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Changes to long-term secretion of the glucocorticoid cortisol are considered to play a crucial role in mediating the link between chronic stress and the development of numerous immune system related diseases. However, obtaining valid assessments of long-term cortisol levels is difficult due to limitations of previous measurement strategies in blood, saliva or urine. This review discusses evidence on a recent methodological development assumed to provide a considerable advancement in this respect: the analysis of cortisol in hair. Being incorporated into the growing hair, hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) are assumed to provide a retrospective reflection of integrated cortisol secretion over periods of several months. Over the past years, supportive evidence has accumulated regarding several fundamental characteristics of HCC, including its validity as an index of long-term systemic cortisol levels, its reliability …