Hair Testing Reimagined: Mobile and Rapid Testing

By Bill Current, President and Founder of Current Consulting Group

This information is provided for educational purposes only. Reader retains full responsibility for the use of the information contained herein.

Testing hair samples for the presence of illicit drugs has been around for many years. Urine testing is more common, but it can’t do what a hair test can do, which is reveal long-term, lifestyle drug use. Only rapid hair tests have a window of detection of up to 90 days versus about a week for urine (and less than that for oral fluid).

So, who’s looking for a lifestyle drug test? Treatment centers. Insurance companies. Probation and parole officers. And even employers in highly safety-sensitive industries like transportation, particularly trucking companies, and nuclear facilities, or where employees handle cash transactions like casinos. Hair testing makes it nearly impossible for drug users to hide their lifestyle drug usage.

Traditionally, hair testing has been strictly a laboratory-based test. A sample is sent to a lab for analysis and some days later the result is available. However, in today’s intensely competitive hiring environment where employers don’t always have the luxury of waiting 2-3 days to get a result back in order to extend a job offer to the ideal candidate, rapid-result oral fluid or urine tests are becoming more commonly used.

In a 2024 survey of employers, 45% of respondents said they conduct rapid-result urine tests and 22% said they utilize rapid-result oral fluid tests.[i] In a 2024 survey of drug testing providers, 68% said they believe rapid-result testing will increase over the next three years.[ii]

So where does that leave hair testing? Actually, still in the game thanks to Wondfo USA’s “SAFElife Rapid Hair Processor™ and tests.”[iii] It’s a whole new way of looking at drug testing, and hair testing in particular. It’s so revolutionary, so unique that you can throw out any preconceived notions you might have about hair testing.

Let’s back up for a quick review of drug testing history. Dating back to the 1980s, employers, probation and parole officers, drug treatment professionals, and others were given one legitimate choice when it came to drug testing, a lab-based urine test (and later rapid-result urine devices). And lab-based urine testing has withstood the test of time, legally and scientifically. Until recently, it was the only drug test permitted by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) (in 2023, DOT issued final regulations for lab-based oral fluid testing). Lab-based urine testing is permitted in every state without exception and in some states is the only testing method allowed under specific circumstances (e.g., states with voluntary drug testing laws that defer to the DOT regulations for how tests must be conducted).

However, urine drug testing, either lab-based or rapid-result, has its limitations. Even though it works well in many circumstances, collections are not easy to perform and require myriad safeguards to protect the privacy of the donor and prevent numerous and often successful drug-test cheating methods. Drugs become detectable in a urine sample about 6-7 hours after usage and remain detectable for 3-4 days at the cutoff levels typically employed. Urine testing is currently the workhorse of the drug testing world.

Oral fluid testing is growing in popularity these days thanks in large part to DOT’s new regulations, which only apply to lab-based testing but have likely given rapid-result oral fluid testing a well-deserved boost in credibility. Drugs become detectable in an oral fluid sample within minutes after usage but only remain detectable for 1-2 days depending on the drug and even less than 24 hours for marijuana when using a rapid-result device. Oral fluid testing is ideal for situations where recent-use detection is critical such as post-accident and reasonable suspicion testing in the workplace.

But it’s not a matter of what’s wrong with other testing methods that makes rapid-result hair testing appealing. Both urine and oral fluid testing are great and they can clearly meet the test, so to speak, depending on the situation. It’s more a matter of what is unique about hair testing and how those attributes match up with specific needs. For instance, for individuals on probation or parole it is not uncommon for any kind of illicit drug use to be prohibited. When they come to the office to check in with their probation or parole officer, they are usually subject to a drug test. They know the drug test is coming and if they’ve been using drugs they may have come prepared to subvert the test using one of several drug-test cheating methods capable of masking the presence of drugs in that person’s urine. Or, knowing they will be subject to an oral fluid test, they abstain from drug use for a day or two so they can pass the drug test before resuming their prohibited drug use.

But with a rapid-result hair test, the donor has nowhere to hide, so to speak. If they’ve been using drugs regularly in between tests, the drugs will be present in their hair. And the rapid result makes it possible for the person administering the test to make an immediate determination of drug use in violation of that person’s probation or parole conditions while awaiting further lab confirmation. In this scenario, it’s not only rapid hair testing’s 90-day window of detection that meets a specific need, but the rapid-result makes it possible to act quickly to help the donor get back on a drug-free path. In actual use, many donors forego the hair collection and sign the admittance form on the spot.

In the workplace, a rapid-result test with a 90-day window of detection makes it possible for employers to avoid hiring a person for a safety-sensitive position whose drug use could lead to being impaired on the job and more likely to cause an accident that results in property damage and/or serious harm to co-workers, customers or the general public.

