Ever wonder why your fingernails need clipping more frequently than your toe nails? In case you are a fan of regular grooming, you may be disappointed to find that your leg nails fail to keep abreast with the speedy growth of your finger cuticles. Read on to delve deep and unearth the reasons behind such growth to satisfy your curiosity.
How your Nails Grow
If you are unaware of the way in which cuticle growth occurs, you should know that it all starts with the nail matrix. The presence of keratin that is a protein in our cuticles ensures that nails have a tough texture. This is because all of your dead skin cells head toward the matrix and are elongated resulting in a new cuticle that is rich with keratin.
You will be interested to know that your rate of cuticle growth does in fact depend on a number of factors.
Factors Affecting Growth
The factors that influence the matrix spurt are your gender, age, food intake and even the amount of fitness you achieve on a regular basis. Your body’s metabolism and genes also matter as there is quite a bit of hereditary influence on the rate of cuticle growth. Scores of parent and child nail observations have led people to believe that genes are a crucial factor.
Seasons with a Spike in Growth
It is not a myth that you will need to take to the clippers a lot more often in the summer than any of the other seasons. If you had been thinking that it was just in your head, you can rest easy for fingernails do indeed spurt about three-four times quicker than leg nails in the summer season. Blood flow triggers nail growth. It is the main reason why some scientists believe that the greatest growth happens in the summer, at what time your blood circulation is the greatest.
Regular Use of Fingertips
Using your nails often tends to make them grow more and the impact cuticles receive when they come in contact with any surface is popularly known as terminal trauma. Since fingertips graze against hard surfaces all the time, the blood flow in the matrix is given an impetus. This augments the growth rate and it is understandable why your leg nails have a stunted growth.
The use of your toe nails is practically negligible as compared to your fingers. For instance, your fingertips almost always touch the keyboard as you type, rub against guitar strings or even the piano as you play music.
Slower Growth with Age
The cuticle growth is known to slow with age as the blood flow slows and the skin cell renewal rate falls. With age, some of your fingers gain a higher dose of oxygenated blood while other toes get a lesser supply; this affects the toe nail growth rate negatively.
Thus, in fact your cuticles can grow within a quarter of a year or even half a year; whereas, toe nails need over a year to fully grow.
