Hair and Fingernails Grow After Death

This is an absurd, yet very common belief that actually many people participate in. Although it seems like common sense, society has fabricated the ridiculous notion of fingernails and hair continuing to grow long after someone has passed on. It's quite impossible actually, since this said-person is dead. But the reason why so many believe in this myth is because of the appearance of the human body post-mortem.  In order for fingernails to grow, new cells need to be produced and this can’t happen without glucose. After the heart stops beating, oxygen supply to the brain is cut off. With no glucose store to rely on, nerve cells die within three to seven minutes. The skin around the fingernails retracts as it becomes dehydrated, making them appear longer. The human body begins to dry out, a natural process that takes place once a body begins to decompose. Skin begins to pull back towards the skull, and as the myth declares, this is what appears to trick many into believing that a dead man can still have stubble on his chin.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130526-do-your-nails-grow-after-death