When people die, can their hair and nails keep growing?

Question

I think I've read this somewhere that your hair and nails keep growing after death. Is this true? Thanks for your answers.

Answer 1

nope.

Answer 2

no.

Hair and fingernails aren't actually growing. Dead is dead. The only things growing after you're dead are worms, bacteria, and flowers. What is happening, however, is that the skin around the hair and fingernails will desiccate (i.e., lose water) and thereby shrink. When the skin shrinks, it retracts, making hair and fingernails look longer, as if they'd grown.

Think of it this way: a fifty foot tree grows in ten feet of swamp water. The visible part of the tree is 40' tall. A few months later, a drought causes the water level to drop five feet. Now the visible part of the tree is 45' tall. Did the tree grow in a drought? No, but you can see why people would think it did.

Hope that helps, and remember, don't try this at home!

Answer 3

It's not so much that your hair and nails are still growing, than it is your skin is shriveling up and decomposing. It's impossible for any part of your body to function, or grow after death. True, it may seem like their still growing, but it's really just dead flesh beggining to decompose, and shriveling up and away from the nails, hair, and everything else.

Answer 4

It's a common urban legend that hair and fingernails keep growing after death. They may look like they are growing a little, if so it is actually the skin receding that causes the effect.

Snopes.com is a great website to look to for debunking urban legends. The link to their page about this topic is below.

Answer 5

no. Hair and fingernails are no longer surely transforming into to be. ineffective is ineffective. the only subjects transforming into to be as quickly as you're ineffective are worms, bacteria, and vegetation. what's happening, in spite of the reality that, is that the floor around the hair and fingernails will desiccate (i.e., lose water) and thereby shrink. at the same time as the floor shrinks, it retracts, making hair and fingernails seem longer, as though they had grown. think of of of it this type: a fifty foot tree grows in ten ft of swamp water. The considered ingredient of the tree is forty' tall. some months later, a drought reasons the water factor to drop 5 ft. Now the considered ingredient of the tree is forty 5' tall. Did the tree develop in a drought? No, yet you will hit upon why people ought to think of of it did. choose that helps, and undergo in innovations, do no longer attempt this at residing residing house!

Answer 6

Yes .. and no.

It's not that the hair and nails grow, it's that the skin and body shrink and contract, making the hair and nails extend further ... in a sense, growing, although they're technically not grown at all.

Answer 7

I suppose I discovered through university or in my studying that the hair and nails do come to be longer, however this isn't as a result of growth, which might be unattainable post-mortem. Alternatively, it is a shrinkage of the epidermis which pulls again the cuticles and scalp.

Answer 8

When someone dies the body becomes dehydrated which result to shrinking. Hair and nails appear to have grown over a period of time because of this phenomenon. But its just the dessication of the dead body.. Nothing special.

Answer 9

Their hair and nails do not keep growing.
What happens is that the surrounding tissues recess, and it makes it appear that the nails and hair have grown.

Answer 10

i dont think so bcoz growin process occurs due to biological process in body cells if we die all process stops so how can they grow
i may be wrong but i think no growth is there

Answer 11

Its not that your nails and hair are growin...OH WAIT EVERYONE ELSE ALREADY SAID THAT A BILLION TIMES. Please people dont post just to post..If someone answered it dont put the same thing down sheesh!