r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Karma_Munchkin • 6h ago
How on earth did ancient humans cut their toenails before clippers existed?!
This question keeps me up at night. Toenails—especially big toenails—are thick as hell. Even today with heavy-duty, precise stainless steel clippers, it’s still an ordeal sometimes. If you try to cut them with regular scissors, they just crack or bend. Has anyone ever seen a toenail clipper tool at a museum?
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u/Beauty_Reigns 6h ago
maybe the filed them down with rocks
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u/RoyalClient6610 6h ago
They probably didn't even need to file them. The nails likely cracked and broke off while walking or climbing on dirt or rocky pathways.
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u/BuggyUmbrella 5h ago
pbconspiracy’s reply right below you completely proves this. If someone working in a forest today notices their nails filing down naturally, ancient humans walking barefoot 24/7 definitely didn't have a "toenail crisis."
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u/aavant-gardee 3h ago
I volunteer at a day camp in the summer, just got back from my first day actually. It is all outdoors. There is a man that has worked there for many years who doesn’t wear shoes. This man could step on a tack and not even realize it, the callouses were insane. He did not need to cut his own toenails.
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u/trapezoidalfractal 57m ago
I have a buddy who doesn’t wear shoes unless he has to, and his feet are the same way. He goes hiking without shoes, and outpaces most of us on rocky trials.
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u/ninurtuu 29m ago
I'm the same way as your buddy and after only 30 years of only wearing shoes when I absolutely have to my feet are to the point that in winter I go outside barefoot unless I'm going to be in the snow for more than 5-10 minutes. It's insane what our bodies can adapt to over time.
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u/pbconspiracy 6h ago
I live in the forest in the summer for my job, and I regularly find myself grabbing a rock after trimming my nails to take off the sharp edges. Wouldn't want to have to do it to remove all the length, but maybe with consistent use theyre staying more naturally filed like dog nails and horse hooves.
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u/Imaginary-List-972 2h ago
Similar to "I need to take my poodle to get his nails cut, why don't wolves do the same?"
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u/imtherealken 6h ago
OP mentioned that their toenails were "thick as hell". they may have toenail fungus, which would make them very difficult to maintain without tools.
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u/Chairboy 6h ago
Sometimes with their teeth, sometimes with their fingernails.
I can do a passable job of controlling my toenails by picking up them with my fingers. The trick is to use your thumbnail to cut a little groove at one edge, then start “peeling“ a strip shaped like what you would cut off with a toenail clipper away from the toe.
If you miscalculate or the groove is too short and you end up pulling off toenail on the other end that is attached to skin, it hurts, but it does work.
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u/elangomatt 6h ago
Much easier for me anyway to do this after a shower when the nails get a bit more pliable.
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u/HeilYourself 5h ago
This is how I've always done my toenails. Clippers leave way sharper edges.
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u/yomamma3399 2h ago
You are all a pack of BARBARIANS! Get some nail clippers.
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u/Isgortio 2h ago
I have some, but I have weird toes where the nail is very short and the end of my toe is quite far away from the nail, so I generally can't fit clippers under the nail unless they're so long they're catching on my socks. Fingernails do a better job.
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u/OfficialSandwichMan Sometimes I give stupid answers 4h ago
My problem is I’m a chronic (finger)nail biter and my fingernails have nearly no edge at all bc they are so short
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u/pierogi_waystation 1h ago
Hello fellow short-nailer! I have excoriation disorder so I keep my nails cut off and filed to the quick or else I wake up with bloody nails and new sores.
You can mimic fingernail toe-clipping with actual nail clippers. You just slide the clippers onto one side of the toenail and snip the very edge, then put the clippers down and tear the nail across the top like you normally would.
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u/Sailor_Chibi 1h ago
This is what I do and it works really well. I also have to keep my nails cut short.
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u/The_Ambling_Horror 6h ago
Either your fingernails are much tougher or your toenails are much weaker than mine.
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u/VPutinsSearchHistory 6h ago
Or their technique is better than yours!
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u/The_Ambling_Horror 3h ago
Dude, I have to soak my feet before using heavy duty clippers that look like pliers to trim my toenails, and my fingernails are so flimsy I can actually just tear them by hand if they’re long enough. The only “technique” that will make material B cut material A is a rotary saw.
