Information on Hair Follicle Testing

Drug tests and in particular testing hair for drugs is becoming much more commonplace, especially across western Europe and North America. This method of drug testing has one major advantage over other detection methods such as saliva, urine and blood, in that it provides a far greater period of time for which drugs can be detected. (This is commonly known as the detection window). It is possible to detect drugs for several months - even years if the hair has been allowed to grow for that long. In most cases however, tests usually involve 90 day detection: This compares to typically 4-5 days for fluid based testing (or in chronic cases of cannabis misuse, one month)

Approximately 50 hair follicles are required for successful hair testing. This equates to the thickness of the end of a shoelace, meaning that most people would show no obvious signs that any hair had been taken unless their hair is particularly short.

The cost of hair testing is greater than urine based tests - which are the only other viable method of achieving laboratory standard results. Testing using blood is not commercially available partly due to the challenges in taking a sample in the first instance.

A typical hair folical test costs in the region of £60-£70 for preparation of the sample (which involves turning the hair from a solid to a liquid) and then a further £40-50 per drug type required for detection. This contrasts to an approximate cost of £60-75 for laboratory testing of urine which will pick up illegal substances across all drug classes.

One of the most common questions how to pass a hair follicle drugs test. Very simply, there is only one sure-fire way in which to do this - Don't take drugs!