Drug testing has become very common both in the workplace and in schools in the last twenty years or so. Generally, urine testing is the most common form of drug screening. Many people are creative in their efforts to beat drug tests and have produced many products to mask the appearance of drugs in the system. Products like masking chemicals and even synthetic urine are widely available, and even the most serious cases of drug abuse can go unnoticed. Due to the ever-expanding market for products designed to help a drug user pass a screening test, many employers are turning to hair follicle drug testing.

Although hair drug tests are significantly more expensive than urine, sweat, or saliva tests, many employers find the benefits outweigh the costs. Employers are often pleased with the fact that hair follicle drug testing is less intrusive, is generally more sensitive in detecting drugs and can detect drugs up to twice as far back as other methods, and can show whether the employee has stopped use drugs or not recently in an attempt to cover up usage. It is also more difficult to mask drugs in the system when using this type of test.

The hair follicle drug test requires taking a sample of the employee’s hair; usually only a small piece of hair is taken and is considered less embarrassing than urine collection. A human resources employee or other official within the company can often perform on-site hair collection. The sample is then sent to the laboratory for washing and analysis. Laboratories typically wash hair prior to testing to reduce the risk of picking up drug chemicals that may come from outside sources, rather than ingesting the substance.

Although most employers still rely on urinalysis to detect drugs among employees or prospective employees, others are recognizing the benefits of hair follicle drug testing. Most people know several methods to pass the urine test; in some cases even resorting to buying urine from a “clean” friend. Hair drug tests are virtually unbeatable with today’s masking products. Although some products claim to mask the appearance of drugs in hair samples, most are based on false or inaccurate claims. Hair follicle drug testing has been shown to be more effective and less invasive than alternatives.