Whenever some part of our body is hurt or cut, we experience intense pain. But when we cut our nails and hairs for shaping and dressing, we don’t feel any pain. Do you know why it is so?
We have, in all, twenty nails on 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 from 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 fibres. These fibres are attached to the nails and keep them an in fixed position. Generally nails are thick but their roots inside the skin are very thin. The portion near their roots is white and semicircular. It is known as lunule. The finger nails grow at the rate of about 2 inches per year.
Nails are very useful for our body. They help us in picking up of things as well as in doing artistic work. They protect the fingertips too. For ladies, nails have an intimate relationship with their beauty. They decorate them by painting with different colours.
Similarly, hair is also a filamentous structure made of karatine – a dead protein. The hair grows on our head about 12 mm. 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 head hairs fall every day. Each head hair usually last for about 3 years and then it falls out to grow a new one. They grow out of pits in the skin and are called foliates. And it is the shape of these follicles which makes our hair straight, wavy or curly.
The custom of cutting and arranging the hair has been practiced by men and women from very ancient times. By 20th century hair dressing itself had become an occupation and practical art in large proportions.
Since both nails and hairs are composed of dead protein like karatine, we do not feel pain while we scrape our nails and dress our hair in a routine way.
