Haircutting for Drug Test - What would you do?
 

I just got a new position with a great company and they sent me to have a drug test - a hair drug test. I've never had one before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

I should have known that it was not going to go well when the medical assistant that explained the test to me told me that this was her first one and she had just finished watching a DVD on how to conduct one.

She asked me to take the clip out of my hair because she needed to pull from the crown of my head. I was thinking pull...good...a couple strands..no biggie! After all, they can get DNA from 1 strand of hair.

The next thing I hear is the sound of scissors cutting a big chunk from the crown of my head. I'm not talking about 5 strands. There were probably 30 to 40 strands of hair in the clump that she cut out. I was speechless...First of all, my hair is thin enough and I need every piece I have!!!

So ladies, if you knew this was the protocol ahead of time (unlike me!), and it was a must for an incredible job, would you do it?

I think they can give you a drug test another way.

A hair follicle test is practically foolproof.

Sister, 30-40 hairs really isn't all that much in the grand scheme of the numbers of hair on your head, even if it is a bit thin. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you don't believe in getting your hair cut it's not like you went out and got the latest hairdoo or anything like that.

Give them under armpit hair.

EEEWWW! I don't have any.....:lol

You should have grown one side just for the occasion. :killinme

Me thinks she didn't know what she was doing.

However, I'm all for drug testing, and since kits can be bought to alter the testing of urine, there isn't one for hair, thus it's more reliable.

ROFL!!!

Too funny!

I would have told them that they will have to get the hair from somewhere else. Arm hair for example.

No can do. The hair on your arm is only there for about three months at a time.

Then that is all they need, what if someone goes to them with short hair?

"Sorry, your hair isn't long enough for us to look back 5 years to see if we can flag you for some meds you took back in '02." :ernie

Obviously, if someone has extremely short hair, the testing can't be done that way, but for most, it can.

Also, I'm not sure they can do it with arm hair as the samples would be quite small.

Emma this is a sick thought.:killinme

Thanks Prax.

A hair sample gives them a 3 month sample of your timeline.

If you smoked POT or took many other drugs it will be found in the hair.

They can even guess as to how long ago you did the drug.

That is why in the mid 1990's many major league baseball players decided to go bald. Many still shave their heads today.

Many started growing hair again since they aren't tested so much now.

It was not a fad as many folks thought.

They would shave their entire bodies.

They would file their nails as to not leave clippings of their nails on the floor.

Why?

So a reporter or MLB rep could grap the clippings and save them for a future test.

See hair and nails can be tested years later.

Those players did not want someone testing them 10 years later to see what was in their system.

When testing for the Steroids they used years earlier could not be detected because there was not a test to detect that steroid.

Neckstadt

It's only hair. It will grow back, but I would in no uncertain terms tell them they didn't need to remove a big clump of hair like that and would limit the amount they could take.

No need to remove that much hair in my opinion.

I would be upset if they were taking that much hair from the top of my head. I would ask if there was another option. Sounds like a new policy since the lady didn't know what she was doing. If enough people complain, they might decide hair follicle testing isn't worth it. (Or maybe the lady just needs better training.)

Why do they keep saying hair "follicle" test yet they are cutting the hair?

The hair follicle is in the skin.

Good point. The original poster didn't say follicle.

But why? This way they can't touch the hair on my head and I will be very holy because of it. Holiness is my goal.

Right... and follicle was used by some here but I am talking specifically about the website that is supposed to give us all of the educated information.

They call it a hair follicle test yet then they cut the hair leaving the follicle.

I also have really thin hair, and would be quite upset, since there is none to spare. My current job required a drug test but it was a swab inside your cheek and then hermetically sealed (sure...) and placed in envelope to be mailed to the lab.

There was a urine test for the previous job. If you've had to do this, it's an experience. The door to the restroom outside the nurse's station is left ajar to insure you don't alter the sample.
Then they called, and I had to have it redone. They said I drink too much water. I had to cut back on the h2o and visit them again!!!

Since I've never done drugs I wasn't concerned. Obviously this is a test I passed !:thumbsup

Hey, what happened to the avatar? I liked it.

I would rather our company do the hair test than the urine test... but what ever I have to do to keep my job... we've given up a lot of freedoms with our war on drugs and war on terror. But whether free or slave, they can't take away my Jesus.

Jerry Moon