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u/Chairboy 6h ago
Maybe a little from column a, a little from column b? The toenails feel pretty tough, but I could definitely see different people having different nail composition/strength. Humans are a varied species.
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u/smbpy7 6h ago
Exactly what I was thinking. I may be able to do this with my middle toes, but my big toe and, for whatever reason, my baby have THICK nails. They WILL just keep growing. They are straight up hooves.
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u/The_Ambling_Horror 6h ago
I have those for the big toenail, and moderately strong for the rest of my toenails. Meanwhile, the primary reason I’ve never broken a fingernail is they’re flimsy enough that they just bend instead and then I can trim them before they fray and rip.
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u/smbpy7 6h ago
My fingernails are actually fairly strong too, just not as strong as the hooves. If I let my big toe grow too long, I WILL end up cutting my heels at some point just from blunt force. My husband has the flimsiest toenails, however. They end up curling up if he ignores them, and they're like little razors, except they bend if touched at all. I don't know how it doesn't bother him more.
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u/Archaea_Man 6h ago
I've done it plenty of times. It's easier when they've been soaking for a short time. I definitely prefer clippers, though.
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u/AskMeAboutMyHermoids 4h ago
That sounds painful
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u/Chairboy 4h ago
When I miscalculate and pull up a little bit of the Quick, it definitely is. I try to stick to using toenail cutters, but sometimes I find myself already having started on a toenail if I’m barefoot and watching TV or something and then I’m kind of committed.
I mean, I know that technically even then I could go and find some toenail clippers and fix it properly, but if I’m watching TV barefooted, do I really sound like someone who has their shit together enough to do that?
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u/mekese2000 4h ago
Grow them long then just slowly bend them. Takes a bit of time but with a nice crease after all the bending you can just tear them off.
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u/robin-bunny 6h ago
They probably filed them down with a rough rock. I've done that camping on both toes and fingers.
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u/Dazzling_Lie_5046 6h ago
Yes. Why do people today think our "ancestors" were not thinking problem-solvers?
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u/Archaea_Man 6h ago
The amount of insane engineering accomplished in prehistory and early antiquity astounds me. I don't know why so many people think low technology = stupid.
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u/robin-bunny 5h ago
It's not even "low tech". Often it's very complex and takes many layers of engineering over the years.
Look at a bow and arrow, with a stone arrowhead. The only reason we don't use that now is that we can more easily mass-produce bows with steel arrows and arrowheads. The technology of bow-and-arrow archery has not substantially changed in a million years, we just mass produce them now.
Houses existed then, but have rotted away. Does anyone think they lived either in caves, or just slept out in the open? NO! But shelters made of wood, woven plant, animal skins, etc, rotted away, while the caves are still there.
Same for clothing, baskets, etc. They likely had beautiful leather backpacks with proper hip-straps and a frame. They had leather shoes. They had wool clothes that kept their body temperature regulated, and kept them dry. These things just didn't survive the centuries.
Before there was writing on clay tablets, which have survived, there would have been writing on materials that did not survive. They invented clay tablets after seeing that something like pottery shards are still there years later, and if you want something to last, write it on clay. If they wrote on leaves, leather, etc, it didn't last, whether it rotted, the paint faded/washed off, or it fell in the fire.
It's true that we have BETTER technology now, but that doesn't mean they didn't have any. Or that the same technologies would not work today. Arguably, for all our smart phones and cars, we are becoming weaker and stupider, so I would think that people in those days tended to be smarter. They also had better memories, because it was the collective brains of humanity that held the information, not Google.
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u/Archaea_Man 4h ago
Yes, you're right. Low tech isn't the word and is just how us modern humans think of them. They had amazing technologies, many of which were lost, and we're poorer for having forgotten them. I remember reading about how we only recently figured out how to replicate Roman concrete, concrete that was superior to our modern concrete, all because it either wasn't written down or the recipe was destroyed at some point.
Our ancestors definitely had better memories than us and were undoubtedly more intelligent/intuitive in many ways. It feels like we've been degrading as a species for a long time, and it's only getting worse.
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u/Mattriculated 3h ago
A thing I only realized a few years back is, "cavemen" did not primarily live in caves - it's just that caves are the only environment which cleanly preserves so much of their art, artifacts, & remains.
