Furthermore, growing them that long would need a significant amount of time and patience. Fingernails develop at a glacial pace. Fingernails grow around a tenth of an inch every month on average. For example, if you lose most of a fingernail, it may take six months or more to come back fully. However, people have grown their fingernails for centuries using techniques that we will discuss below. Some report full fingers while others report half-fingers. It all depends on how much work you are willing to put into your nails. Fingernails are made up of two parts: the nail bed and the nail matrix. The nail matrix produces new cells that become the nexuses where the nail grows. At the end of each matrix cell is a capillary vessel that supplies blood to the developing matrix cell. As the cell develops, the capillary becomes thinner until it reaches the surface of the skin where it can be seen with the naked eye. These vessels are how people often notice that someone has been cutting their own nails. They see red lines down the finger indicating that someone has removed some of the capillaries from beneath the nail. As people age, they use their hands for more activities such as typing and texting which can lead to shorter fingernails. This is because there are less nutrients in older tissue meaning that growth slows down. However, even with these limitations, people can still grow pretty good-sized nails.