About
Gavin Larsen, R.TCM.P, Dr. TCM Dip.
I help women with normal labs and thinning hair find their pattern, and the short list of herbs and supplements that fits it.
I’m a registered Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner in Vancouver, BC. For more than ten years, across over 1,000 cases, I kept seeing the same thing in clinic: women doing everything right, with plans that weren’t matched to what their bodies were actually doing.
Their hair loss wasn’t unexplained. It just hadn’t been read yet. Pattern Mapping™ is how I read it.
How Pattern Mapping works
Read. Match. Order.
1
Read
Your symptoms are clues. Forty questions score four patterns, and show whether it’s a shed, thinning or both.
2
Match
Only the two or three herbs and supplements that fit your pattern. Not one scoop for everyone.
3
Order
What to start first, what waits, and what to stop buying.
Matched, not maxed.
In clinic
The four patterns, and where I start.
1
Circulation & Delivery
When delivery is weak, what you take and what you apply have a harder time reaching the scalp. I start with acupuncture, scalp work and warming herbs.
2
Digestion & Absorption
If your gut isn’t absorbing well, less of what you take reaches your bloodstream. I start with food therapy and digestive herbs, before adding anything new.
3
Hormone-Stress Signaling
When your body is stuck on alert, hair is one of the first things it stops spending on. I start with sleep and the stress response.
4
Inflammation & Reactivity
A scalp that itches or flares is often part of a body-wide picture. I calm things from the inside before adding anything to the scalp.
Where my job ends
Your doctor is on your team.
- I’m not a medical doctor. I don’t diagnose medical conditions or prescribe medication.
- I don’t order labs. Your doctor decides what to test and what your results mean. I help you read the clues around them.
- I won’t tell you to start, stop or change a medication. That stays between you and your prescriber.
- I can’t promise regrowth. Nobody honest can. What I can give you is the end of guessing.
My job is the part between you and your doctor: which pattern you are, what fits it, and what to stop buying.
Background
I earned my Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diploma in 2014. I practise at Qi Integrated Health in Vancouver, and I taught at Pacific Rim College, which is where I learned how much people want to understand their own patterns instead of just being handed a plan.
Outside the clinic, I spend a lot of time on strength training, recovery and longevity. Most of what I believe about hair, I believe about the rest of the body too: it does better when it’s given the right things in the right order.
CCHPBC license number 7004333. You can confirm it on the public registry.
Two ways to start.
The pattern quiz
Ten questions about symptoms you already have. It shows which pattern you are, whether it’s a shed, thinning or both, and one thing to try and one thing to stop this week.
Take the quizThe 30-Day Pattern Mapping™ System
The full 40-question test, the short list of herbs and supplements matched to your pattern, what to stop buying, and the order to start. Works alongside your doctor. Covered by a 60-day refund.
See the systemClinic, teaching and community
Where you’ll find me.
- Qi Integrated HealthAcupuncturist and TCM practitioner
- Pacific Rim CollegeFormer instructor
- The Georgia StraightVancouver’s First Backwards Race
- TriNerdsHarnessing Traditional Chinese Therapies for Athletic Excellence
- Acupuncture Relief ProjectVolunteer in Bajrabarahi, Nepal
You’re just one pattern away…
Pattern Mapping is a TCM pattern assessment. It isn’t a medical diagnosis and doesn’t replace your doctor.