The Pros Of Hair Drug Testing
Friday, December 11th, 2009Over the past years, drug testing has become a lot more accurate and convenient. Before, all drug testing can only be conducted in a clinic or a laboratory, and these days, you can do drug tests in the comfort and privacy of your own home–a good idea if you don’t want to wait a long time for the results and if you just want to test yourself out of curiosity. However, if you are to undergo drug testing for a more serious purpose–whether it’s required for work or as part of a court’s requirements in a divorce or child custody battle–you’re going to need to go to an actual facility that specializes in drug testing; results from home drug testing kits won’t do.
One of the things that most worry people taking drug tests, apart from what the results will be, is the actual procedure that will be performed. Traditionally, blood testing and urinalysis are the methods used in drug testing, and those are two methods that not everyone has really ever become comfortable with, since it is a bit invasive and can be quite inconvenient. One type of drug test ha been steadily gaining ground, however, and that is hair drug testing.
Since it is easier and found to be more accurate, the hair drug test is becoming more widely used. The procedure mainly involves cutting around 120 hair strands as closely as possible to the scalp, with 0.5 to 1.5 inches of hair being a sufficient length for the test. It is not only hair on the head that can be tested, so even people who are completely bald can undergo the hair drug test. Hair gathered from other parts of the body, except for pubic hair, can be used in a hair drug test, provided enough samples are collected.
The hair drug test is more accurate than all other types of tests because it detects drug use for up to 90 days before the test is performed. When drug enters the bloodstream, it moves around the body and settles even in the hair follicles, so that when hair grows, it contains the metabolites produced by having the drug in your system. Since hair takes a while to grow, it is guaranteed that the drugs will have embedded themselves in each strand, making drug detection easier.
If you need to undergo a drug test, then the hair drug test can be your best option. Not only will it give you the best results, but it will also require nothing more from you than a few strands of hair.
In a world of changing ethics and propelling questions drug testing has a variety of uses. A drug test is something the athletic organizations, forensics, insurance companies and large corporations will need to be aware of. Hair drug testing is one of the top methods because it can provide an accurate history of use and is the longest lasting piece of evidence.
