Out of the different types of drug tests, a hair follicle drug test is highly reliable as it provides the most accurate results. Remnants of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana, can remain in a hair follicle for as long as ninety days even after abstaining.
These days, there are several ways one can clear a drug test. In as few as five days, all the remnants of marijuana or weed can be wiped out completely, making passing a drug test relatively easy. Regardless of how daunting passing this type of drug test can be, there is one method one can employ to increase one’s chances of being successful. Click here to learn more about tetrahydrocannabinol.
Debunking myths about hair follicle drug tests
Across the internet, there seem to be a lot of rumors, half-truths, and myths about how best to pass this test. While these methods may look effective and credible at a glance, you’ll be disappointed to find that they aren’t very reliable methods. A few of these mythical methods are:
- Abstaining from weed
- Bleaching
- Shaving
Abstaining from weed
This rarely works because in most cases, these tests are taken on short notices. Obviously, the whole idea of having to take the test is so that you aren’t prepared for it. This way, you won’t have enough time for abstinence to work.
To be practical, if you will be abstaining from the drug long enough for THC not to be found in your hair, then you were never at risk of failing the test in the first place. That said, the only way this method works is if you have a testing window of 90 days or longer, as that would be enough time for you to be completely sober.
Bleaching
One would think this method would work perfectly. If you were considering bleaching your hair before a drug testing, think again. Honestly, you should reconsider because statistics show that only 40% of hair drug testing done after bleaching came back with a positive.
What this means is that 60% of all of such tests done post bleaching were negative. Although bleach does work excellently well in ridding hair follicles of pigmentation, it doesn’t however, replicate the same result when it comes to removing traces of weed and some other drugs. The huge failure-to-success margin explicitly tells us that if a person passes this testing method after bleaching their hair, it is with sheer luck.
Shaving
By far, shaving your hair looks like the most obvious method that would guarantee a pass on this type of drug testing but, sorry to burst your bubble, it doesn’t work. This is because drug testing method can be done with hair from just about any part of your body. That is, hairs from your beard, arms, and even eyebrows are all viable to test. Needless to say, showing up for the test with a bald head would immediately give you up.
How do hair drug tests work?
When drugs are consumed, they diffuse into the bloodstream and flow to different parts of the body. Because hair follicles have blood vessels that feed growth cells to the hairs, traces of these drugs make their way to the hair as well, and can be detected during a test.
These tests can be taken in a lab, at home, or a workplace. To carry out the test, the tester retrieves samples from your hair. These samples are taken from the root which is attached to your scalp and are usually an inch and a half long. Once retrieved, the samples are sent to a laboratory for testing.
Despite being very accurate and reliable, hair drug tests also return false positive results. This may happen if the person tested is on certain prescription drugs or have consumed certain types of foods. Poppy seeds are a perfect example of foods that cause false positive results. Due to these factors, samples that are retrieved for testing go through two testing processes to ensure accurate results.
The first step involves passing the sample through the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. If the results from the first step is positive, the specimen will then be retested using the gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) test to confirm the result or rule out any false positives. Visit https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/gas-chromatography-mass-spectrometry-gcms to learn more about gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.
These tests, as earlier mentioned are very accurate and can detect metabolites of drugs used as far back as 90 days. That being said, they are unable to tell the exact date within that 90-day period these drugs were taken.
What do hair drug tests look for?
They can be used to check for remnants of different types of drugs, due to their high percentage of accuracy. In the case of marijuana, they usually look to find traces of tetrahydrocannabinol. Other drugs that can be checked for are:
- Ecstasy
- Amphetamine
- Codeine
- Morphine
- Methamphetamine
So, what works for hair drug tests?
The most effective method today that helps people to pass hair drug tests are detoxification products and kits, especially hair detox shampoos like Testclear that work really well. Naturally, detox kits help to get rid of drug metabolites still left in your system, and they do a really good job at that. When paired with detox shampoos, the chances of acing drug tests drastically improve.
The thing with these detox kits and shampoos is that they often cost quite a lot and the ones that work are hard to come by because the market is saturated with a lot of fake detox kits and products. So, ensure you take time and caution to pick which products to buy.
Conclusion
Typically, these tests will come out with one of these three results:
- Negative
- Positive
- Inconclusive
A negative result means that no drugs was found in the tested specimen after it went through both the ELISA and GC-MS tests. If it comes back positive, it means that drug metabolites were found in the tested sample. Tests are inconclusive if the specimen is contaminated or if something went wrong during testing. In the case of an inconclusive result, the tested person would be required to provide another sample.