What Happens If You Don’t Cut Your Fingernails? [Why You Must]

All of us have our own ways to keep our nails in the right shape – either by nibbling them with anxiety or by clipping them meticulously to perfection. But let’s just consider this hypothetical scenario where you have decided it is time to stop trimming your nails. What would happen if one day you were to decide that you wanted to let your nails grow freely?

So, what happens if you don’t cut your fingernails? Your fingernails will keep growing up until the point that your lifestyle naturally breaks them. How long and how fast your nails grow will however, vary between individual to individual. Having excessively long nails and failing to trim them regularly leads to a higher chance of fungal/bacteria infections, painful inward nail growth and signals that you have poor hygiene.

The true repercussions of not trimming your nails will depend on a number of factors – just like most other things in life.

Want to know more? Let’s dive into the discussion!

What Happens If You Don’t Cut Your Fingernails?

First and foremost, not cutting the nails for “obvious reasons” will make them longer, and it’s applicable to almost everyone.

Dr. James Christina (which is executive director and chief executive officer of American podiatric medical Association) says – “not cutting your nails will only make them grow.”

He further adds – “and nails are just like hairs on your head, and they’ll keep growing until you trim them.”

But, you can reaffirm from any individual who has tried growing their fingernails; even when you are determined not to trim your nails, there will be a point where not only will they become hard to maintain but will also severely impact both your personal and professional life.

Due to the composition of the nail, even regular daily housework is more than enough to break them. Well, that’s about fingernails, what about the toenails? They are always well protected as they neither have to go through daily stress nor they get wet as often as fingernails. So, they should grow forever, right?

Wrong!

Just how uncertain our life is, it’s absolutely uncertain if your toenails will continue to grow or not!

Dr. Christina, yet again, says, “it depends.” According to him, the growth of nails like that of hair varies from one person to another. Owing to various different factors (a type of work you have to do, your daily diet, etc.), Dr. Christina sales it’s quite hard to give any definite estimate, but it should take anywhere between six months to around one year of negligence in the toenails to finally get to you.

He further adds, even if your nails are in relatively healthy condition, it is possible that walking alone is enough to break them. Whenever we walk, a bit of push-off force is exerted from the end of the two. And so, if your toenails extend too far from the tip of your toe, it is reasonable to his young that such kind of natural pressure would cause your toenails to either crack or break.

It seems there are enough forces of nature to check the safety of nails. However, if your toenails have any type of defamation, infection due to fungi, for obvious reasons, things will go south.

These and many other kinds of problems can make the nail get thicker as it gets longer, and thus making them more resistant to cracks, as you can imagine.

What Happens If You Don’t Cut Your Toenails?

Toenail growth is also dependent on your footwear choice. According to Dr. Christina, individuals who prefer wearing open-toed shoes but are not accustomed to a lot of walking will definitely notice a straight and healthy growth of toenails up to 11/2 inch to 2 inches in length.

After the defined length, the toenails will start to curl naturally, and that’s where the problem begins. Individuals who are accustomed to a lot of walking or jogging and prefer wearing open-toed shoes will notice curl in their toenails sooner due to the pressure exerted on the toe tip.

If your toenail is starting to curl, thick and healthy yellow toenails should be the least of your concern. Individuals with even basic understanding of simple machines can understand that by pressing down one end of a lever will cause the other end to rise. So it is true with your toenails.

According to Dr. Christina, the pressure exerted by the footwear on the “extended” or “untrimmed” toenail will cause it to loosen from under the skin and in some unfortunate cases, can even cause the skin to break resulting in extreme pain and walking difficulty. 

So now, instead of just breaking a small white part of your nail, you now run the risk of breaking the whole toenail and damaging it in such a way that it will eventually tear out of the skin.

So, the conclusion is that you will probably be able to grow your nails longer, yellow is and curled if you have the courage to sit down and never get up again – ever. Otherwise, both your fingernails and toenails will succumb to your life’s daily activities and stress.

Why You Should Always Trim Your Nails

Personal hygiene is crucial routine care that you must give two small parts of the body like toenails and fingernails. Regrettably, for elderly individuals and people suffering from certain medical conditions, attending their nails is quite difficult. The following are some reasons why it’s always advised to keep your nails and check.

1. Bacterial and Fungal Infections

A primary disadvantage of getting your nails long is that it can be a reason for fungal or bacterial infection. Due to the extended size, dirt, data skin, etc. can accumulate under the nails. Nights understandable that bacteria, fungi, and germs cultivate and get attracted to these wastes resulting in bacterial infection. This is especially true for toe as when you wear sneakers or shoes; your feet get sweaty because it doesn’t have enough room to breathe. Due to the sweat accumulation, your toenails can suffer from bacterial infection.

2. Painful Inward Nail Growth

This usually happens with toenails, and anyone who has experienced it knows how painful it can be. Inward nail growth happens when the nails are too big, and its edges start growing is taking to the side skin. This not only causes tenderness, redness but can even result in bleeding, and thus, it’s considered to be one of the most serious medical issues caused due to unchecked nail growth.

3. Signifies Poor Hygiene

Good personal hygiene will help prevent the most types of health issues and diseases caused because of fungal or bacterial infection. However, poor hygiene such as unchecked hair growth, name growth not only impact your confidence and personal life but also significantly deteriorate your social life.

In Summary

It is important that you regularly and routinely cut your nails; letting them grow out and naturally break is not advised nor is it hygienic.

While it can be a chore, and even sometimes painful to cut your nails, the more you keep on top of it the easier it will be and the shorter amount of time it will take.

Getting a Crystal Nail File (like the highly regarded ZEVA file from Amazon) will make reducing your nails effortless, and your nails far more easy to manage. The ZEVA file will help to eliminate splitting, peeling and cracking nails which makes it stand out as one of the best files on the market. I suggest you take a look.