diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ebd780986..8be765390 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 
 Changes:
 
-- Added `arrayShuffle(input)` to shuffle an array into a new output
+- `isHex(value)` will now explicitly check for only `0x${string}` (No `String` classes)
+- Added `arrayShuffle(array)` to shuffle an array into a new output
 
 
 ## 6.9.1 Jun 19, 2021
diff --git a/packages/util-crypto/src/address/decode.ts b/packages/util-crypto/src/address/decode.ts
index fd2865dfe..e19c9a6f2 100644
--- a/packages/util-crypto/src/address/decode.ts
+++ b/packages/util-crypto/src/address/decode.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,6 @@ export function decodeAddress (encoded?: string | Uint8Array | null, ignoreCheck
 
     return decoded.slice(ss58Length, endPos);
   } catch (error) {
-    throw new Error(`Decoding ${encoded as string}: ${(error as Error).message}`);
+    throw new Error(`Decoding ${encoded}: ${(error as Error).message}`);
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/util-crypto/src/key/DeriveJunction.ts b/packages/util-crypto/src/key/DeriveJunction.ts
index 293166d6b..7a71e2699 100644
--- a/packages/util-crypto/src/key/DeriveJunction.ts
+++ b/packages/util-crypto/src/key/DeriveJunction.ts
@@ -60,13 +60,11 @@ export class DeriveJunction {
   public soft (value: number | string | BigInt | BN | Uint8Array): DeriveJunction {
     if (isNumber(value) || isBn(value) || isBigInt(value)) {
       return this.soft(bnToHex(value, BN_OPTIONS));
+    } else if (isHex(value)) {
+      return this.soft(hexToU8a(value));
     } else if (isString(value)) {
-      return isHex(value)
-        ? this.soft(hexToU8a(value))
-        : this.soft(compactAddLength(stringToU8a(value)));
-    }
-
-    if (value.length > JUNCTION_ID_LEN) {
+      return this.soft(compactAddLength(stringToU8a(value)));
+    } else if (value.length > JUNCTION_ID_LEN) {
       return this.soft(blake2AsU8a(value));
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/util/src/is/hex.ts b/packages/util/src/is/hex.ts
index defec0f70..f0d050e20 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/is/hex.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/is/hex.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 // Copyright 2017-2021 @polkadot/util authors & contributors
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-import { isString } from './string';
-
 const HEX_REGEX = /^0x[a-fA-F0-9]+$/;
 
 /**
@@ -20,13 +18,10 @@ const HEX_REGEX = /^0x[a-fA-F0-9]+$/;
  * isHex('0x1234', 8); // => false
  * ```
  */
-// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-types
-export function isHex (value: unknown, bitLength = -1, ignoreLength = false): value is string | String {
-  const isValidHex = value === '0x' || (isString(value) && HEX_REGEX.test(value.toString()));
-
-  if (isValidHex && bitLength !== -1) {
-    return (value as string).length === (2 + Math.ceil(bitLength / 4));
-  }
-
-  return isValidHex && (ignoreLength || ((value as string).length % 2 === 0));
+export function isHex (value: unknown, bitLength = -1, ignoreLength = false): value is `0x${string}` {
+  return (typeof value === 'string' && (value === '0x' || HEX_REGEX.test(value)))
+    ? bitLength === -1
+      ? ((value.length % 2 === 0) || ignoreLength)
+      : (value.length === (2 + Math.ceil(bitLength / 4)))
+    : false;
 }
diff --git a/packages/util/src/u8a/toU8a.ts b/packages/util/src/u8a/toU8a.ts
index 43d9273a8..8b8fd8894 100644
--- a/packages/util/src/u8a/toU8a.ts
+++ b/packages/util/src/u8a/toU8a.ts
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ import { stringToU8a } from '../string/toU8a';
 export function u8aToU8a (value?: number[] | Buffer | Uint8Array | string | null): Uint8Array {
   if (!value) {
     return new Uint8Array();
+  } else if (isHex(value)) {
+    return hexToU8a(value);
   } else if (isString(value)) {
-    return isHex(value)
-      ? hexToU8a(value)
-      : stringToU8a(value);
+    return stringToU8a(value);
   } else if (Array.isArray(value) || isBuffer(value)) {
     return new Uint8Array(value);
   }