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Asked by to Amy, Anita, Daryl, Nimesh, Sandra on 20 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
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Anita Thomas answered on 20 Jun 2014:
Human nails, like horses hooves and cat’s claws are not alive. Inside or underneath each nail/hoof/claw is living tissue, however, which makes the nail etc. Damaging this tissue can really hurt!
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Amy Monaghan answered on 20 Jun 2014:
Human hair and human nails are made of exactly the same thing – keratin. As Anita has said his is also the same as animal hooves or claws. Nails are not made up of live cells and have no feeling, but they are there to protect sensitive tissues underneath. If you damage the nail bed – where the nail is produced – then you will have a deformed nail for a while as the cells producing it cannot function properly. I did this once when I shut my thumb in a car door!
Amy
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Daryl Jones answered on 26 Jun 2014:
Hey alexgreasby!
Not alive!But it’s pretty cool- sometimes hair and finger nails can continue to grow even after we die…how weird is that?!
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Anita commented on :
A dog chewed two of my fingers years ago. I still have a deformed nail on one finger, as the nail bed was damaged. 🙁