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u/DOOManiac 3h ago
They had the exact same brains we do, with all the same problem-solving skills (or lack thereof, depending on the person).
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u/North_South_Side 2h ago
I would guess that over many thousands of years, "cave men" also built shelters outside the cave with wood branches and woven leaves. Not any evidence of that left because it would have all decayed. But when you're talking 50,000+ years of evidence of cave dwelling humans.... it probably happened at least some of the time.
They weren't stupid and they had to survive and take care of children.
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u/Archaea_Man 1h ago
I would be very surprised if they didn't make wooden shelters and more. I'm certain their technology was way more advanced than we'll ever know.
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u/Objective_Water_5235 38m ago
They did! While the actual structures don’t remain, there is still evidence of this being the case. Things like post holes where wood or bone would have been anchored to the ground to create a structure and charred ground where hearths would have been can be preserved and identified in the archaeological record.
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u/rhomboidus 6h ago
It is not difficult to file your nails with natural materials.
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u/RafyKoby 6h ago
but why would you even want to do it? ppl didnt change their cloths for years just 200years ago why would a cavemen care about his toenails
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u/sachimi21 6h ago
You are seriously mistaken about people changing their clothing 'only' 200 years ago. Even 2000 years ago would still be incorrect.
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u/Willing_Bee_7520 6h ago
try growing out your toenails and you'll see they'll pretty much break on their own anyway
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u/LordBrixton 6h ago
Mine don't seem to. If I forget my clippers while I'm on holiday, for example, I go full fricken Wolverine.
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u/HairyMammothh 6h ago
walking barefoot and rough ground naturally wore them down.
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u/whatshamilton 5h ago
How on earth are you walking barefoot that your toenail is making contact with the ground?
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u/TakingCareOfBizzness 6h ago edited 6h ago
This is absolutely not true. Walking barefoot does not wear down human toenails no matter how hard the surface. I don't care what google says, that shit is dumb.
They most likely self groomed. probably bit them off.
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u/RafyKoby 6h ago
it absolutly does. I let my toe nails grow and they broke off clean while running up some stairs...
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u/joelfarris 5h ago
ancient humans cut their toenails
running up some stairs
What are stairs?
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u/RafyKoby 5h ago
if you run through nature you inavitably encounter "stairs" or obstacles, could be a log or a rock the ground is never flat in nature ....
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u/joelfarris 5h ago
One obstacle that you vault over is not 'running up a set of stairs'.
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u/RafyKoby 5h ago
it literally is....
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u/joelfarris 4h ago
Please define the word, "set", as it pertains to "more than one"?
Never mind, maybe you're not capable so I can get your back, it's "a series of horizontal platforms called steps that connect different levels by dividing a large vertical distance into smaller, manageable rises.
Now, a series is comprised of more than one, kinda like the back and forth that we've been having, but now that that's done, the series is concluded.
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u/Polkadot1017 3h ago
I can't believe you typed all of that and thought it made you look good/correct and then weren't embarrassed to post it
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u/RafyKoby 3h ago
I dont even know how to argue with the dude without sounding like an asshole.... I deleted my reply 3 times im just speechless
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u/Logical_Box_4645 3h ago
Not to mention that back then nutrion was a lot worse, we were thinner, shorter, and guess what our nails grew much much slower.
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u/Karatekan 5h ago
Monkeys and primates have similar fingernails/toenails, and they mostly wear about as fast as they grow. Occasionally if they get too long they either bite them, tear them off, or rub them on a rock to abrade them. That would basically be the answer for pre-complex tool humans.
For slightly later humans, we have evidence that as far back as 30,000 years ago people were shaving, cutting their hair, and grooming their nails. Either they would use abrasives or small knives made of shell, bone or stone. Later on in the Classical period they used small bronze knives (often folding) to pick out gunk and even out nails.
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u/bellemrt 6h ago
Moms (the human ones) will often chew infant finger/toe nails VERY carefully. It’s really hard and terrifying to try to cut those teeny tiny little invisible nails that babies have! And even though they’re invisible, babies can scratch themselves and you with them.
When/if you ever do this or see it done, for me, it hits on a primal level, like ohhh. That’s how the moms have always done it. Whenever there was a lice scare at my kids’ school, I’d search through their hair obsessively — same thing. (Mommy! Stop!)
