Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

No Doctor’s Office Necessary: Everly Well Offers At-Home Testosterone Testing and More

Image used with permission by copyright holder

No one likes going to the doctor. Co-pays, hidden feeds, and inflated pricing (combined with a dislike of being poked and prodded by a cold-handed stranger) make that unwillingness to schedule a doctor’s appointment for something minor to seem downright reasonable. Add in the ridiculous health care system we find ourselves in in the U.S. today and it becomes readily understandable when someone declares they’d “rather see a vet than an MD.”

But beyond all the political and economic baggage is the sense of the self-being divorced from one’s own health care.

Aside from seeing a doctor, you can really only know how healthy you are be being proactive — that is, eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep, all the little health tips that the medical profession recommends, but almost no one actually follows (and even that doesn’t guarantee you don’t have a malady lurking deep inside). And this leads to asking Google. Which results in internet answers.

Is that twitch in your arm the first signs of degenerative neurological disease? According to that website, of course it is! Is your low libido and exhaustion caused by excessive work and stress driven by an over-competitive capitalist culture? Nope. That’s just low T. That unwell feeling you get after eating Chinese takeout? That’s not because you overate, that’s a sign of a food allergy!

So, we’ve got two factors here: One, we all hate the doctor and two, we all think we know what’s wrong with us without actually going to the doctor.

To really find out what’s wrong with us without having to visit a doctor, it’s time to try something else. Something like, say, science, which typically comes in the form of a lab test.

Everly Well, which you may have seen on an episode of television’s Shark Tank, is a direct-to-consumer health testing company that wants to shift the cost and control of your health information out of the hands of doctors and insurers and into your own.

Ever wanted to know what your testosterone levels are? How about your cortisol (the stress hormone) levels? What about your thyroid or food sensitivity, or even STDs? Ever wanted to know all this without stepping foot into a medical building? If so, you’re not alone.

In fact, we were one of those questioning our own health so it was a delightful surprise when Everly Well reached out to The Manual to sample the brand’s Men’s Health Test.

Quick and easy (the test took five minutes, mostly because we had to work up a ton of saliva), the results were back within a week and fully informative; we found out that all our levels measured (free testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, and estradiol) were completely normal except for elevated DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), which the kit informed us could be the result of weight training and supplement use, specifically creatine. Guilty!

Ready to take the leap and get your own medical info sans doctor? Here’s how to do it.

How Everly Well Works

  • Decide which test you’d like to take. Check out Everly Well’s full spectrum of offerings here. We obviously recommend the Men’s Health Test or the Free Testosterone test, but we’re not your doctor and you don’t need one in this situation, so choose which one you’re most interested in.
  • Receive the testing kit.
  • Enter your bar code on Everly Well’s website to get yourself in their system.
  • Provide your sample (whether saliva or a finger prick blood sample) and return the kit to Everly Well in the pre-paid shipping container.
  • Wait a few days while your tests are run and are reviewed by a board-certified physician.
  • Receive your results in just a few more days!

And that’s it. Once you receive your results, you’re free to use that information to begin your own personalized health improvement plan or provide the results to your doctor at your next visit (whenever that may be) in order to more easily and readily begin a conversation about your immediate (and test-backed) health concerns.

Looking to boost your testosterone? Be sure to get plenty of sleep, weight train, and eat right.

John Hall
How fast does facial hair grow, and can you speed up beard growth?
Smiling man with a trim beard.

It's time that you decided to do it; you finally decided to join the ranks of actors, musicians, and style icons who rock the flawless beard look. But, you have hesitancy. There is something slightly holding you back from fully committing. You fear that it will take too long, let alone having to endure some of the awkward stages of growing one out.

So how long will you have to wait for your facial hair to grow out? Many factors affect beard growth, such as age, ethnicity, genes, and even lifestyle — so there’s no one answer to that tricky question. But a few lifestyle changes can help influence facial hair growth and get you to obtain the beard you've always wanted, as quickly as possible.

Read more
The 11 best hair styling creams for men to get the perfect do
Tame and style you hair with the right cream to keep your look fresh all day
Applying hair cream

There are simple things each man can do in order to maintain his best self-image. One of the easiest is making sure your grooming routine is in check, and the best place to start is your haircare routine. Finding one of the best hair creams for men can add a ton of quality and value to your grooming routine and overall appearance.

Every guy can make use of an effective hair styling cream, even if they think their hair is too frizzy or unruly to be properly tamed. Unlike pomades or gels, hair styling creams often have a more matte finish and provide flexible control rather than an ultra sleek, slicked-back look (although there's a time and place for that hairstyle, too); in which pomades or gels are best.

Read more
How to sharpen a straight razor, according to a master barber
A barber sharpening a straight razor.

As daily tasks go, you might not think much about shaving. A tedious necessity, maybe, but not something that many people devote much time or interest to. But shaving doesn't have to be a dull affair of an electric shaver mindlessly passed over your face. There's something special about a shave with a straight razor, which most people only experience occasionally at the barber shop, if at all.

But it needn't be that way. You can learn the art of shaving with a straight razor and experience both the pleasant feeling of freshly shaved skin and the satisfaction of learning a new skill.

Read more