hair and nails: correlation between growth and strength?

[indigonight]

I wonder whether nail growth/strength matches hair growth/strength?
I know they are both supposedly made of keratin....

[spidermom]

I sometimes feel that my body doesn't pour resources into both nails and hair growth at the same time, as when one is going strong, the other needs work.

[gmdiaz]

I have always had thick hair and weak, brittle nails.

I did see some improvement in my nails with taking supplements. My nails have good color and are very healthy and they aren't flaking off little layers on the ends much anymore but they are not strong by any means.

[Sissy]

My nails grow medium and so does my hair. I voted that option. My nails need to be clipped once a week in order to keep them very short like how I like them :)

[Roseate]

I have thick, coarse, strong hair and relatively weak, peeling nails. Both grow at an average rate.

My nails used to be stronger, but they have been going downhill for the last year or so; fortunately my hair has not been affected. I'd much rather have strong hair than strong nails. I don't really mind having short nails, but I don't want short hair!

[tralalalara]

My nails and hair have always grown very fast, but with medium strength.
It was always a bother in orchestra to trim and file my nails every two days, because I liked to keep them as long as possible without getting in the way.

[xoxophelia]

I wonder whether nail growth/strength matches hair growth/strength?
I know they are both supposedly made of keratin....

I was wondering about this as well. Also for Keratosis Pilaris sufferers such as myself. The bumps we get on the skin is just lumps of keratin! Oo....

Some of my nails are solid and unbendable. But my middle and pointer break a lot. I think it is from typing haha. My hair doesn't really get splits. Dunno about the growth rate.

[elina333]

My nails are really weak but they grow pretty fast! My hair is fine and weak but grows pretty slow... :(

[AJoifulNoise]

I have strong, fast growing hair and weak, fast growing nails.

[enfys]

My hair rocks, but my nails are terrible.

If I had any sense I'd be on a nail board...Sally Hansen is all that holds them on. A week without it and they are snapping and peeling all over the place.

[windinherhair]

I have medium thickness hair and weak nails. My nails are soft and bend easily. I would say my hair is much stronger!

[RavennaNight]

My nails are always ragged. But I think it also is an occupational thing. My job isn't conducive to nail growth. If I could hand the box-handling and lifting and stockroom to someone else and never touch it, then maybe I would actually grow decent nails. But since that isn't happening at my job anytime soon, short raggy nails it is.:(

[verene]

My hair is fine, but healthy, with an average growth rate. My nails usually grow slowly, and are very weak - they just peel off. Some of that may be that I take better care of my hair than my hands. I can tie my hair up and out of the way of damage; my hands are usually being plunged into it.

[Eden Iris]

My hair is fine and fragile; I frequently use my nails as tools when I can't find a screwdriver. My hair grows at an average rate (0.5 inch a month, more or less), and my nails grow insanely fast.

[ravenreed]

I have very thin, brittle nails, but they grow fairly fast. My hair averages about 5/8" growth a month. My hair is average thickness. If my hair was as brittle as my nails, I would be bald.

[longforhim]

My hair and nails grow about medium and seem to be fairly strong.

[Laylah]

I guess I'm lucky... thick hair and (almost) unbreakable nails. I've never had a nail break completely off before, and even chips/splits are pretty rare. LOL I've even caused significant damage to a fingernail clipper trying to trim them... I don't have a nail care regimen or anything, but I never paint them and always moisturize them whenever I moisturize my hands.

[Hiriel]

My hair grows quite medium quickly, and I suppose my nails do too, even though I'm sure I don't know how fast nails usually grow. I have to cut them once a week or so at least (I detest having long nails). I'm not really sure how strong they are, but they're not brittle, and never break. However, they're quite soft. If they get some length to them, I can bend them over very easily. I don't really know what that means :P
But they don't break :)

[Konstifik]

I have slow, thin and fine hair. My nails are however the complete opposite; thick, strong and grow like weed. I cut them one day, next week they're claws again. I wish it was the other way!
Love long hair, but not so fond of long nails...

[rosyaddie]

All my life I have had happy thick hair and short, weak nails. But now, after starting to take vitamins for hair, my nails AND hair are strong! :)

[handsclean]

My nails are very strong and grow ultra fast- it's kind of annoying, actually. My hair is rather thick, but it doesn't grow very fast, although I've never measured exactly.

