Fingernails

[pne]

I just had a sliver of fingernail come off the top of my left index finger. I never knew that fingernails have strata; so far, I'd only had complete bits (top-to-bottom) come off the front, but not a layer off the top!

I should probably clip my fingernails soon.

Comments

[pleiades829.livejournal.com]

The strata thing is something that I, as a female, am intimately acquainted with. When I paint my nails, the lacquer will adhere to the top layer of fingernail. If I then broke a nail, it'd sometimes not be a clean break because of the lacquer pulling up extra bits. This was doubly true if I was wearing false nails instead of just the polish.

Also, if you apply polish and remove it often, the chemicals weaken your nail bed, so you're a lot more likely to have raggedy strata breakage than a nice clean break.

[pthalo]

i guess this is a female thing, because i too, have noticed the strata. your fingernails actually have many thin layers. but i don't know how many.

[opal1159.livejournal.com]

Pianists have to keep short nails, but lately I decided to experiment and only trimmed my left hand (for teaching violin - but nails on the right hand can still interfere with the bow hold). Yesterday I tried playing piano and drove my sister nuts with the clickety-clack even though it didn't bother me. Actually, (colored) fingernail polish is very distracting since I see the colors flying around.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Speaking of nails and instruments reminded me of an acquaintance of mine - a guy, who had longish fingernails on his right hand, because it helped him play the guitar.

He said he also always had nail varnish with him as emergency "glue" in case a fingernail broke.