Is every flake on your scalp dandruff?
What colour should healthy nails be?
What are nails made of and how do they grow?
Is it possible to influence the growth of nails?
When do nails grow faster or slower?
Is every flake on your scalp dandruff?
No. Different conditions cause flakes; some can be more serious than the others.
- With dandruff, the flakes only occur on the scalp and are white and dry.
- More serious is seborrheic dermatitis, a very itchy skin condition characterised by greasy or dry, yellowish scales on the skin of the scalp, forehead, face, folds around the nose, behind the ears, external ear canal, sometimes on the breastbone (sternum) or in skin folds. The same yeast fungus that causes dandruff causes this condition.
- The greasy, yellowish flakes on a baby's head are called 'cradle cap' or ‘baby’s cradle’.
- Flaking of the scalp is also possible with fungal infections. Often, hair breaks or falls out.
- The most serious condition concerning flakes is psoriasis, a condition with silver-coloured flakes and often redness and spots on the head, arms and legs.
What colour should healthy nails be?
Healthy nails appear pink in colour, but they're actually transparent. Around the nail you can see the pink quick. If you press your nail, it will turn pale because you are pushing away the blood from the fine blood vessels in the quick.
What are nails made of and how do they grow?
Nails are made from the protein keratin. The new nail originates in the matrix, which comprises specialised skin cells that multiply continuously. Young nail cells produce a lot of keratin that is stored inside the cell. As the cell fills with keratin, the activity of the cell gradually diminishes, resulting in the cell dying off. The 'dead' cell remainders (keratin), are pushed forward by the younger generations of matrix cells, allowing your nails to grow.
Is it possible to influence the growth of nails?
Many factors influence the growth of nails. Some factors encourage growth.
Nails do not stop growing. New nail material is constantly formed in the matrix. These new cells push forward the already formed nail. In other words, the nail very slowly glides forward over the quick.
Fingernails grow 2 to 3 mm a month. This means a new nail will take approximately six months to grow. Toenails only grow 1 to 1,5 mm a month. It takes approximately 12 months for the nail on your big toe is be renewed. .
Several factors accelerate or slow down growth.
When do nails grow faster or slower?
Nails grow faster:
- when it's warm weather,
- the younger a person is,
- mechanical pressure, i.e. when you play the piano or guitar regularly,
- nail biting, but also cutting, filing, polishing and scrubbing nails.
Nails grow slower:
- when there isn't enough blood circulation,
- when the quick doesn't contain enough blood,
- the older a person is,
- when the blood contains substances that stunt growth (e.g. the cytostatics in chemotherapy with cancer, hazardous substances from smoking),
- malnutrition,
- high fever.
A serious disease with high fever can stunt nail growth, you will often see a ridge running over the nails. This grows out as your nail lengthens.
