Nails don’t breathe, they don’t sweat, they don’t eat,
and they don’t need a regular rest from enhancements.
First and foremost, nails provide a rigid backing to protect the delicate fingertip, which we use to grasp items and distinguish textures. The nails themselves allow us to pick up small items and scratch itchy skin.
HOW FAST DO NAILS GROW?
Nails grow 1/8 to ¼ inch per month, depending on a person’s age and health, and it takes 3 to 6 months for a nail to completely grow out from the matrix to the free edge. Nails grow faster during youth, in warm weather, during pregnancy, and when they are recovering from an injury. Additionally, nails on the right hand (or left, if you are left- handed), grow faster. Nails on the middle finger grow the fastest.
NAIL MYTHS DEFINED
The Nail plate is made of dead keratin, and contrary to popular opinion, does not require oxygen. The nail bed and matrix do, however, require oxygen because they are composed of live skin cells, but they are supplied by the numerous capillaries that feed the fingertip and nail bed with oxygen-rich blood.
Nails don’t sweat. Sweating is the body’s air conditioning system, cooling the body from the inside out. The nail bed, however, does not have sweat glands, so it can’t perspire. While the nails do contain a lot of moisture, about 18%, the moisture does pose a problem under enhancements. The moisture that causes problems under enhancements occurs when product lifts and moisture gets underneath; most commonly a result of waiting too long between maintenance (“fills” or rebalances), or ignoring a crack/break in the enhancement, or wearing too long of a length.
Nails don’t eat, and they don’t need vitamins or minerals. Because nails are made from dead protein, they cannot be strengthened by vitamin or mineral supplements. While severe vitamin and mineral deficiencies can affect the nails, Americans are rarely affected by genuine vitamin deficiency. On the other hand, a protein deficiency will affect nail health, yet most Americans consume three times more protein than the body needs.
Nails don’t need a rest from enhancements. The top layers of the nail are lightly buffed for application of enhancement product, yet this does not affect new growth. The matrix produces nail cells that are healthy to become the nail plate, no matter if the plate is protected by an enhancement, or exposed (no enhancement).
Enhancements & Aging
All enhancement products will ‘age’ with time, and become susceptible to becoming brittle, losing color stability and possibly service breakdown. This is why it is important to have your enhancements maintained regularly- and ‘rebalanced’- where new product is applied as needed to the entire nail; not just “filled-in” where there is new growth. Consistent quick “fill-ins” are why some ‘technicians’ soak off enhancements & apply a new set- however this is costly and unnecessary when proper rebalancing is performed.
By understanding what nails are made of, how they grow, and how they adapt to products, you can be much more enthusiastic about your enhancements.
You will also be able to recognize and dispel some of the common nail myths that are talked about now that you are “nail-educated”!
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