[Liss]

I voted I have fine hair but strong nails, although I also have strong hair (considering the routines I put it through). My nails grow fast but my hair grows at average speed.

I wonder if the difference causing my hair to be slower could be caused from daily washing & blowdrying... could be time for a little experiment...

[Vianka]

I have a a lot of hair and it's medium thick, but my nails are thin and flexible. Of course, I do a lot of dishes and wash my hands frequently, so that my contribute to softer nails. Both my hair and nails grow very fast.

I heard somewhere that the longer your fingers the faster your nails grow, but that sounds like a myth to me.

[mellie89]

My nails grow fast and are quite strong. My virgin hair is fine but thick and grows pretty quickly.

[SlightlySoprano]

I think I'm a freak... fine hair and nails of steel!

[JenniferNoel]

Very thick hair and rubbery/thin yet unbreakable nails, which grow extremely fast. My hair grows 1 - 1.5 inches per month, but I've never taken growth measurements of my nails.

[Isa-belle]

My nails grow (way too) fast and are strong.
My hair usually grows faster than average (2cm/month) and has medium thickness.

[CherrySilver]

My hair grows like a weed, and my nail growth is quite healthy. However, my nails break a lot because my hands are always in water (swimming, washing dishes, etc.). Not that I really care (about my nails, that is) .....

[caribou55313]

I have fine hair that used to grow fast but not since I turned 50, and somewhat weak nails that are stronger than they used to be and have always grown very fast.

[zule]

Used to have medium thick, fast-growing curly hair. After menopause, I have thinner, very slow-growing, somewhat curly hair. My nails currently are very sturdy with a brittle aspect. They're difficult to break, but when they do, they snap off like glass. Weird.

[melikai]

My hair and nails grow very quickly - I have to trim my nails every 2 days! However, my hair seems to experience slower growth in winter, which doesn't seem to affect my nails.
My nails are quite prone to splitting in the corners for the last few months, and I've also had some thinning in one area of my hair, which I'm quite sure are related.

[FrannyG]

My hair is fine, but fairly strong, and is very fast growing. My nails are soft and weak, and they also grow very quickly.

[Deimos]

My nails can be used as screwdrivers, while my hair is thin and fine. The fact that my nails are as hard as they are makes them also prone to cracks because they do not really bend. My hair on the other hand is quite strong, there is just not much of it :P
I think the growth rate in both my hair and nails is average.

[Paliele]

I have medium-thick hair. I voted weak nails, but they don't really break easily, they're just super soft. They bend so easily that nothing breaks them.

[Felix_D]

I started taking vit B, D, and MSM, and holy cow my nails are thick and strong. Usually they crack and break in the winter months, but they're still growing out straight.

Still too early to see an effect on my hair, but this is encouraging anyway!

[mhiap]

My hair is medium thick band fairly strong abut my nails are weak and soft. Unless I take skin hair and nail tablets. They do nothing for my hair but make my nails grow fast and rock hard.

[CrisDee]

This thread caught my eye because of the huge change in my nails since joining this forum. I've always put acrylics on my nails because nothing would make them stop breaking - they peel and chip like crazy without them, and their growth rate was I guess pretty average. But since joining this forum and starting a few supplements for hair growth, I've noticed crazy fast nail growth! So last week I took off all the acrylics (basically ripped off the ones that hadn't fallen off already) and am growing my nails out. I'm eager to see if they're any stronger with the supplements - sure hope I don't just end up with fast growing, peeling chipping nails :p

[Copasetic]

Both my hair and nails grow pretty quickly, but my nails seem rather weak. I have trouble growing them long because they always break off or split.

[Angellen]

My hair is thick and quite resilient, with slighty-above-average growth rates. My nails are on the thinner side of average, and get quite brittle in winter. My nails are grow at a slightly faster rate than the norm, I believe, but they are not particularly strong.

[Locksmith]

My hair is fine, but nonetheless very strong and stretchy - it doesn't break easily. My nails, on the other hand, flake and break constantly. *shrug*

[rhubarbarin]

I did not vote on the poll. I have always had thick, strong, fast-growing nails and medium texture porous hair that is barely ii, sheds a lot, and breaks easily. Hair grows about the average amount, 6" per year.

So for me, they are almost opposite. I would trade my nice nails for thicker, faster-growing hair in a heartbeat.

