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Hair and Nails - A Woman’s Vanity? - Printable Version

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Hair and Nails - A Woman’s Vanity? - cyrano - 05-15-2008 09:59 AM

By: Madeline Ellis

There are two things that all women want. Do you know what they are? Here are a few hints for Number one! The first thing all women want has a rock-musical by the same name and countless songs have it in their titles: from Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s “Almost Cut My Hair” to Led Zeppelin’s “The Girl I Love She Got Long Wavy Black Hair”. The Cowsills performed a song about it; the lyrics went like this:

“Oh give me a head with hair
Long, beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen”

That’s right – BEAUTIFUL HAIR! Hairstyles play a large role in a woman’s appearance. Women often use hairstyles to make a statement or to attract a mate. There is an entire industry dedicated to the care, preservation, and presentation of hair.

The true purpose of hair, however, is certainly not cosmetic. Hair was meant to provide protection against heat loss by trapping air adjacent to the skin and create insulating layer. Men, especially those living in extremely cold or windy areas, use their beards and hair to help keep them warm. Many mammalian species produce thick, winter coats for protection to adverse conditions.

Hair fiber forms a barrier which helps protect the epidermis from abrasions and harsh UV rays. The specialized hair of the eyebrows and eyelashes give protection to the eyes by sweeping away dust, debris and fluids. The hairs in our nasal passages trap harmful, airborne particles, preventing them from reaching the lungs.

The hair follicle plays an important role in the survival of mammals. The total number of hair follicles for an adult is estimated at five million, with one million of those being on the head. The only external areas of the body lacking hair follicles are the soles of the feet and palms of the hands. Some hair follicles are surrounded by a highly developed network of nerves which provide useful information about our environment.

Here are a few hints for Number 2. The record in the Guinness Book of World Records for one of these is over 28 inches! Health professionals can look at these to get indications of health problems. Give up? Every woman wants attractive, healthy nails!

Women love their nails; trimming, filing, and polishing them to perfection. They go to professionals for manicures and pedicures. The way they carry on about their nails, one could conclude nails to be unnecessary parts of our body that are decorated for vanity’s sake. But that isn’t the case.

Nails aren’t just for decorating; there really is a true, evolutionary purpose for nails. Nails serve as protection for the fingertips and toes. Nails assist in picking up objects, much in the same way that birds use their beaks or an animal uses their claws. Most animals have some form of nail; dogs and cats have a sharpened, curved nail, or claw, and horses hooves are a thick, round stump of a fingernail.

The nail is made up of long fibers of keratin, which is a hardened protein also found in our skin and hair. A fingernail consists of several parts including the nail plate, the nail bed, the cuticle, the nail folds, the lunula, and the matrix. Fingernails grow from the matrix. As new cells grow in the matrix, the older cells are pushed out, taking on the flattened, hardened form of the fingernail (nail plate).

Fingernails grow four times faster than toenails. The fingernails on the right hand of a right-handed person grow faster than those of the left hand and vice versa. Nail growth is related to the length of a finger, making the nail on the middle finger the fastest growing. The average growth rate for nails is 0.1 mm each day, or one centimeter in 100 days, although nails grow faster in the summer, they also grow faster in males and in young people.

The longest reported fingernails are that of Lee Redmond. The Guinness Book of World Records shows the total length of all her nails to be 24 ft. and 7.8 inches. The longest single nail is that of her left thumb which measures 31.5 inches.

Aside from cosmetic, both HAIR and NAILS have a definite purpose. It is important to take care of our hair and nails, not for our own vanity but for our health. The best way to accomplish this is to maintain a healthy lifestyle which includes a well-balanced diet of fresh foods and lots of water. Make sure your diet provides all the vitamins and nutrients your body need, including the B-complex vitamin biotin, which has been shown to aide in hair and nail health.