One of the new methods of testing for substance abuse includes a hair drug test. Since this technology is more expensive than the more common urine drug test, this is not utilized much. But hair testing is more accurate and can go back to 6 months and at times even more depending upon how long your hair has been growing. Some people try to avoid this by shaving their heads. But you need to know that a hair drug test is not confined to the hair on your head. Any body hair can be used for conducting a hair drug test.

Another disadvantage of hair drug tests is that it can take anywhere from 48 hours to 10 working days to obtain the results whereas a urine test can produce results more quickly. A minimum length of half an inch is required for a hair drug test. On an average hair grows 1/64 of an inch each day. This means two inches of hair can hold about 128 days of your drug use history. A hair drug test is capable of detecting cocaine but not marijuana. Also some recent research suggests that darker hair might be more capable of accumulating traces of drug use.

Some other research indicates hair drug tests can be affected by the kind of shampoos used by an individual. Home testing kits are also available to help you prepare for a hair drug test. Hair samples are easier to obtain and store than urine or blood samples. If the test is being done at home, for instance to determine whether a child is using drugs then it is easy to obtain a sample without the person being aware of it. Hair can be obtained from a hairbrush or a comb. But in legal matters or matters of employment and the like, the sample has to be obtained with the consent of the concerned individual.

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