[Iara]

My hair is fine and my nails are thin, soft and flexible. They both grow very fast though, so I've always wondered if that doesn't contribute. Like a high output factory rather than a quality controlled one lol.

[MandyBeth]

Very sturdy and fast growing nails. I file every other day, or I get daggers of death instead of nails. Pokey slow and fragile hair.

Now, I am wondering if it's related to various tortures done to hair vs nails. I don't figure I abuse my nails more than my hair for their equivalent strength, but I can't damage my nails (split, peeling, cracks) if I try (used 'em as screwdrivers, open poptops, don't use gloves when I wash dishes, type with my nails instead of pads of my fingers), but if I dare look cross eyed at my hair, it'll frizz up and split. However, I've never put acrylics on my nails and seldom have put polish on my finger nails, which grow the best. My toenails - which apparently always grow slower? - I've gotten into painting on a regular basis, but they still grow insanely fast. My hair, which was previously assaulted with chemical dyes to the point of losing all my hair, is pissy and grumpy, but is starting to learn to behave more as I treat it better.

[Kris Dove]

My hair is baby fine but my nails are pretty strong and grow fast. I have very strong, thick toenails. I keep my nails fairly short for convenience- I can't work with long nails!- and have to cut them every week or so to maintain them.

PS- sweet almond oil, one of my favourite hair oils, is also great for nails, as well as being a good cuticle softener.

[Firegarnet]

Hair is medium in speed and strength I would say, but nails, ugh, so weak, very bendable and they tear easily. When my hands are really dry though (and this is often), they tend to break completely off just by the quick. So this year I'm really going to focus on moisturizing-my hair, my hands and my nails!

[mira-chan]

I have thick hair and strong nails. None of the grow options matched mine though. My nails grow fast but my hair is average.

[Mae]

My hair is fine and grows at a slow to average rate. My nails are very strong and grow very fast. I pay almost no attention to my nails and they turn out looking good. My hair on the other hand...not so much. :rolleyes:

[Henrietta]

I have medium thickness hair and weak, always split nails. Supplements don't help. Plus the hair grows medium and the nails grow slow now as I cut them often. When I have them long they tend to re-grow very, very fast after a small cut.

[Mzteaze]

I have fine hair but nails of steel. I would love to figure out how to get my hair as strong as my nails.

[Robi-Bird]

My hair is coarse, thick and grows like a weed. My nails are thin, flakey and break if I blink. Same as my mom, nail wise, same as my dad, hair wise.

[Frankenstein]

My hair is fine but it grows at a normal rate. My nails grow pretty fast but they're weak and break easily.

[parkmikii]

My nails are really strong, but my hair is medium thickness. My hair also grows rather slow :(

[pinutzz]

Doesn't it make more sense to correlate hair that growth on the head to how often one needs to shave / wax /etc.? I have this nasty lone hair that grows on my chin (like a witch :brains:) and every time I pull it out I can see how much my "mane" will have grown in the same time frame.

[lapushka]

My nails were solid and fine at one point. Grew medium. My hair grows 1/2 inch a month. No complaints here. Then all of a sudden the damn nails kept breaking and peeling on me. Now they're pretty short, especially my right hand (my illness/disability could be a problem, dry/brittle nails are common for it, more "weakness" at the end of your limbs). All in all, it is what it is. No supplement nor vitamin is going to change it. I'm realistic in these things.

[Kendrix]

I have fine hair, but it's strong enough and grows alright. It's my nails that are weak. sigh. I have grown them long, but it took a ton of work. My hair was only waist length when I tried to have nice nails and I really was only caring for the nails. Hair got a braid and yeah.... Safe to say it was the summer before I joined LHC

[Mavi]

My nails are strong and grow much faster than my hair, I have to cut them every couple of days.

[Silverbleed]

My nails don't break, they bend. I don't get broken nails unless I really 'cut' in my nails with something sharp but it doesn't break when it bends or I hit something. They grow really fast too, almost in an annoying rate haha.

[Dona]

My nails are very strong and grow very fast. I have to cut them regularly. They hardly ever break. My hair also grows fast, but it is not super thick. Just regular thickness.

[Mega Moose]

Both my hair and nails seem to do worlds better when I'm taking some sort of vitamin supplement. Maybe that means I need to just eat better... ;P

[dancingfrog]

My hair is fine but I have lots of it, my nails are very strong. I have to use toenail clippers to trim them, because regular nail clippers just dent them. I need to have short nails for work. I only break a nail when it is bitterly cold out (and I am outside).

