Nail it
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
The natural nail is a living organism. It is composed mainly of keratin, which is the same protein that is found in the hair and skin, only the keratin that is found in natural nails is harder.
Healthy nails should be whitish and translucent in colour with a pinkish colour showing through the nail bed.
The nail plate, the most visible part of the nail which you cut and file, is relatively porous to water. It allows water to past through it much easier than water would pass though normal skin of equal thickness.
The water content of the nail varies according to the humidity of it’s surrounding environment, i.e. if you are in an area with high humidity your nails will contain more water than if you are in a drier, less humid atmosphere.
Although it may look dry, a healthy nail has a water content of about 15 to 25 percent. Any less and nails become dry hard and brittle, any more, for example when soaked, and nails become water-logged, overly flexible and susceptible to damage.
To maintain optimal hydration of the nail, an oil based nail conditioner, rubbing the nail plate with oils such as:
- Vitamin E
- Jojoba oil
- Olive oil or
- Almond oil for example.
As nail-polishes coat the nail plate, they too reduce water loss and allows the nail to maintain flexibility.
The natural nail unit consists of many parts.
Probably the most important part is called the matrix, which is located at the base of the nail plate. It is a non-visible portion of the nail, just where the nail plate grows from the finger tip.
The matrix is where the natural nail is formed, and where the nerves and blood vessels that nourish the matrix cells are located. It is important that the matrix is well nourished and kept in a healthy condition as this is the only way that it can continue to create new nail cells.
If an individual is in poor health, has a nail disorder or disease, or has damaged the matrix through aggressive nail treatments, or injury for example, the growth of the nail can be affected. In some cases this damage can be permanent
The shape of a normal healthy nail plate, (its thickness, width, and curvature) depends on the length, width and curvature of the matrix. For example, a longer matrix produces a thicker nail plate and a highly curved matrix creates a highly curved free edge.
Nail growth varies, but in the average adult, it is about 1/10″ or 3.7 mm per month. Nails grow faster in warmer months, like summer, than they do in cooler months, like winter. Children’s nails grow more rapidly than those of an elderly persons.
Due to changing hormones, nail growth decreases rapidly during the last trimester of pregnancy. As do hormone levels in the body, the nail growth rate decreases even more dramatically after delivery, and then returns to normal.
It is a myth that prenatal vitamins accelerate nail growth; Nail growth rate will accelerate whether or not a woman takes these vitamins.
And finally of course, toenails grow slower than fingernails, but they are thicker and harder.
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Interesting tidbits.
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Works consulted:
Milady’s Standard Nail Technology
Related GC Post -> Nail Salons: Infection control
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