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Nails and Hair

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Nails and Hair

Would you believe this is a close-up of your hair and scalp?

Well maybe not yours. But some other person's. Hair is an integral part of the integumentary system. And although many people may lose some or all of the hair on top of their head, they still have hair on their arms and legs that perform important functions.

Nails and Hair







Magnification of a human hair. The hair shaft is composed of dead, keratin-filled (keratinized) skin cells that overlap each other like the shingles, or tiles on a roof. You can see the overlapping cells in this image.




Practice I

Use this resource to answer the questions that follow.

  1. What is the role of nails?
  2. What does hair do?
  3. What are exocrine glands?

Practice II






Tough, fibrous protein in skin, nails, and hair.

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