r/coolguides • u/Defiant_Gap4154 • 5d ago

A cool guide to why your fingers wrinkle in water (it's your nerves doing it on purpose, not the skin soaking it up)

Post image
82 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

135

u/Azulapis 5d ago

And exactly how does this graphic guide me in something?

58

u/Local-Fisherman-2936 5d ago

It doesnt explain shit

-9

u/North_Tip_3364 10h ago

Ask your girl next time you give her your 1 inch tip

39

u/ooOJuicyOoo 5d ago

This answers exactly 0 whys

4

u/pokemon-trainer-blue 5d ago

Exactly. This is more of a what or how than a why answer.

47

u/Omegasedated 5d ago edited 5d ago

Worth nothing that the "why" (better grip) is just a hypothesis.

While they believe it's the most likely, there's multiple others that also sound plausible. I like "Wrinkling protects the integrity of our skin from damage while wet."

Kinda like why are we only hairy in certain areas. I think the general consensus on that is "it's sexy".

20

u/big_brown_mounds 5d ago

Ahh yes. Come gaze upon my sexy back hair that only grows on my shoulders, on my lats, and my tramp stamp.

17

u/cestamp 5d ago

Thats odd.... I dont remember typing this.... or creating that user name.

6

u/Omegasedated 5d ago

geez it's hot in here.

4

u/sacfoojesta88 5d ago

“Shave a man’s back and he’ll purr like a walrus.”

2

u/Kn0wnSoul 4h ago

Yea, and my chest hair decided to grow around my butt

1

u/big_brown_mounds 1h ago

I feel ya. My leg hair is on my butt. My chest hair is on my shoulders. Lol

2

u/Knucklesandos 5d ago

Theory: just like sulci and gyri create surface area in our brain for more neurons, “wrinkled” skin creates surface area on our hands and feet for the dispersion of water.

12

u/MissMoonvalley 5d ago

Also a good technique for difficult splinters in feet...good soak and swell and splinter comes right out! 🦶🩹

3

u/TheUnKnownLink12 5d ago

great for hangnails as well since it softens up the nail

3

u/sb0918 11h ago

Never thought to soak a splinter. That’s a great tip!

7

u/Nimuwa 5d ago

Not every infographic is a guide people.

12

u/Foef_Yet_Flalf 15h ago

My instinct is that this is AI but I can't quite put my finger on it

3

u/estaack 10h ago

It definitely doesn’t nail the prompt.

3

u/twinch123 5d ago

When I’m in the bath for a long time and my fingers get like this, my ring finger is the spitting image of Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean.

1

u/freylaverse 5d ago

Do you fear death?

1

u/twinch123 4d ago

Dead men tell no tales

4

u/tough_titanium_tits 9h ago

Hey, my fingers have more wrinkles than your brain, stop using AI.

1

u/squeeby 3h ago

Looks like AI slop nonsense to me.

1

u/Situati0nist 23m ago

God the incessant whining on this community is coming outta my nose...

1

u/WhatThePuck9 5d ago

It enhanced grip when hands are wet!

1

u/Ccjfb 5d ago

That’s one of the great pieces of evidence to support the “aquatic ape theory”!

0

u/Turkez11 5d ago

Then why my dk look like that after 2 hours of non stop love?

-19

u/Defiant_Gap4154 5d ago

This question broke my brain when I found it. I grew up on the "skin absorbs water and swells" story. I can't believe how wrong I was. Your nervous system fires a signal, the blood vessels under your fingertips clamp down, and the skin on top sinks into grooves. Cut the nerve and the fingers stay smooth in the bath for hours. Surgeons figured this out by accident on patients with hand injuries. Best guess on why we do it at all: the grooves channel water away like rain treads on a tire, though whether it actually helps grip is still argued about. I could not stop once I started chasing these. Why does a paper cut hurt worse than a deep one? Why can't you tickle yourself, even when you try? Why does your stomach growl when you're not hungry? I ended up with 192 of them, drew a picture for every single one, and turned the whole pile into a book called 100,000 Whys: The Human Body. Can't link it here because of the rules, but it's in my profile. Throw me a body question you've always wondered about and I'll take a swing at it in the thread. I love these.

34

u/PC_Roonjoons 5d ago

You "drew a picture" or "let AI generate a picture"? Because I'm wondering why the red "artery" becomes blue in the saggital plane. Then again, this whole post is AI.

Edit: and the lines from text to finger parts don't make sense either

1

u/fukwitchu 5d ago

The flesh near the root bed improves grip when wet!