Physiology of nails

Ok, so what ARE nails? The answer is they are hairs at the end of your fingertips. Serious. Nails and hair are basically made up of the same protein structure called "keratin" (albeit the keratin in nails are tougher than hair). The nail is made up of the following parts:

• The nail plate -- aka the "nail" -- is the hard covering made up of keratin
• The whitish part that grows out of the finger - we call it the "free edge"
• The nail groove (or paronychium) is the flesh edges at the sides of the nail
• The hyponychium is the layer of skin under the nail which can be seen if you look down the underside of the free edge
• The cuticle (or eponychium) is the fold of the skin at base of nail
• Lunala (or what we commonly call the "half moon") is a cresent shaped whitish area at the base of the nail
• Nail bed is the flesh or connective tissues underneath the nail (MANY nerve endings are here. So it will hurt -- and bleed -- if your manicurist cuts too deep or pokes too deep)

So how fast do nails grow? Well, they only grow 1cm every 100 days (or 1mm everyday). For those unlucky fellas who lost their fingernails...expect full regrowth only after 4-6 months. Toenails take longer: about 1-1.5 YEAR. (So try not to lose them, ya?)