Why ingrown body parts exists?

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Last week, after a failed attempt to trim it, I had to shave my beard clean. Since my hair is very curly, I already got a ton of irritation thanks to ingrown hair on the following day. Now i have to spend at least 10 min a day after lunch to remove the ingrown hair ( strings ? ) with a pair of forceps. That is the reason I really don’t like to shave.

This seems, however, a minor nuisance compared with ingrown nails. Boi I thank god for not having this issue ( for now ). I won’t link any images here, but I’ve seen lots of really bad infections caused by this, and it is dis-fuckin-gusting. I’m not a podologist, but i believe you can even loose a toe because of that.

But even this pales in comparisson with what some wild animals, especially ones with horns, might face. It is not uncommon, after breaking it a few times, for the horn of wild goats or some types of boar to grow in the direcition of the head, slowly piercing the skull, and causing excrutiating pain for the poor creature, end eventual death.

Why body parts, from hairstrings to nails and horns ,can grow in the wrong direction?

In: Biology

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Bodies aren’t perfect.

We work “just good enough” to survive more often than not. (Best example is the completely unnecessary crossing of food and air pipelines wich lead to tons of choking and coughing)

And especially when stuff thats rare in nature happens (breaking something off, shaving your beard) it’s only natural that evolution didn’t prepare your body to react perfectly to it.

You have to consider that each of your cells doesn’t really know it’s neighbours exist. They run their own genetic program and can’t easily adjust to their normal situation being changed.

Your hair producing cells don’t know the hair was cut off and it’s potentially missing the exit.