WHY IS CUTTING OF NAILS AND HAIR PAINLESS?

NAILS AND HAIR -

You may have noticed that whenever any part of our body is cut, we experience tremendous pain but when we cut out our hair or nails, we do not feel any pain. Do you know why is it 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 formes 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 fibers. These fibers are attached to the nails and keep them in a fixed position. Generally, nails are thick but their roots in 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 make 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 the present time.