A Conversation for Fingernails
Growth after death.
Taipan - Jack of Hearts Started conversation Sep 14, 1999
When you say 'long after death', do you mean long in time, or long in length?
Sorry to be analy retentive here, but I have been lead to believe, that growth after death is actually an illusion caused by the fact that it is the rest of the body which shrinks/gets eaten whatever, Therefore giving the appearance of skulls with long hair etc. and in fact growth after death is not strictly possible.
Growth after death.
John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!" Posted Sep 14, 1999
Mmm... you could be right (makes sense); in which case I meant the former. 
JTG
Growth after death.
Researcher 217726 Posted Jan 31, 2003
Please, I really need to know if the hair and nails will continue to grow at least for a short while after death?
Growth after death.
John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!" Posted Jan 31, 2003
Why not put the question to the community at "ask h2g2" - A148907?
JTG
Growth after death.
Researcher 235628 Posted Jul 24, 2003
They do keep growing for at least a little bit. This is because when your body dies it takes a while for the outlying cells to get the message and run out of energy resources, so they keep on producing heratin and so on and turning it into nails and hair. I have no idea how long this goes on for.
The cadavers we used for our dissection course at uni all had their heads shaved as part of the enbalming process (to save us all from headlice and for ease of access) and by the time we were dissecting them they had a certain amount of fuzz on their scalps.
Growth after death.
John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!" Posted Jul 24, 2003
No kidding! How fresh... that is, how recently deceased were your cadavers? Is this something that you would expect to take place as long as the cadavers are well preserved or do you suppose that the hair growth would only take place within a certain period after death?
JTG
Growth after death.
ford_imperfect Posted Nov 3, 2003
Do they really grow, do you have independant medical proof, or is it just that your prejudiced belief led you to believe that dermal shrinkage cannot possibly account for the production of the *Fuzz* which you describe? is it possible that subcutaneous fat breaks down before the epidermis, leading to protrusion of hair within the follicles?
Certainly up to 1mm of hair can be contained within the structure of the follicle, which would be exposed when the skin tightens.
I notice that no mention is made in your entry about Nails, since these grow at 1-2mm per week I would be very surprised if any appreciable increase in length were detectable, never mind measurement errors from the skin tightening around the cuticle...
Perhaps some scientific input from one who has studied this phenomenon would be helpful.
Growth after death.
John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!" Posted Nov 5, 2003
Why not contribute some research? I'd be surprised if there isn't something reputable enough for you somewhere out there in cyberspace.
Key: Complain about this post
Growth after death.
- 1: Taipan - Jack of Hearts (Sep 14, 1999)
- 2: John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!" (Sep 14, 1999)
- 3: Researcher 217726 (Jan 31, 2003)
- 4: John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!" (Jan 31, 2003)
- 5: Researcher 235628 (Jul 24, 2003)
- 6: John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!" (Jul 24, 2003)
- 7: ford_imperfect (Nov 3, 2003)
- 8: John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!" (Nov 5, 2003)
- 9: . (Nov 3, 2006)
More Conversations for Fingernails
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."