The science behind the myth consists of your body dehydrating after you die witch shrinks your body a little bit (Natural Clocks). This website talks about your body dehydrating and how it affects the way your nails appear. Also as your body shrinks your skin gets pulled back and the nail looks like it has grown. In the image everything stops functioning and begins to de-hyrate after you die. But the nail (above the sterile matrix) stays the same length giving the optical illusion that it is still growing.
Although it appears that the nail has grown it really hasn't just the skin itself gets smaller and the nail and hair stay the same length. This gives an optical illusion that the nail and hair have grown. Fingernails and hair do not continue to grown after one's death.
This website confirms that hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after one's death.
Image from
8 comments:
Make sure that your sources are hyper linked so you get all of the points.
that weird i thought they would have kept growing because of the blood that is still in your body.
Your blog is interesting. I did not know that this was even a myth
Good information. I have heard this myth before and I have discussed it with my brother who works taking tissue from deceased people for Life Line of Ohio. Like your blogs states, it is an optical illusion. Your body is no longer being hydrated with fluids and your skin appears to shrink. It is more apparent at the nails and facial hair.
Wow, I would have thought that they would continue to grow because the blood in your body is still there and that hair would continue to grow because the roots are still inside of the head
I never knew that when you die, you shrink and so it looks like your finger and townails grow. You do need to hyper link your stuff though.
This was a very good blog. I learned a lot about the nail growth myth. I had never really thought about peoples nails and hair growing when they are dead. Like you blog states, it is just an allusion. Good Job!
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