Even though DOT does not permit hair testing as part of its regulations, many trucking companies conduct hair tests by company authority and in compliance with applicable state laws while simultaneously conducting regulated urine tests. In 2022, the University of Central Arkansas analyzed over 900,000 urine and hair test samples (476,304 urine samples and 460,568 hair samples) from companies in the trucking industry to compare the two testing methods. Quoting from a report published by The Trucking Alliance:

“The results of the 2017-2021 data analysis showed that hair testing reveals:

• 25x more opioid users,
• 23x more cocaine users, and
• 13x more amphetamine/methamphetamine users.

“In 2022, hair testing uncovered 10x more drug positives. Crosstab statistical analysis indicates:

• Hair has a significantly higher positivity rate compared to urine.
• Hair detects significantly more cocaine, opioids, amphetamines/methamphetamines, marijuana, ecstasy, and PCP.

“Further, hair testing uncovered more positive drug tests across every drug, for every examined age group, and in every U.S. state.”[iv]

The Trucking Alliance also reported that an earlier study concluded that “approximately 276,500 commercial truck drivers out of approximately 3.5 million truck drivers would be disqualified if subjected to a more rigorous drug test.”[v]

With all that in mind, now consider the advantages of a rapid-result test with the extended window of detection that only hair testing offers. When long-term, lifestyle drug use detection is needed hair testing is ideal. When being able to act quickly based on a drug test result, rapid-result testing is ideal. And Wondfo USA’s SAFElife Rapid Hair Processor and Tests™ offers both.

What to Look For

With any drug testing method, the key attributes to look for include:

• Is it legal where it will be used?
• Is it accurate at detecting the drugs you are concerned about?
• Is it practical? In other words, will it meet your needs?

Wondfo USA’s SAFElife Rapid Hair Processor and Tests™ offers the following features:

• A comprehensive test menu of 17 assays
• Customizable panel options
• Easy-to-follow collection procedures
• Accurate results in 10 minutes
• A 90-day window of detection
• Ability to detect Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol or “parent” THC accurately and quickly
• A high level of accurate and reliable performance data

These attributes are important because it makes it possible to rely on rapid-result hair testing with the same level of confidence historically applied to urine or oral fluid testing.

For a first-hand account from someone who has performed thousands of tests using the Wondfo USA SAFElife Rapid Hair Processor and Tests™ visit CurrentConsultingGroup.com and read about Jessica Graham’s experience as the Supervisor for Taylor County Texas Adult Probation.[vi]

State Laws & Policy Updates

Regarding the legal status of rapid-result hair testing, most states permit hair testing and rapid-result testing for criminal justice, treatment and workplace purposes. However, it would be prudent to check local laws and regulations before implementing a hair testing program. When researching applicable laws, look for any language regarding specimen type, where analyses must occur (lab vs. on-site via a rapid-result device), collection procedure requirements, confirmation testing of initial screen presumptive positives, and result reporting requirements.

Also, update your existing drug testing policy to not only include hair testing but also specifically rapid-result testing. The policy should describe how hair testing will be conducted and the possible consequences for testing positive with a rapid-result test.

Finally, anyone performing a rapid-result hair test with the Wondfo USA SAFElife Rapid Hair Processor and Tests™ should complete the proper training.

Conclusion

In response to market demands, drug testing is changing. Accuracy, legality and practicality are as important as ever, but organizations and companies that conduct drug testing are looking more and more for fast results that make drug testing more efficient and cost-effective. Rapid-result drug testing will continue to grow in popularity. And for those seeking a lifestyle drug use test result, rapid-result hair testing makes a lot of sense.

The Wondfo USA SAFElife Rapid Hair Processor and Tests™ makes both rapid and hair testing possible.

©2010-2024 The Current Consulting Group, LLC – No portion of this article may be reproduced, retransmitted, posted on a website, or used in any manner without the written consent of the Current Consulting Group, LLC. When permission is granted to reproduce this article in any way, full attribution to the author and copyright holder is required.

[i] Current Consulting Group 2024 Employer Drug Testing Survey. https://www.currentconsultinggroup.com/current-survey/

[ii] Current Consulting Group’s 2023 Drug Testing Industry Survey. https://www.currentconsultinggroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2023-Drug-Testing-Industry-Survey-2.pdf

[iii] SAFElife Mobile Hair Processor. file:///C:/Users/bcurr/Downloads/SAFElife-Mobile-Hair-Processor-20240510.pdf 

[iv] New 2022 Research Proves Hair Tests Are More Effective for Truck Driver Drug Screenings. The Trucking Alliance. July 2023. https://truckingalliance.org/new-2022-research-proves-hair-tests-are-more-effective-for-truck-driver-drug-screenings/

[v] Drug Testing in the U.S. Trucking Industry: Hair vs. Urine Samples and the Implications for Policy and the Industry. Journal of Transportation Management. January 2020. https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1431&context=jotm

[vi] Rapid Hair Testing: Is the Future of Drug Testing Already Here? Current Consulting Group. August 2024. https://www.currentconsultinggroup.com/rapid-hair-testing-is-the-future-of-drug-testing-already-here/