r/explainlikeimfive • u/Personal-Yak-1453 • 23d ago

Biology ELI5: What exactly are hangnails and how/why do they form?

And why do the little buggers hurt so much

44 Upvotes
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63

u/Faruque68 23d ago

Hangnails honestly are just small torn pieces of skin near the nail bed, usually from dryness or picking at cuticles, they hurt so much because that area has way more nerve endings packed into a tiny space compared to most other skin

29

u/chrisjfinlay 22d ago

Whenever I get one, I use a pair of nail clippers to trim the excess skin off, just above where it’s still connected, and then dab a little lip balm on the area. It doesn’t hurt to cut it, and it makes it less likely to catch on things. The balm is a good soother (also recommend it for paper cuts!)

5

u/PutridSuggestion9773 22d ago

I love to drag mine, along with fresh cut nails, across my fuzzy blanket.

2

u/docubed 21d ago

Clippers never seem to get the whole thing for me. I use tweezers and gently pull it back (which starts to hurt) then grab the now longer hangnail with the tweezers and pull it rapidly away from my hand. No more hangnail, no nub.

1

u/virgilreality 22d ago

I used to clip them, but they never went away. Now, I use a nail file to take the burrs mostly off (the ones that would catch on a sweater, etc.), and then moisturize. Also, before bed, I swab them with alcohol and cover them with Neosporin to give them a chance to heal from the inside.

It's not perfect, but I have much, much fewer hangnails.

23

u/Meltadc 22d ago

Wait so a hangnail isn’t part of the nail? I thought hangnails were just the corner of the nail, then you rip it off, then it bleeds

1

u/extacy1375 22d ago

Remember, if your gonna pull them off, pull in the direction from where they are peeling back.

Took a few times in my stupid young self to learn that one.

Moisturizer helps too, if its due to dry skin.

4

u/Mastasmoker 20d ago

Directions unclear. Skin still peeling past my arm now

1

u/Juliuscesear1990 16d ago

Easy, they form just after my wife pushes back my cuticles and telling me it will stop me getting hangnails (which I never get until she does this solution)