What Is the Best Way to Test Testosterone Levels at Home?

While all of these testosterone kits will have their own instructions, they generally follow the same kind of process.

1. Order A Test Kit

The first thing you need to do is choose a suitable and certified lab that offers a mail-in service to check your testosterone level. Usually, these kits arrive within 2 to 3 days.

2. Take A Sample

Depending on whether you picked a home blood test or saliva testosterone testing, the collection process will work in a different way.

Saliva samples usually involve spitting into a small tube with a level indicator to make sure that you supply a large enough sample.

Blood testing usually involves a finger prick test like people with diabetes do to measure their blood sugar. You’ll need to drain a few drops of blood into the provided tube to send off.

3. Activate The Test Process

Usually, you need to log into an app or a webpage where you register the kit with a serial number and indicate that it’s ready for collection.

This generally involves providing your address details to ensure it’s efficiently collected.

4. Send Off The Sample

Usually, a courier service will collect the sample and make sure that it gets to the laboratory testing center within the right time limit to ensure that the sample doesn’t become void.

This is particularly important with blood samples.

5. Wait For Results

Then, it’s time to wait for the sample report. Depending on the testing methods, this could take anywhere from 2 to 5 days after your saliva or blood testing sample was collected.

There are two things that home testosterone testing will reveal to you. And it’s important to understand these things so that you don’t misinterpret the results.

It’s not so much about whether you have low testosterone or high testosterone.

Let me explain.

Total Testosterone Levels

The total testosterone amount is an indication of how effective your body is at producing a certain range of T-levels [1].

But not all of the T-cells that you produce end up freely circulating your body looking for a receptor.

Some of it will bind to enzymes and thereby become less effective.

So, just because your total T- levels are in a normal range doesn’t mean that it’s all doing what it’s supposed to do.

Related: Does Low Testosterone Make You Angry?

Free Testosterone Levels

This indicates how much of the T-cells freely circulate in your blood serum and will tell you whether other underlying conditions impact hormone levels [2].

For example, you could have a normal total reading but a low free reading, indicating that you don't have an issue with production but with binding enzymes.

Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is one such culprit that could excessively bind to T-cells and transform them into estrogen.

That’s why it’s important to look at both numbers of the results report.

“Most circulating testosterone is bound to sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which, in men, also is called testosterone-binding globulin. A lesser fraction is albumin-bound, and a small proportion exists as free hormone.”

- mayocliniclabs.com

Here are the main reasons that we tell our clients in favor of an at-home test.

1. Timing

Testosterone levels vary throughout the day, and generally, the best time to take a test sample is first thing in the morning. The reason is that the body produces most testosterone during hours of sleep.

But you might not always find it’s possible to get an appointment with a doctor at that time.

And if you don’t take multiple samples at the same time, then you could get an inaccurate decreased testosterone result.

2. Convenience

Getting blood drawn usually involves going to your local clinic and meeting a doctor or nurse.

And unless you have some severe symptoms of low testosterone that impact your overall health, that might not be the most convenient option.

If you think that you’re just outside normal testosterone levels and could do with some form of a boost, then these home kits are an ideal solution.

3. Cost

While the purchase price of a blood and saliva test can vary a lot, these tests are generally a lot cheaper than going to your doctor.

That makes it an ideal solution if you want to keep monitoring the effectiveness of a T-booster supplements on your hormone levels.

Traditional test measures could easily cost 3 or 4 times as much as a kit.

Here are three downsides to be aware of.

1. Reliability

Not all labs are CLIA certified (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments), and that means that you need to do a bit more homework before you pick a specific test kit.

There’s also the question of how reliably the courier will collect your sample, as late collections could ultimately lead to inaccurate results.

2. Accuracy

There is a certain amount of difference in accuracy between a blood sample and saliva tests. Generally speaking, blood sampling will provide the most accurate results.

But that also requires a much more reliable sample collection and delivery to the lab for testing, so take a close look at how the company handles the transport of the sample.

3. Medical Diagnosis

If you get a result with low levels, you cannot use that as an indication for having medical conditions like pituitary gland disorder, male hypogonadism, or thyroid problems.

You should also not take that as an indication that you’re at an increased risk of heart disease.

Those are things you should only discuss with medical professionals and may require testosterone therapy.

Related: The Best Natural Ways to Increase Your Testosterone Levels