Facts about Hair Drug Test

A drug test is taken to ascertain the presence or absence of a particular drug present in the human body. There are many technical exams to determine it by testing a person's urine, blood, sweat, hair, or oral fluid. It can also be used to test a number of other substances besides the drugs, and is referred to as drug screening rather than drug examination.

What is Hair Drug Test

A hair drug test is considered to be very precise in indicating drugs used in the last 90 days. The basic mechanism is that as hair grows, the drug taken gets encased in the hair shaft. The longer the hair, the longer the history of the drug in an individual will be revealed, whereas, it's the opposite in case of short hair. On an average, the human hair grows by about 0.5 inches/month, and the technical testing requires hair in between 0.5 to 1.5 inches of length. If the hair length is 1.5 inches or longer, 80 strands are needed, and if they are 0.5 inches in length, about 120 strands of hair will be needed. This is so because the hair is tested by the picogram weight.

People try to elude the test by shaving off their heads, but any body hair - from head, chest, arm pit, leg, or pubic regions, can be used for testing. However, if the subject tries to be oversmart and shaves off all the bodily hair, the test can still be conducted, but now, the hair follicles are used instead of hair.

In recent years, there have been a number of lawsuits against the testing. Studies have shown that different ethnic groups have different hair structure that can lead to false positives, for example, people of African origin or Pacific Islanders may test positive for marijuana even if they haven't taken the drug. A false positive is when a person tests positive, even though he hasn't taken the drugs.

Facts About Passing the Test

For all those who think that they can avoid a hair drug test, it is important to know that it is the most accurate type of test, and dodging it is very tough. You require a proper amount of care, and need to follow certain strict procedures which give little surety that you will clear the test with ease. Hair strands are carefully scrutinized under microscope before and after they are chemically treated and tested. There are various shampoos and treatments available in the market. When you use these shampoos and treatments, they first clean and open up the cuticle layer. Later, they put a sealer around the scales of cuticle which cannot be dissolved in any solvent. According to their manufacturers, the advantage is that if there are no metabolites in the solvent when the hair is analyzed, nothing can be detected. Plus, the sealant remains indefinitely, and so, if you take the test years later, you will still clear the test. They also claim that the shampoos act as a conditioner to add shine and improve the manageability of the hair.

Not only shampoos, there are many treatments and formulas which are said to help you pass the hair drug test. These formulas penetrate to the core of the hair shaft, seek out the toxins, and dissolve them. Toxins ingested in the body circulate in the bloodstream and nourish hair follicles, resulting in the deposition of toxin metabolites. Such detoxifying shampoo manufacturers claim that the shampoos take minimum two hours to fully show their effect, and help you dodge the test without the use of shampoo being detected. No adulterants are used in the shampoo, plus, there are no side effects too.

Reality Check

Getting such treatments, shampoos, and formulas from the market doesn't necessarily mean that you pass the test with ease. In fact, most of such products are Aloe rid clarifying shampoos with added detergents. Aloe only helps in detoxing and cutting down the contamination, and nothing else. Laboratories, nowadays, use extensive procedures that can easily eliminate the effect from such shampoos or products. Hence, dodging them is almost impossible!