Understanding how hair follicle drug tests work and how long marijuana can be detected will help you make the best choices should you need to pass a hair follicle drug test.
During the career of any seasoned weed smoker, there comes a dreaded time when you’ll have to pass a drug test, be it for employment or other unsavory legal purposes. Find out more about how hair follicle drug tests work and how you can pass.
How Drug Tests Trace Drugs In Your System
When you smoke (or ingest, vaporize, or otherwise) marijuana, THC, the active chemical in cannabis, is broken down and metabolized into your bloodstream. It takes time for these bits—called metabolites—to be absorbed and broken down by your body, long after your high has dissipated. A drug test measures these metabolites that can still be found in your system.
There are three primary ways that you can get drug tested: Urine, Blood, and Hair, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
- Urine drug tests are far and away the most common. Depending on the frequency of your usage, urine drug tests can test positive for as little as 3 days for occasional smokers and up to 30 days or more for chronic chronic users.
- Blood tests are used much less frequently than urine tests and really only have reliable results within 1-2 days. Generally speaking, blood tests are often utilized in laboratory settings or in cases to determine very recent drug consumption
Hair Follicle Drug Tests: How Long Does Marijuana Stay in Your Hair Follicles?
Last, and most feared, among the usual drug tests is the hair follicle drug test, or hair drug test, where a number of hairs are taken from the crown of your head and are put through two different tests to determine a history of drug use with a higher rate of accuracy over a longer period of time. If you were wondering What is the difference between a hair drug test and a hair follicle drug test? they are interchangeable terms for the same drug test.
How Far Back Does A Hair Follicle Test Detect Drugs?
Marijuana can stay in your hair for 6-12 months, but testing labs only test for the last 90 days worth of hair growth. Labs can’t test your head or body hair if your head hair is too short. These tests are getting more popular with higher paying jobs and high-profile employers. The length of the window of detection for hair follicle drug tests can last up to 90 days. As stated above, metabolites enter your bloodstream where they are processed by your organs and broken down. In the case of your hair, the THC metabolites become part of the cellular structure of your hair as it grows, therefore a hair follicle drug test essentially uses your hair as a rough timeline for drug use within the most recent three months.
The hairs are then sent to a laboratory where they are washed and cleaned of any environmental contaminants. The hair is first tested in a simple pass/fail of drug use. If negative, that’s that. If positive, then a second test using gas chromatograph is administered where the frequency and type of drug use can be detected.
Because of the length of the window of detection in hair follicle drug tests, it can take up to 5 days for your hair to grow enough for THC metabolites to be detectable.
Hair suitable for the hair follicle test is preferably taken from the crown of the head. If the hair is too short, body hair may be taken for analysis, however, these results are far less reliable because hair growth rates can vary wildly person to person.
Window of Marijuana Drug Test Detection Compared: Hair Vs. Urine Vs. Blood
How long does marijuana stay in your system? The primary difference between each of the drug tests is the window of detection.
- Blood drug tests are for the very recent past, roughly up to a week.
- Urine drug tests can trace up to 30 days or a little over a month
- Hair drug tests detect up to 90 days or three months
You may be shaken by these figures, dear reader, as 3 months is a very long window of detectability. If you’re worried about even semi-recent cannabis intake, read on!
Can An Occasional Smoker Pass A Hair Drug Test?
You may be thinking Can they detect every time I’ve smoked in the past three months? Even if I’ve only smoked weed a couple of times? To answer your question, yes. Hair follicle tests are meant to not only detect the presence of drug taking but also its frequency of use. A hair follicle test acts as a timeline in your hair of what your body was doing and ingesting as the metabolites are part of the cellular structure of your hair. Whoever might be administering the test may be forgiving if it’s a very infrequent occurrence, but it is important to understand your risk for detection.
Don’t be dismayed! There are steps you can take to help you pass even this most feared of drug tests.
Hair Follicle Drug Test: Shampoo Toxin Wash
Fortunately, for the occasional—or even more frequent—marijuana smoker there are ways to pass a hair follicle drug test. One is to naturally detox through clean living and exercise.
Chances are if you’re visiting this page you don’t have the luxury of a nice three-month detox. There are different ways to make your hair free of toxins that would cause you to test positive for drugs. Most common among them is the detox shampoo that can strip metabolites out of your hair and let you pass a hair follicle drug test.
What Does Detox Shampoo Do to Your Hair?
Hair detoxification shampoo was originally designed as a medical contaminant removal product to eliminate the toxins and toxin metabolites buildup from prescription medications and medications administered during surgeries. The detox shampoo has an acidic base that destroys toxin metabolites but does not damage your hair. It is not toxin specific, meaning that it eliminates metabolites from all toxin source—including marijuana!
What Hair Detox Shampoos and Products Actually Work?
We have worked with our sponsor PassYourTest.com to provide information and answers to your drug testing questions and they provide a great same day detox product. You can order over the phone or online and have their Folli-Clean Shampoo immediately shipped to you with overnight shipping available.
How To Clean Drugs Out Of Your Hair
Can You Pass a Hair Follicle Test by Bleaching Your Hair?
Drug metabolites are stored in your hair, making up the chemical and structural makeup of the hair shaft. These cannot simply be washed, scrubbed, or bleached out with conventional shampoos or cleaners. Only medical grade hair detoxification shampoos can remove the traces of drugs and the metabolites they produce from your hair.
What is the Best Detox Shampoo for Hair Follicle Drug Test?
The good folks at PassYourTest.com offer a supreme solution for the worst case scenario of drug testing situations: the Ultra Total Body Cleanse Program. Within this Cadillac package, are 10 day supply of herbs and supplements to flush your system of THC metabolites, the Folli-Clean Shampoo, detailed instructions and diet guidelines for maximum effectiveness for blood, urine, or hair follicle drug tests, and even three home test kits to make sure you’re in the clear before you have to get tested for real!
We hope this article was helpful. If you have any further questions about hair follicle drug tests, please call our sponsor Pass Your Test at 1-877-247-1354 or visit their site.
