Qusetion about hair tests

[malone]

The best I can tell from what I've read is that hair grows pretty much 1/2 inch per month. So, when you have a hair test, and they take 1 and 1/2 inches of hair from you, this is supposed to give them the ability to trace back around 3 months for any drug use. My question is, which part of the hair represents the most recent drug use. It seems to me that the 1/2 inch closest to the hair tip (away from the scalp), represents the most recent use. So, if they cut 1 and 1/2 inches the 1/2 inch they cut that came from closest to the scalp would represent 3 months ago. Am I right in this thinking?

[IHrtHalucingens]

Your backwards. The hair closest to your scalp is the most recent month, the hair at the tip is from previous months. think about it your hair grows out of your head not from the tip. THink about people with dyed hair, the roots grow out as the natural color.

[malone]

So, if one were to snip a half inch from the tip of their hair before a hair test, and SWIM had only recently done coke, say a few times this past month, but none in the previous 10 years, SWIM should pass a hair test?

[Micklemouse]

Err, no. As IHrt correctly stated, hair grows from the scalp outwards so any recent usage will show up in the most recent growth, i.e the hair nearest to the skull. The only way round this would be to shave off all hair, including body hair. However, unless SWiYou're a swimmer or cyclist wanting to cut a few milliseconds off their times, or maybe have a phobia about body hair, this in itself will probably raise suspicions that SWiYou may have something to hide.

[Bajeda]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't they take hair from anywhere on your body?

So you can cut your hair but if they take it from somewhere else it is my understanding that drug use can still be detected.