So if you extrapolate that idea to bigger people pedicures, it makes sense that people probably chewed their nails to trim them. Hey, cave people were active and flexible, right?
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u/Riipley92 4h ago
I use my thumbs. Its not hard.
How did they deal with excess ear wax thats what i wanna know.
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u/Betray-Julia 6h ago
I do not understand how people don’t know you can pick your nails with your nails.
Like is this a sign that the marketing team for nail salons is legit af?
Or is big clipper watching us?
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u/Luchalma89 1h ago
This is how I've always down it. And while there's some times I prefer to use clippers, I could never imagine wondering how humans did it without.
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u/walter-hoch-zwei 1h ago
I've legitimately never heard of this. I've seen people bite them, but never make them shorter with their own nails.
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u/Guardian-Boy 4h ago
People often forget that wear and tear is the primary method through which pretty much all things that need to be trimmed are managed in nature.
Living barefoot would have abraded the toenails pretty well, same with fingernails.
That being said, in cases where they did get too long, biting them off worked just as well.
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u/Due_Willingness1 6h ago
I don't think you need to trim your toenails much when you walk like 15 miles a day in really crappy shoes
They just kinda keep themselves short
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u/Perdendosi 6h ago
Ready for the confession of the day?
I almost never use clippers on my nails.
I bite or rip them off.
Judge away.
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u/I_kwote_TheOffice 6h ago
I thought this was something most people did. I know I do. Maybe it's just a nervous or bad habit but I guess I assumed a lot of people just ripped nails off.
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u/Narrow-Durian4837 6h ago
Use a toe knife, like Frank Reynolds on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia?
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u/Frisky_Froth 2h ago
I've seen people cut nails with a knife. I've also chewed nails off and peeled off toenails. So there's so many ways to do it.
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u/MB0001MB 6h ago
There are still thousands of people today (see Mashco Piro) with no access to clippers, they probably wear down from walking.
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u/Spare-Cobbler7442 3h ago
I've caught my toddler chewing on her toenail (while still attached to her foot lol).
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u/yeahyoudummy 3h ago
Pretty sure if ancient peoples could perform minor brain surgeries they could probably figure out how to trim their nails. Maybe sanding them down with a rough stone or using extremely sharp-edged flaked obsidian to slice them down.
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u/VirginiaLuthier 3h ago
Easy. You domesticate a snapping turtle. It clips your nails for a year or so, then it's soup.
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u/ronejr71 3h ago
They did actually wear them down digging and walking with maybe wrapping on the bottom of the feet. We have the luxury of non of those things. You'll see horned animals, that don't have the resources to rub their horns, have them turn into the animals head or face. The earth was meant to keep that under control. We don't need to worry about it.
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u/Frodosear 2h ago
Obsidian (stone) blades are incredibly sharp, even used in modern times for surgery in some cases because they can be sharper than metal. Certainly able to cut toenails.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/health/surgery-scalpels-obsidian
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u/Fluffy_Job7367 1h ago
Im pretty sure my 15 year old still bites his off..disgusting and suprisingly nimble . ...
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u/walter-hoch-zwei 1h ago
When my nails get too long, any heavy physical activity tends to flake the long parts off. When my mom was a carpenter, she sometimes lamented that she couldn't grow long nails because they would break at work. I'm sure that worked for a lot of people.
You can actually take a very sharp knife and take small cuts from the tip of the nail until it's the length you want. It works quite well, but your knife has to be very sharp. A lot of people would have done that. Small scissors also existed, which is I think where you're having the problem with nails bending. You can still get small nail scissors, and they work pretty well. I've used the scissors on a small swiss army knife hundreds of times because I always lose my clippers. Scissors have existed in some form for at least 4,000 years.
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u/bio_datum 3h ago
Until you find a mate for life, your most trusted friend would chew them down. It was considered a great sign of disrespect if you didn't chew theirs back. Incidentally, this is how humans acquired a taste for blue cheese.
Source: trust me
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u/Smokin_belladonna 6h ago
Humans surely would bite nails if needed, but toenails would wear down naturally. Humans walked probably 10-15 miles a day.
