How did people cut their fingernails before modern nail clippers were invented?
same way I do it now, rip off the ends (use teeth as necessary).
hard physical work abrades them short.
knives and abrasives surfaces existed made with stone later metal. shears were made of metal.
dogs were domesticated early as nail chompers and butt lickers.
I started a similar thread once:
How Did People Keep Their Toenails Trimmed before Clippers Were Invented?
Using teeth is really the only satisfying method.
(Unfortunately, though, I’m not as nimble as in my younger days, and my toes are getting frustratingly hard to reach. Now I usually have to resort to using someone else’s teeth, and it’s tricky to find volunteers…)
I often trim my nails using the thumbnail on the other hand. Then one thumbnail trims the other, alternating each time I do it. It’s not that hard.
How? Do you tear them? Pinch them against your finger, or something hard?
All through my youth in the '70s I used a little pair of scissors with a small curved blade (? Whatever you call the business end of the scissors).
Slicing motion with one nail against the other to make a notch, then tear away the nail from both sides of the notch.
I’ve wondered this too, but only when I watch movies like Cast Away. I’d like to think that if I was in his predicament, I’d fare pretty well except for the nail clipping thing. I have a thing about fingernails and toenails- I get skeeved out by them. They’re fine when they’re short, but if they get too long that they catch on something, or <shudder> crack or split, I have to get to a clipper, stat. Just typing that sentence gave me the willies.
So even if I managed to survive and built shelter and learned how to fish and crack open coconuts, if one of my fingernails split and I didn’t have a clipper with me, I might have to bash my head in with a rock.
And that Chronos thing- I had to force myself to finish reading that sentence. And now I need a sedative.
See, I’ve tried this before when for some unfortunate reason I had a hangnail that needed attending to, but the direction of rippage is unpredictable and you can rip wayyy too far down into the nail bed. (Shudder)
So, I don’t do that anymore.
it gets easier with practice. I bet I’ve used clippers less than 5 times in my 51 years.
I’ve seen people paring their nails with a knife blade in period movies. Before the invention of knives, we probably wore them down running from leopards.
Why not just file them down? Even on a deserted island I’m sure you could find a rock somewhere.
I used to trim toenails by using my fingernails to cut into them, then pull them off. Not the best way, but it worked.
There were also scissors. Any size will do.
I’ve never used clippers, the few times I’ve tried I’ve produced some extremely colorful cursing, it’s seamstress scissors for me. Many people use those curved scissors which mack described, which are part of many manicure kits.
In fact, they are (or were) such a standard tool for cutting nails that the standard commercial name for them is “nail scissors”.
How do apes and chimps and other animals like us keep them shorn? That’s probably how we did it as well. I am guessing in ancient times people were more active and generally did a lot of manual labor that kept things trimmed.
The idea that one could chew their own toenails is odd. My dad had toenail fungus and his big toes had thick nails that looked like wood chips. He did need assistance in getting them clipped, but I could not imagine him convincing someone else to gnaw on them - eww.
On one of my mother’s many travels she brought me back a little shell that could be used as a nail file.
I’m sure no matter where people lived they found something that could be used to trim nails, cut hair, shave, brush their teeth, etc.
My brother was unconscious in the hospital for a few days and it was all I could do not to trim his toenails. They were so long they curled down over the front of the toes. Luckily I realized that would be a real invasion of privacy.
Anyhoo, teeth work perfectly well to trim nails, finger- and toe-.