[kattmara]

My hair is fine but I have lots of it, my nails are very strong. I have to use toenail clippers to trim them, because regular nail clippers just dent them. I need to have short nails for work. I only break a nail when it is bitterly cold out (and I am outside).

Same for me! Regular nail clippers just bend the nails or bend out of shape so that they don't close. The only time my nails are weak is when I file them out of their natural shape (thumb and index are almond, the rest squoval). I think my hair is pretty strong as well since it's so fine that it can disappear even on a contrasting background but I have only done the occasional S&D and now I'm at waist (started micro trimming recently). I get a medium thick ponytail.

I don't know the growth rate so I only picked "I have fine hair but strong nails" and "I have medium thickness hair and strong nails". Oh wait, was the second one about hair strand thickness? :/

[BlondeBeauty]

I have thick hair that grows relatively fast and I can grow long, strong nails. But recently, my nails have been cracking shorter and shorter. I also can't grow my nails out long anymore because I play the cello, I can't play Beethoven with long nails. :) :(

[irishsapphire]

Fine thin hair - used to be coarser and thicker but after loosing it it has come back fine and thin. Hasn't come back curly yet, which I'm partially sad about. My mom has the best best natural spiral curls. But she wears hers shoulder length or shorter.
Peeling and easy to tear nails that have to have something on them all the time, usually a clear coat.

[bionicpaws]

Used to grow out my nails, I have very strong nails, a natural tight C-curve as well! My hair is medium thickness and not too fragile. My nails tend to grow pretty quickly but my hair grows almost average speed...

[alewyn]

For me, there isn't a correlation between my hair and nails. In fact, I know for sure that the genes are from different parents. I have my mom's weak, fragile nails, which peel/split/tear like crazy. They're... terrible, but they grow at an average speed, and so does my hair.

My hair, though, is very different from my mom's. Hers is fine, very delicate, low density (probably around 1 inch ponytail circumference) and very dark brown, almost black. My hair is naturally light/medium reddish brown (was strawberry blond when I was little), medium with a few fine strands, average thickness (3" circumference), and probably just a little below average strength. It breaks easily, but only if I'm rough with it, or at the ends where there is pre-LHC mechanical damage. I very clearly inherited my hair color from my dad, and I think my texture is from his side too (I suspect an aunt has my same waves, but she styles her hair with a blow dryer every day so can't know for sure).

So at least for me, I got the hair and the nails genes from very different places! :P

[Bri-Chan]

I have fine (and relatively thin) hair, but very hard nails. My nails grow at average speed, my hair grows slightly slower than average.
I need to add that, despite being fine, my hair is quite strong and resilient.

[lilmsmoonstruck]

My hair and nails seem to grow relatively fast and always have. (I'm using my school friends as a measuring stick, I've never quantified this!) But the quality varies quite a lot. Throughout my teens I had periods of intense stress and illness and my hair would cycle through shedding, premature greying which would then drop out and not return when my health improved.

I've been ill for years now with an as-yet-still undiagnosed immune condition and have been poorly nourished for the last couple of years due to a restricted diet. They still seem to grow fairly fast but I am plagued with breakage and thinning on my head and breakage and peeling on my nails. I can't be sure it's as fast as before because I've never measured it, but it doesn't SEEM slower. (I'm a little grumpy about this, getting from waist to tailbone is all very well but with so much of it dropped out my bun isn't any bigger than it was before I hit waist. AND I have a side shave I decided on when my hair was thicker so over a quarter of it is missing lmao.)

[cinamio]

My nails grow faster and stronger than my hair. My hair doesn’t grow that fast and it’s normal thickness I’d say.

[Lesley8]

I have fine hair but my nails are stronger.

[foreveryours]

My nails grow faster and stronger than my hair. My hair doesn’t grow that fast and it’s normal thickness I’d say.

That's amazing. I don't get anywhere near 1/2" growth my hair shows on my fingers every month. And my toenails grow even more slowly. I lost the nail on one of my big toes exactly a year ago (accidentally pinched beneath a safe my sister and I were moving) and, while almost, it hasn't fully grown back enough to trim yet. Massive doses of biotin has improved my nail quality greatly over the past year. I can't even remember the last time I tore one it's been that long.