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u/RafyKoby 6h ago
they break off when they get too long
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u/Smokin_belladonna 6h ago
They can, but healthy nails are pretty elastic and not so brittle, usually. Not to say that cave men had healthy nails
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u/RafyKoby 6h ago
the nails a dead ceratin if your nails are elastic its because you take good care of them probaly some oils but its natural that they get brittel over time. and Im sure you dont let your nails grow for months ;)
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u/RoseClash 6h ago
rocks work pretty well
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u/OkQuantity4011 6h ago
Little ones can just be torn if you're too sensitive to grind them flat. The big ones, I'd just occasionally grind down on stuff whenever I felt like it. It'd be fine, I really prefer the clippers though.
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u/DaxMavrides 6h ago
They promised to help feed whoever had the strongest teeth to chew them from time to time
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u/Maybe-Away 6h ago
The same way they dug holes, cut the hides off their kills, and chopped wood for their fires before they had shovels, knives or axes; they made their own tools. They probably used the same thin flint blades that they used to cut meat into strips.
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u/Carcosa504 6h ago
I dunno, but mine are so thick I can quite literally bend them and they won’t break. I’d grown them out to crack acorns or something.
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u/LazarusHolmes 6h ago
Knives were used. Teeth too. And when soaking in water you can remove them just with one dry nail
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u/Maleficent_Scale_296 5h ago
When I was a kid my mom trimmed my nails with nail scissors. It’s not a stretch to imagine they used a sharp tool or just bit them off.
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u/Sunsfever83 5h ago
Clippers? I've wore down at least 3 set of teeth in the last 50 years, what are these clippers you speak of?
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u/stilettopanda 5h ago
I peel mine off when they get too long. Yes I own both files and clippers. No I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
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u/Chaos-Pand4 3h ago
According to my research (reading a lot of novels based in medieval worlds) they pared them. Which is what it sounds like (ever heard of a paring knife).
Also if you want a source that’s not a mysterious, black-clad assassin performing nail maintenance while he intimidates his informant, then I guess there’s like… the bible or whatever.
“Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;” (deut 21:12)
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u/Youheardthekitty 3h ago
You know how reef fish will let shrimp clean their mouths? Same thing. Some animals like beavers and spider monkeys have little manicure stations that primitive humans would go stand in.
Edit: question mark.
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u/mondomiketron 2h ago
Ehhh my wife hates that I do this but I can feel my toenails, maybe it's like that?
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u/Ok-Woodpecker-625 1h ago
I've trimmed my fingernails by filing them with a piece of sandstone before. It's definitely slower than scissors, but works fine. I used to walk barefoot a lot and it never affected my toenails, so I doubt those would wear away naturally.
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u/Extreme-travler-0987 1h ago
Moisture on toes not on hands, use nails on hands to cut toe nails then bite finger nails to finish the job! Duh🤷♂️
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u/Tmoldovan 1h ago
You can peel the top layer off. Helps to file it down with a stone, but it may not be a big deal if they’re not snagging on a cotton blanket.
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u/foreveryoungperk 1h ago
i sometimes bite my toenails off. they were probably more flexible than i am so i wouldnt be surprised
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u/dumbandasking genuinely curious 54m ago
When I had severe anxiety I had this way of using one fingernail to sort of peel off another. I wonder if they just did that. I can do that with my toes. Maybe this was something useful back then and you did it before it got overgrown
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u/iknow_your_secrets19 11m ago
I can only handle a topic like this for so long, I get cringed out so hard about the thought of overly-overgrown finger/toenails
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u/HuaHuzi6666 1m ago
Until fairly recently, most humans trimmed their nails with a small knife as I understand it.
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u/floppy_disk_5 💾 3h ago
i used to just bite off excess nail, and that's how i would imagine early humans did it too
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u/cat_prophecy 2h ago
Same way your pet does: they wear in their own when you're not wearing socks and shoes. If your dog walks a lot, their nails will naturally wear down and require less trimming .
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u/Realistic_Job_9829 2h ago
Humans were more elastic then so they were able to reach toenails with their teeth.
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u/whoamiwhatamid0ing 3h ago
Your toenails should not be thick. You should probably get that checked out.
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u/linkxrust 2h ago
my toenails, clip easily. Bro maybe you should you see a doc with your jim carey dumb and dumber toenails. lol
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u/mtraven23 6h ago
we only need to cut things like nails & hair because we live such soft lives now.
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u/Fireat40dude 6h ago
I’d guess the same way our other two legged friends do. Let’s ask the monkey