The hair drug test is originally designed to detect chronic drug users, not occasional pot smokers. For normal testing, employers and laboratories still use urine and blood tests. That is said, it is possible that a hair test will detect an infrequent user. Hair drug tests are extremely difficult to fake and one should know how to pass a hair drug test. Traces of drugs can stay in your hair for up to 90 days, so it’s very effective way to determine if you’re a regular user.A hair drug test can detect drug use for up to 12 prior months, but accurate results are typically limited to the past 90 days. Interestingly, because hair grows at a steady pace, a hair drug test can also detect exactly when someone took drugs and when they stopped.
Types of Hair Drug Test
There are 4 types of hair drug tests available – 5 Panel Hair Follicle Drug Test, 5 Panel Hair Follicle Drug Test plus Expanded Opiates, 9 Panel Hair Follicle Drug Test, 12 Panel Hair Follicle Drug Test, Hair Alcohol Test
How the Hair Drug Test Works
Your hair needs blood to grow, and it gets that blood via the root of the hair follicle.
When you use drugs, drugs are deposited directly from your bloodstream into the hair follicle. Either the drug itself is deposited, or your body may react to drugs by producing metabolites, which are then deposited on your hair.
As your hair grows over time, the chemicals that are stored on your hair store a record of your drugs use, sort of like the rings of a tree record the changing of the periods.
What happens during hair drug test?
When you arrive at the drug test centre, for a sample small hair will be cut from the top or back of your scalp right at the skin line and placed into a sealed container.
Typically, a sample length of about 1.5 inches is taken because human hair grows about 1-2 inches every 90 days. The sample is then sent to a laboratory to be tested for trace chemicals. Hair drug test is typically short, less than 3 days. The hair drug test can detect drug usage in any hair that was growing anywhere on your body during you used the drugs.
For example – If you used drugs 12 months ago the hair growing at that time, it can be detected. The hair drug test can also detect when and how much of drug was used.
Advantage of Hair Drug Test
Hair drug test detects a much longer period of drug use: Hair stores a longer period of drug use than either urine or blood, which are limited to days for most drug types.
Hair drug tests are harder to fake and there are no privacy issues with taking a hair sample from a head of the person, so the sample can be taken publicly.
Older drug tests are losing effectiveness. Urine testing has not trusted due to the proliferation of cheat products like synthetic urine and powders. It is also must to know how to pass a saliva drug test, if you want to escape from it.
