30,000 won for 1kg of cut nails...I was shocked when I saw where it was used
Sep 23, 2025
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She sells for 150 yuan (about 30,000 won) per kilogram of nails.
According to the Hong Kong media South China Morning Post, a woman living in Hebei Province, China, collected her nails that she had cut since she was a child.
It was to sell it to a traditional medicinal store.
In traditional Chinese medicine, nails are said to be used as therapeutic ingredients.
In Chinese 醫, human fingernails are called 'retreat (筋退)', which is considered effective in removing heat and toxins from the body and helping to recover wounds.
The prescription for using fingernails to treat children's abdominal bloating is recorded in 『Cheongeumyobang』, written by Son Samak during the Tang Dynasty.
It was a method in which parents burned their nails into ashes and then mixed them with breast milk and fed them to their children.
One Chinese medical expert said, "There were cases of prescribing nails as medicinal ingredients in hospitals until the 1960s." However, the use of nails gradually declined as other materials with similar efficacy were discovered", he explained. In addition, he added "Adult fingernails grow only about 100 grams a year, so it is difficult to obtain a large quantity."," he added.
In addition, in 2018, it drew attention when it was known that human nails were included as one of the ingredients of the traditional Chinese drug 'Humor (喉炎丸)', which is used to treat sore throat. Traditional medicine companies collect nails in schools and villages, thoroughly clean and sterilize them, heat-treat them, and grind them into powders, according to a Chinese medicine expert.
Some netizens said "Isn't there anyone who sells claws?" expressed concern.
In response, the expert emphasized that "there is no such thing" and that "all ingredients and products undergo thorough inspection before they are put on the market.'
Meanwhile, in addition to fingernails, in the past, human teeth, hair, and even dandruff have been used as medicinal ingredients in Chinese medicine.
Various reactions are continuing online to this.
Netizens are saying, "There's all sorts of dirty things on my nails, it's disgusting.""Chinese traditional medicine is full of shocking knowledge."", "I've bitten off all my nails, so does that reduce the inflammation?" posted comments such as.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
