Does anyone know anything about pre-employment drug tests where they test a hair? My husband has been interviewing at a very big company and if he would get the job he’d make about twice as much as he makes now. But the rumour is that instead of a pee test they test your hair. Everyone says that gives your history for seven years. Is that true? Where do they get the hair from? People have told him all kinds of bizarre things. I have heard there are shampoos that will make you pass. Do they work? P.S. All he has done is smoke pot, and he hasn’t done that in the past couple of months.
Well, here’s a site from the makers of a hair drug test. Seven years, I believe, is way too long, this site mentions 90 days. There are shampoos that claim to make you pass, but I personally doubt it, and this site claims it can’t be done:
It’s unlikely to give seven years’ history, even if your hair is very long.
The idea is that any chemicals (i.e. drugs) that are in your bloodstream are deposited in the hair as it grows, they don’t wash out and can only be removed by cutting the hair off.
I’m not sure how long each human (head) hair lasts before falling out and starting again, but seven years sounds too high.
No cite for this, but I recall reading somewhere that the hair only retains traces of drugs that were done while the hair was growing… IE: if you shaved your head bald, did no drugs while it grew out, and then they took a hair sample they would find nothing… Similarly, if you smoked a join 10 minutes before they took the hair sample, they would find nothing…
On the other hand, if you have a drug habit, but kick it; wait 2 months and then get a drug test, the test would show that you HAD done drugs (but not when). If you had really long hair, it might tell them that you had done drugs years before, too!
But, for 7 years? I don’t think so, unless you have really long hair… IIRC, most people’s hair grows about 6 inches a year (that may or may not be right…), so for drug use 7 years past to show up, you’d have to have hair 42 inches long (assuming my previous assumption is correct, which it may well not be…:))
In my case, my hair is about 3 inches or so long… so I don’t think any drug use longer than 6 months or so ago (and I’m here to tell ya, there has been none!:() would show up…
But, again, all of the above is based on poorly recalled information that I read once, somewhere… IE: WAGs.
two months’ hair growth = about 2 inches maybe? if hubby has a haircut, say grade 4 or less, the hair that was growing 2 months ago will be gone.
Wow… disregard the prior post!
Others beat me to the punch and did a MUCH better job!
This probably isn’t the best venue for this question. I’d steer clear of the internet, too. The thing is, I doubt very many doctors or chemists are replying to your post. Whenever I’ve asked a number of people about drug tests I’ve always got contrasting results. And most people’s advice always started out like, “dude, dude, my buddy knew this guy…” I think that most drug/drug-test related websites are like your stoner buddy who knew this guy who put a sheet of acid in his sock to hide it from the cops, but he got like this huge dose and now he thinks he’s an orange, (or some other b.s. urban drug legend). Not too trustworthy.
You and your hubby should probably take a day and go to the library or book store. I took a class on “Drugs and the Human Body,” and read a book by the same name, written by Dr. Ken Liska. I don’t recall him adressing hair tests but there may be a new edition out.
And if that doesn’t work out, can you love a man with the mister clean look?
You could shave your head but what if they use an eye brow or pubic hair? Also, wouldn’t it be better to just ask them if they do hair tests or not first?