Your nails are one of the first things other people notice about you, so it’s natural to wonder why they seem to grow so quickly and, at times, in such odd shapes. But knowing the reasons behind your nails’ odd behavior can help you take action and get healthier, stronger nails that look beautiful as well as serve their basic purpose of protecting your fingertips and enhancing your grip on everyday objects. In this article, we’ll look at the 10 possible reasons why your nails might be growing too fast and how to address each of them so that you can finally have strong, healthy nails again.
Why Are My Nails Growing So Fast? 10 Possible Reasons.
1. Are you pregnant?
If you’re pregnant, your body is producing more hormones, which can cause an increased rate of nail growth. Don’t worry though. This won’t harm your baby in any way. (1)
In fact, it’s actually healthy for your body to be under this kind of stress during pregnancy. It helps produce more blood cells and gives the baby nutrients through its umbilical cord.
2. Are you taking Medicines?
Another reason why you might have unusually fast-growing nails is a side effect from medications or supplements that you take on a regular basis.(2)
If you want to know for sure if this is the cause for your quick nail growth, try to stop taking the medicine or supplement for a few weeks and see if there’s a change in the rate at which your nails grow.
3. Do you have a mild form of diabetes?
If you have a mild form of diabetes, the reason for your nails growing quickly could be that your body is producing extra insulin. This can happen when there is too much sugar in the blood or if the body isn’t properly using insulin.(3)
When this happens, glucose from food and drinks builds up in the bloodstream and spills over into urine. As a result, people with type 2 diabetes may also urinate more often than usual.
4. Are you stressed out?
Stress is a well-known culprit for nail growth. The body releases cortisol in response to stress, which is why people usually get faster nail growth when they’re feeling anxious or experiencing high levels of stress.(4)
5. Do you have eczema or psoriasis?
If you’re wondering why your nails are growing too quickly, it might be because of an illness. Eczema and psoriasis can cause the immune system to attack healthy skin cells, leading to a rapid growth in nail length.(5)
In some cases, the nail will even detach from the skin completely. There is no cure for either of these conditions, but they can be treated with creams and ointments that help alleviate symptoms.
Talk to your doctor if you have eczema or psoriasis or other medical condition that could be causing your nails to grow too fast.
6. Acetone exposure.
Acetone is a solvent that is often found in nail polish remover. When the nail polish remover gets on the skin, it can cause rapid nail growth due to the harsh chemicals.
7. Did it get cold out where you live recently.
Nails grow faster in cooler temperatures because the nail bed is trying to make your fingers warm. It is not uncommon for fingernails and toenails to grow by as much as 1/8 inch per week in the winter time.
Keep your hands and feet moisturized, wear gloves, and wrap up with a cozy scarf or blanket to keep them extra warm. You can also reduce the growth of your nails by biting them or filing them with an emery board if they’re too long.
8. Age Factors.
Compared to younger people, the elderly tend to have thinner nails that grow more rapidly. Because of its narrow size, the nail bed cannot produce as much keratin as it should for strong, long fingernails.
My father, for example, has thin nails, but he files them every day, which I believe is the right way to do it. As people get closer to middle age and their growth hormones start to reduce, their nails grow slower as they get older. When you’re over 40, your nails probably won’t grow quite as quickly as they used to.
9. Gender Difference.
Women’s fingernails grow more slowly than men’s fingernails because of the wide beds, whereas men’s nails grow at a faster pace.(6)
What’s more, there can be differences depending on things like one’s sex, ethnicity, or health status–for instance, a person with thyroid problems will have faster-growing nails than the average person.
10. Hormonal Reaction.
When you are younger, your nails grow faster. Yet, as you get closer to middle age, growth hormone production reduces, leading to a slower rate of nail growth.
Older women find that they are unable to grow their nails at the same rate as they used to.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Yes, healthy nails can grow long and strong. If your nails are become thin, this could be a sign of some health problems such as diabetes or iron deficiency.
Healthy nails will also often show white lines. They were medically known as “Beau’s lines” in the nail bed when they were pushed back close to the skin surface by pressure for many days, usually caused by injury or inflammation from an infection.
Nails grow as a result of the amino acid protein in your diet. Nail growth is dependent on the presence of calcium, phosphorus and silicon. A deficiency in any one of these minerals will result in slower nail growth.
