Hair and Fingernails Continue to Grow After Death: Myth

Story:

Hair and Fingernails Continue to Grow After Death

Other Versions

A person’s fingernails and hair continue to increase even after his death.

Facts Analysis:

According to a popular belief, Hair and Fingernails of Humans Continue to Grow even after they die. No, it is not a fact.

In case of hair and fingernails, as new cells grow inside they push the old ones out, thereby the growth that appears outside body. However, the growth of hair and nails in body requires a complex hormonal regulation that needs availability of oxygen and transportation of glucose that are not sustained after death.

Picture Suggesting Hair and Fingernails Continue to Grow After Death — Hair and Fingernails Continue to Grow After Death

Forensic anthropologist William R. Maples and many dermatologists explained that when someone dies, dehydration of the body may lead to retraction of the soft skin tissues around the hair or nails, creating an optical illusion that the hair or nails have increased in length. This natural change is often seen as creepy and misattributed to ghostly appearance. Notably, in some dead bodies, as they dehydrate and shrink, a build-up of gas in cavity can prompt strange and sometimes freaky sounds. This is also a common misattribution to supernatural ghost phenomenon.

So contrary to the popular belief, human hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after death; it is one of those medical myths that won’t go away easily. Another popular myth says Humans Use Only 10 Percent of their Brains.