and plastic bag, place the hair sample in the plastic bag, and put them in the included prepaid return envelope and mail it. Your report is then mailed back to you. The report also included some brief write-ups on minerals which were excessively high or low compared to their reference interval. You can show this report to your doctor(s) and/or do some online research yourself!