In recent years there has been considerable improvement in short-tandem repeat (STR) investigations of hair, which were previously marred by small amounts of nuclear DNA and its degradation. This study examined the suitability of two STR kits with shortened amplicons for the investigation of hairs from routine casework. The overall sucess rate was more than 20%. Furthermore, the usefulness of quantification with real-time ploymerase chain reaction as a screening method was demonstrated.