10 unnecessary ridiculous facts about your nails

We would like them to look nice. They paint them in cheerful colors. They treat them to manicures. But of course, your nails serve many more purposes than just decorative ones.

What do you actually know about those hard things? 

1. But let's get a bit gross: your nail plate (yes, that visible thing on your finger) is made up of dead tissue. They grow because they are pushed up from the base of the nail by young, new cells that then die off and move forward. It suddenly sounds a bit creepy.

2. Did you know that nails are made of protein? Keratin to be precise, which is also an important component of hair.

3. The nail on your index finger grows faster than that of your pinky. Yes, the growth rate of a nail depends on the length of the finger bone it is on. Weeeeuw.

4. Fingernails grow four times faster than toenails. And men's nails also grow faster than women's nails, so it's no wonder that Mr. is often busy with that nail clipper.

5. During an economic crisis, nail polish sales skyrocket. Between 2008 and 2011, global nail polish sales increased by 43 percent. Probably because you can spruce yourself up in a cheap yet noticeable way.

6. The man with the longest fingernails ever was the (now deceased) American Melvin Boothe. His nails were a total of 9.85 meters long.

7. A detached nail takes one month to fully regrow.

8. The nail polish that you and I know was made possible by the development of, you guessed it: car paint!

9. Do your nails often break? The hardness of your nails is largely genetically determined. But stress or health problems can also cause your nails to weaken.

10. The function of our nails? To protect the nerve endings of the fingertips and to ensure that no calluses form. Your nails are also handy for scratching or picking things loose. Yes, evolution has determined: we need them and that's why we have them.