Protein-rich foods that contain all three minerals are good for healthy nails, including eggs, fish, poultry and red meat.
Dairy products like milk and yogurt supply calcium but not phosphorus or silicon; they may be substituted with orange juice to help provide the other two minerals in addition to vitamin C which aids in absorption of calcium from non-dairy sources.
Iron deficiencies can also lead to brittle nails. Iron can be found in dark leafy greens such as spinach and kale, shellfish, beef liver, oysters, dried fruit such as apricots and figs, nuts (particularly almonds), dark chocolate. Foods rich in iron can slow nail growth while foods low in iron speeds it up.
There are many different vitamins that can help with nail growth, including Biotin and Zinc. One of the most common reasons for quick nail growth is an iron deficiency.
Iron helps transport oxygen to the cells in your body, and when you have low iron levels, your nails will grow more quickly because they need more oxygen to stay healthy. Supplements can be a good way to make sure you’re getting enough of these important nutrients. But if you don’t want to take vitamins or supplements, it’s worth asking your doctor about the best ways to get enough iron in your diet.
As we grow older, many of us use Vaseline to help make our fingernails stronger and thicker. Additionally, it is very important to eat lots of eggs and dairy products in order to have healthy hair and fingernails.
Slather on some Vaseline for a layer of hydrating protection on the nails, which speeds up growth by improving the blood flow to the nails.
It also functions as a protective barrier against external chemicals, meaning your nails will stay conditioned with routine exposure.
It turns out that the fingernail on your pinky finger will grow faster than any of the others. On average, your pinky fingernail will grow about six times faster than your thumb nail. There are a few reasons for this, but one of the most common is because of a condition known as onychogryphosis.
This condition usually occurs in people who have long fingers and it causes their fingertips to curve down over the nail bed. The result is an increased rate of growth with an increase in curvature in these fingers.
If you’re looking for a way to grow your nails faster, there are a few options out there. One of the most popular methods is to soak your fingers in a bowl of warm water with salt dissolved into it.
The theory behind this method is that soaking your hands in warm water will soften the cuticles, making them easier to trim. Soaking in saltwater will also help strengthen and thicken the nail bed, which will lead to stronger and healthier nail growth.
Nails that have been coated with acrylic tend to grow faster than natural nails, because the artificial material does not allow for the nail to be worn down. The acrylic itself is an abrasive substance and it wears away at the nail plate, thus causing a shorter growth period.
The chemicals in the acrylic also cause a reaction in the fingernail’s cells that make it harder for them to repair themselves, which means less time for growth.
Acrylics also can’t be removed as easily as regular nail polish and may require acetone or other solvents that can actually damage your nail bed if left on too long.
Nails grow at a rate of about .1mm per day. It’s not exactly speedy, but it’s not terribly slow either. If you’re looking for a way to get them to grow faster, there are a few things you can try. Here is how to grow your nails with toothpaste:
(a) Cut your nail in half and apply toothpaste on top of the cut nail bed.
(b) Wait for 20 minutes before rinsing off the toothpaste.
If your fingernails grow faster in water, it may be because when water evaporates from the skin, it removes excess salt that causes nails to break. This can result in stronger and healthier nails. However, this is just one of many reasons why your fingernails might grow faster in water.
Bottom Line.
Nails grow at a rate of 1/16 of an inch per month. This means that by the end of a year, your nails will have grown from their original length to almost 3 inches. So the reasons behind nails grow faster than others could be age, the health conditions, or even hormonal reactions. If you’re experiencing any pain or other symptoms with your nail growth, it’s important to speak with a doctor.
+6 Sources
Freaktofit has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, educational research institutes, and medical organizations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and up-to-date by reading our editorial policy.
- Morphology, growth rate, and thickness of the nail plate during the pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30035300/
- Oral supplementation with specific bioactive collagen peptides improves nail growth and reduces symptoms of brittle nails; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28786550/
- Accelerated nail growth in diabetics; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265787662_Accelerated_nail_growth_in_diabetics/
- Innovations in biological assessments of chronic stress through hair and nail cortisol: Conceptual, developmental, and methodological issues; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6628692/
- FINGERNAIL GROWTH IN NORMAL AND PSORIATIC SUBJECTS; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2133.1970.tb02205.x/
- The Effect of Aging on the Rate of Linear Nail Growth; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X15455575?ref=cra_js_challenge&fr=RR-1/