[TatsuOni]

I have mediumly thick hair and sometimes but rarely break my nails. They're very strong and flexible.

[kaylah]

My hair is fine and my nails are strong. Both grow at a fairly average rate I would say. I keep my nails quite short though.

[AshtangiPNW]

My nails are strong and can easily grow long without breaking. I have F hair strands, so it’s more delicate and requires a little extra care. :)

[Glitch]

I haven't measured my hair's growth rate so I can't be absolutely certain, but I do think it grows pretty quickly. It's average in thickness and fine to medium in texture.

My nails are a totally different story! Extremely brittle, always breaking, and I don't think they grow fast either. However, I know this is because I don't exactly eat my vegetables or fruits (when I do eat well for a while, all the broken skin around my nails heal up etc.). Sometimes, I go months without. I've been slowly working on the veggie and fruits, though! I wish I didn't hate them so much. :mad:
For now I have to wear shellac all the time, as it's the only thing that saves my nails. I must say, my nails look incredible and I often get compliments, but really it's just the shellac. ;)

[shelomit]

My nails have always been weak and prone to tearing and cracking ) : I keep them clipped extremely short (cutting them twice a week!), but even with that little room for play they still manage to snag all. the. time.

[Hedwig]

My hair is fine but my nails are really strong and almost never break. And they grow really fast, whereas my hair grows in "normal" speed.

[SandyBottom]

My hair is fine and my nails grow fairly quickly but are weak. I suspect the weakness (prone to peeling) is because my hands spend so much time in water.

[BeverlyHills]

My nails grow like crazy, and they're very strong. They can get extremely long and it's difficult for nail clippers to cut through them. I get comments on them constantly. Whereas my hair grows very slowly, and is quite thin and breaks even from slight twisting.. so I have to be careful with doing braids and such. I've always wondered why there's a big difference

[Dark40]

I feel that both my hair and nails grows fast and are always strong but sometimes my nails does have a tendency to break.

[stephlynette]

It might be all in my head but I feel my nails grow faster, but I think they probably grow a the same rate.

[Gibson_Girl]

I was just thinking about this! I've always thought it was pretty weird that no matter what my hair was going through, my nails remained their unbreakable selves, growing at a pretty fast rate. This is fine now that I don't need to keep my nails short all the time, but back when I played the harp, it was a real pain to maintain them!

[Ashtaroth]

I’ve always had thin flimsy nails and buckets of fast growing hair. Apparently my body has priorities and nails are bottom of the pile.

[MusicalSpoons]

Medium hair, fairly week nails, both grow at a fairly average rate. I'll get a random nail that grows long and strong very occasionally, but most of the time they all start peeling after a couple of mm of white. I moisturise them every time with my hands with really good creams, I don't spend loads of time with my hands in water, and supplements don't seem to help :shrug: My hair gets splits up the shaft but not loads and loads. I feel like if my hair were weak the oldest ends would not be in decent condition still after all these years, but it's not amazingly strong either. It doesn't like braids, which is a bit wimpy really :lol:

[Spiffyhink]

It's really interesting to see the results of this poll! I put that my hair grows fast and is weak, just like my nails, so I always assumed that there was a correlation, but it looks like I'm in the minority on that front. The only thing I seem to share with most of you is that both do grow pretty quickly.

I am interested in seeing what supplements would do, though. My doctor does always ask me if I take one, and several of you seem to have noticed a difference. I'm curious to know if it would help stop breakage (in both hair AND nails) in my case.

[Myx]

My nails have always been crazy-thin and prone to splitting/breaking. My hair is fine, but seems reasonably strong for what it is, I guess? It's certainly always held up through the abuses I used to put it through. :P

[tuanyiji]

My hair grows slightly faster than usual due to my hormone issues (2-3cm/month), I thought my hair was medium thick, but someone else saw the picture of my shed in a sink and said that’s coarse. My nails grow fast as well, but I have thin and soft nails, they are not brittle or break easily, just very bendy and not good looking. I keep my nails short as I do garden work and play the piano.

[lapis_lazuli]

My hair is just barely iii and my nails are strong. I let them grow out long until one breaks and I start the cycle over again. I like my natural nails a lot, which is good because nail polish is not compatible with my finger detangling.

I'd say both my hair and nails grow at an average rate.