Answering Questions About The Hair Drug Test

(Note: The PDT-90 Test does NOT accept body hair submissions. This article only applies to the HairConfirm Standard/Express product lines.)

The hair follicle drug test is a powerful drug test and one that people have many questions about. One particularly interesting area is the difference between body hair and head hair when you are testing for drugs. What should you consider when deciding what type of hair to submit for your hair home drug test?

The first thing you should ask yourself is what time frame you are interested in. If you are concerned about drug use in the past 90 days, head hair is what you probably want to submit. In most cases it is easier to collect a sample of head hair in the necessary quantity – 90 to 120 strands – than body hair. When collecting body hair you want to collect more than you would when collecting hair, and provide at the very least 100 strands.

However, body hair submissions in a hair drug test situation do have one major advantage – body hair can tell you, if you provide an inch and a half of it in length, a year of drug use history. If you are worried that your child used cocaine in 4 months ago, you may want to submit body hair instead of head hair for your hair follicle drug test.

The reason you can get more information by submitting body hair is that body hair grows more slowly than hair from the head. With either submission, the laboratory will only analyze the inch and a half closest to the root. This is true even if your hair submission is long hair from the head. But this also means that when you choose what hair to submit for your hair follicle drug test, you should keep in mind that body hair grows slowly – it might not be wise to submit body hair if you want to find out about drug use a month ago.

Remember when choosing what type of hair to submit that you cannot mix the two types together when mailing your hair drug test to the lab.

We hope you found this hair drug test information valuable in selecting the type of home drug test you are interested in. Please direct any questions to cs@homehealthtesting.com or call us at 910-815-0209.

12 comments

  1. donna c says:

    i have recieved results on the hair that i sent in how long does it take to get the mro report

  2. admin says:

    Hi Donna,

    Thanks for your question! The only hair drug test that we sell that includes a MRO (Medical Review Officer) review is the Legal Workplace Hair Drug Test Kit. So unless you ordered that one, there is no MRO Review. The Medical Review Officer does NOT perform a separate hair analysis, or change the results in any way. Their review consists of (if the results are positive) contacting the donor and asking a few questions (about possible cross reacting substances or prescriptions, etc.). In most contexts this review is unnecessary as it does not change the results at all. The hair analysis itself is done by highly trained lab techs in a CLIA certified laboratory.

    Thank you for your question and please let me know if I can help you with any other questions!

    Best,

    Robyn

  3. William says:

    I suspect my son may have taken cocaine about a month ago, however he had a buzz cut a couple of days ago. Once the hair on his head grows out to 1.5″ will the hair test still be a good way to prove this as I assume a urine or blood sample will not know as it was a month ago?

  4. admin says:

    Thank you for your question. Unfortunately, I do not think a hair drug test (using a hair sample from the head) will work based on the buzz cut. Hair grows approximately a half inch a month. So the possible drug use would have been found at about the half inch mark of the hair. If buzzed that section of the hair would’ve been buzzed off.

    It would be possible to use body hair though. All of our hair drug tests accept body hair submissions with the exception of the PDT-90. Body hair grows more slowly than hair on the head though so it’s possible the use would not be reflected in the body hair yet. I would wait a few extra weeks to collect body hair if you would like to test it. It’s also possible if cocaine was only used one time that not enough was used to be reflected in the test. The test is very, very accurate though and cocaine use of any regularity should be picked up.

    Thank you again for your question and I hope this information is of some help. If you have any other questions please feel free to let us know.

  5. kristen says:

    I would like to know if I can just do a hair cut on my boyfriend and collect the sample of hair in that manner for a drug test or I need to have the hair sample send to you pulled from the scalp with a follicle? Thank you!

  6. admin says:

    Hi Kristen,

    You don’t have to pull out hair from the scalp – you just need to cut 100-120 strands from as close the scalp as possible. We have a video coming out soon that will make this clearer. However, we do already have instructions up online so they should give you an idea of how to do the test: https://www.homehealthtesting.com/hair_drug_test_standard_instructions.php

    If you have any other questions let us know! Thanks and take care!

    Robyn

  7. Stanley says:

    I am male African Americam keep hair cut low every two weeks how will cocaine hair testing have effect low dose user

  8. admin says:

    Hi Stanley,

    The minimum amount of hair many places need to analyze correctly is 1/4th inch (our tests require at least a half inch, though). If they cannot get a half inch of hair they may try to collect body hair, which can represent use from anywhere from 6 months to 1 year ago. If you use cocaine with any pattern of frequency it is more than likely it will show up on a hair drug test if they are able to collect.

    Drug use is only reflected in the hair that was being nourished by the bloodstream at the time of use. So if you grow out your hair and cut it the hair can be clean. Hair (on the head) grows at the pace generally of a half inch per 30 days, or about 1/4th inch per 2 weeks. The only exception to this rule is marijuana; due to the nature of THC marijuana can be stored in the fat and slowly released over time back into the bloodstream even though someone has stopped smoking. Generally, this is something that is of concern to a frequent smoker. This is all only relevant to head hair though; body hair growth rates are harder to measure, as it grows much more slowly.

    Thanks for your question,
    Robyn

  9. Austin says:

    I took 1 aderoal almost three months ago and that’s the only thing I’ve done will it show up on the hair follicile test?

  10. antonia says:

    Hi, I used to smoke 1-2 splifs (cannabis) a night, but I stoped 5 week ago. I’m due a hair drugs test in 2 weeks. Will I pass or not? I’m worried :s

  11. mark says:

    can you use hair from a hair brush

  12. admin says:

    No you cannot use hair from a bush or comb. You need about 120 strands cut from the base of the head which is about the diameter of a pencil, this would be difficult to obtain from a brush. Also hair from a brush could contain someone else’s hair samples as well.