Everything You Should Know About Hair Sample Drug Test

A growing number of employers, including medical professionals and lawyers, are using hair follicle drug tests to find out whether a person has been misusing prescription medications or using illicit drugs. 

While a saliva or urine test is best suited to detect recent drug use, the hair sample drug test is the most effective form of drug testing to reveal long-term patterns of drug use. Hair sample drug tests are more of a lifestyle test.

In this article, you will learn everything about how hair drug testing works. So now, let's dive into the details.

What is a Hair Follicle Drug Test? 

More accurately called a hair drug test, a hair follicle drug test detects the presence of prescription medicines or the use of illegal drugs. Using scissors, a small sample of hair is removed from the head during this test. This hair sample is then analyzed and scanned to find drug metabolites, which can reveal up to 3 months of history. 

 A hair sample drug test is used to detect the consumption of the following:

• Cocaine 
• Marijuana
• Opioids (such as morphine, codeine, 6-acetyl morphine)
• PCP (Phencyclidine)
• Amphetamines, including MDMA (ecstasy), methamphetamine, MDEA (eve)
• Other drugs
• The Procedure for Hair Drug Test  

A specimen collector cuts the hair as the skin It is not plucked from the scalp, so it is a painless procedure It can also be conducted at workplaces or homes using a special kit. Several hair strands of 1.5 inches are taken from the scalp, and sent to the lab for analysis 

If the person does not have hair on his or her head, hair from other parts of the body can be used as samples. Test results may take around 24-36 hours, or more if positive.

How Accurate is the Hair Drug Test? 

A hair follicle drug test can detect whether a person has used certain substances in the past three months. However, these tests cannot determine the actual date of the drug use.

Here are a few factors that may affect the results of the test:

• Coloring or bleaching the hair
• How much a person sweats 
• The quantity of drugs consumed by a person
• The amount of melanin produced in the hair follicle — some drugs bind more easily to melanin
• The structure of drug compounds 

These factors, however, are not considered to affect results significantly enough to cause any concern. You should note that the use of shampoos and other hair styling products will not affect the hair drug test results. Also, if you think that your hair drug test results are incorrect, you can request a retest from your employer immediately. 

Hair drug testing is a reliable way employers, court systems and individuals use to detect drug use.If you are an employer interested in introducing drug testing at your workplace or if you are searching online for a hair follicle drug test near me in Chicago? Get in touch with InOut Labs today! They offer more than 5000 tests and always keep the results confidential.