Nails - Matikuku
By Molly Cassidy
Fingernails make it easier to scratch, and remove things from your clothing however the nail bed and the nail cuticle of your fingernails are actually alive.
You may think your nails are alive with how they grow and when you drop something on your big toe or catch your finger in a draw a bruise may appear from under the nail. But your nails are actually dead because they are made from dead cells.
Nails themselves are made of Keratin this is the same substance that helps to create your hair and the top layer of your skin.
Where your nail meets your skin is your cuticle. Cuticles help to protect the new nail as it grows out from the nail root. The lunula is the pale half circle just above your cuticle. Your lunula is the easiest to see on your thumbnail.
When cells of the root of your nail grow the new nail pushes out the old nail. The newly form nail then slides along the nail bed, the flat surface of your nails. The nail bed sits on top of tiny blood vessels that feed the nail bed and that's what gives your nails their pink colour.
Your fingernails grow slowly in fact they grow one-tenth of an inch which is 2.5 millimetres each month. It will take about 3-6 months to completely replace a nail.
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