Why is cutting of nails
and hair painless?
You may have noticed that whenever any part of our body
is cut, we experience tremendous pain but when we cut out hair or nails, we do
not feel any pain.
Nails are made by dead cells
We have, in all, twenty nails in our hands and feet. We
do not experience any pain in cutting them because they are composed of dead
cells. Nails are special structures of the body formed form the outer layer of
the skin. They are made up of a hard material called keratin. Keratin is a kind
of dead protein. The base of the nails is located inside the skin of the
fingers. The skin beneath the nails is similar to that in other parts of the
body, but it has flexible fibers. These fibers are attached to the nails and
keep them in a fixed position. Generally nails are thick but their roots inside
the skin are very thin. The portion near their roots is white and semi
circular. It is known as lunule. The fingernails grow at the rate of about 2
inches per year.
Nails are very useful for our body. They help us in
picking up things as well as in doing artistic work. They protect the fingertips
too. For ladies, nails are an object of beauty.
Similarly, hair is also a filamentous structure made of
keratin- a dead protein. The hair grows on our head about 13 millimeters each
month. We have about 100,000 hairs on our head. The base of the hair- the root,
as it is often called is in the form of a round bulb. About 50 to 100 hairs
fall every day. Each hair usually lasts for about 3 years and then it falls.
New hairs grow to replace the fallen ones. They grow out of pits in the skin
and are called foliates. And, it is the shape of these follicles that makes our
hair straight, wavy or curly.
Men and women from very ancient times have practiced the
custom of cutting and styling the hair. Hairdressing occupies a very important
position in grooming and beautification in present time.
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