Can DNA be taken from hair?

[Chrisinhouston]

Before my mother passed away I cut a lock of her hair as a keepsake. Can DNA be taken from that sample?

[teyoung]

Not from clipped hair, only from the root. No matter, it is very expensive to extract and I do not believe any of the genealogical companies will even attempt it.

[Chrisinhouston]

Thanks, then I will just keep it as a memory of her.

[The_Contemplator]

There is this long blog post that explains in more detail the difficulties involved in trying to get DNA after a person has passed.

Basically the odds are not in your favor even if you had a viable sample.

[Hema-Neto]

I always had a gut feeling that Hollywood is to blame for over-exaggerating how easy it is to extract DNA, but I didn't think it would be THAT hard.

Good to see that people here have the knowledge and experience to be upfront about this.