Do you ever wonder why your nails hurt so much when they grow? If you’re like most people, you probably already know the answer — your nails are growing! As they grow, your natural nail growth slows down. This means that as your nails get longer and thicker, they also grow slower. So even though your cuticles are tough, hard-working little soldiers that help keep your nail tip smooth and healthy, if they’re overworked and exposed to nail-pushing stressors for too long (like during periods or with prolonged stress in life), the result can be dry, brittle nails with ingrown corners and ragged edges. This blog post explains what causes nails to hurt when they grow and how you can avoid hurting them in the first place.
Why do my nails hurt when they grow?
The first reason nails grow is that they’re designed to grow. Nails are made of a substance called collagen, which is a protein found in the skin. Hair follicles are also made of collagen, which means that the hair on your nails is made of the same material as your skin. The nails are therefore part of your body that needs to grow as part of normal changes in growth.
What Causes Nails To Hurt When They Grow?
1) Cutting Nails
If you’re cutting your nails, the nail bed is exposed to the air and doesn’t have anything to protect it. This means that the nail bed dries out and cracks when you cut your nails. The cracked, dry nail bed can become infected a lot easier than if there were a layer of skin protecting it.
2) Sweating
The body naturally produces oils (sebum), which keep our skin smooth and healthy. If there are no pores in your nails, though, sweat can seep into them through capillary action. Sweat makes nails grow more quickly because it’s full of nutrients that help your body grow faster! But when you sweat without washing your hands after working out or exercising, this sweaty moisture can get trapped under the nail edge where it dries out the nail bed. As a result, porous nails can be susceptible to infection if they become infected with bacteria from dirty hands or sweaty socks.
3) Lack of Sleep
When we sleep, our body releases many hormones like melatonin and cortisol that help us stay alert and awake during the day so we can perform our daily tasks with ease and efficiency. But if we don’t sleep enough or for long enough each night (or if we don’t sleep well), these hormones can work against you by slowing down your natural growth cycle so that when you wake up in the morning, you feel less alert than usual — which makes it harder to get up and start your day.
4) Poor nail care practices
If you have nails that are dirty or exposed to harsh chemicals or detergents (like those used at the gym), these chemicals can damage the nail bed when they get into it. This can cause the nail bed to become infected easily or even lead to a fungal infection! If you don’t wash your hands after working out or exercising and then touch your nails with dirty fingers, they may also become infected because of this same sort of thing happening again.
5) Lack of vitamin D
The skin has many functions in our bodies like protecting against infections from bacteria found on surfaces we touch every day and regulating our immune system by fighting off germs in order for us not to get sick. If the skin doesn’t get enough vitamin D from sunlight, it won’t be able to do its job properly and the immune system can get weaker.
Why Do Nails Hurt When They Grow?
1) You’re not trimming your nails
Trimming your nails is a very important part of keeping them healthy and growing. If you don’t trim them, they can become too long, which can cause the nail to break or split. This will cause the nail to grow slower and make it harder for it to be strong and healthy.
2) Your nails are too short
Nails that aren’t long enough can also be an issue because they don’t have enough room to grow out of the tip of the nail. When this happens, it causes the nail bed underneath it to become infected because of how easily bacteria gets into the space between your skin and the nail. When this happens, you may get some sharp pains in your fingers or even a cut on your finger when you touch something that’s sharp or rough on your hand. If this happens often enough, you may even lose one or more of your fingers! (https://uniforumtz.com/)
3) Your nails are dirty
The dirt on our hands can also cause our nails to become infected if we don’t wash them after we touch something dirty or if we use harsh chemicals like those found at gyms or workplaces that hurt our skin (like those found at fast food places). We have so many germs living on our hands that they can easily get into our fingernails and make them become infected by causing bacteria that live in these spaces between our skin and fingernails to grow in there instead of getting cleaned out by our skin.
4) You’re not doing enough hand hygiene
Hand hygiene is very important because it is how we clean the germs and bacteria off our hands before we touch something with them. When we don’t do this, they can easily get into the spaces between your skin and fingernails and cause bacteria to grow in there. If this happens often enough, your nails can become infected.
5) Your nails are too soft or weak
Nails that are too soft or weak will not be able to hold strong and healthy nails because they won’t be able to support the weight of your nail as well as they should be able to. When this happens, the nail will become weak or break very easily if you ever accidentally hit it against something or if you try to pull on it a lot. This can also lead to some of the other issues that I just mentioned above happening as well. A strong nail won’t break when you accidentally hit it against something, so you won’t hurt yourself like that!
6) You’re not trimming your cuticles
Trimming your cuticles isn’t just for aesthetics! It is very important for keeping your nails healthy because it prevents dirt from getting into the spaces between your skin and fingernails where bacteria love to grow in there! If you don’t trim them, then you can easily get an infection from uncleanliness on your hands that will cause your nails to become weak or even fall off if you touch something unclean.
How To Avoid Hurting Your Nails While They’re Growing?
1) Don’t bite your nails
This is a very common trait in teenagers, but it is also a big reason that they do this. Biting your nails can cause the nail to grow into a weak and soft state which can be very dangerous for its health. Also, biting your fingernails can cause bacteria to get trapped between them and make them fall off because they are no longer strong enough to hold onto them.
2) Keep your nails short/short & filed down
If you have short nails, then you will find that if you let them grow too long then they will become weak or break easily if you accidentally hit them against something or if you try to pull on them a lot. This is especially important for girls because it’s difficult for guys to tell women their nails are too short! Also, filing down your nails can save some money in the long run because it saves money from having to get manicures and pedicures every month!
3) Use nail polish or gel polish on your nails
If you use nail polish or gel polish on your fingernails, then this will make it so that bacteria doesn’t get stuck between the layers of skin and fingernails between the spaces of our fingers and hands where they love to grow! It also makes our fingernails look nicer because we don’t have dirt under our nail beds that look gross.
4) Keep your hands clean when using public restroom facilities
This is a very important thing to remember because if you don’t keep your hands clean when using public restroom facilities, then bacteria can easily be transferred from the restroom into your hands which can cause infection and lead to weak nails. This is especially important for girls because it is hard for guys to tell women that their hands are dirty in public restrooms!
5) Cut your nails very short/short & filed them down
If you cut your nails very short or file them down, then this will make them so that they won’t get too long and become weak or break easily if you accidentally hit them against something or if you try to pull on them a lot. Also, this will save money in the long run because it saves money from having to get manicures and pedicures every month!
Conclusion
If you’re having problems with your nails growing too quickly, it may be because they’re being overworked and stressed. This can cause your cuticles to overwork and become dull and unattractive. To protect your nails while they’re growing, you can: Wear gloves when you’re doing nails, maintain healthy eating and drinking habits, use a good nail care product, get enough sleep, and keep stress levels down. Do you have any tips for preventing and slowing down nail growth? Whether you have short nails or long nails, please share your tips with us in the comments section below!