Hair coloring by lay people may not be sufficiently accurate. Hair that has been damaged by excessive exposure to chemicals is considered "over-processed". This results in dry, rough and fragile hair. In extreme cases, the hair can be so damaged that it breaks off entirely. The main cases of hair breakage are: Lack of moisture and oils, poor diet, stress, over processing or illness. Skin and fingernails are made of a similar type of keratinized protein as hair. That means that drips, slips and extra hair tint around the hairline can result in patches of discolored skin. This is more common with
Muehrcke's nails nail plate. As such, they do not move with nail growth, and disappear when pressure is applied to the nail (blanching the underlying nail bed): this distinguishes them from "true leukonychia striata" such as Mees' lines. As in Terry's and half-and-half nails, the pattern is thought to be formed by bands of localized edema exerting pressure on the surrounding capillaries. The appearance of Muehrcke's lines is associated specifically with marked hypoalbuminemia (serum albumin ≤ 2.2 g/dL) indicating decreased protein synthesis, which may occur during periods of metabolic stress (e.g. systemic infection, trauma, AIDS, chemotherapy), or in hypoalbuminemic states such as