• Question: Why are stinging nettles painful ?

    Asked by Atomic Ansh to Cristiane, Nicki, Nikolai, Richard, Samuel on 11 Mar 2015. This question was also asked by Hollie, Tash771.
    • Photo: Cristiane Calixto

      Cristiane Calixto answered on 11 Mar 2015:

      There are tiny hairs on the surface of a stinging nettle leaf. When you touch these hairs, they break and release two things: 1) tiny glass needles that pierce the skin and 2) a stinging liquid with several chemicals like formic acid and histamine (involved in the inflammatory response). That sounds painful, doesn’t it?

    • Photo: Nikolai Adamski

      Nikolai Adamski answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      As Cristiane said, stinging nettles consist of two components:
      1) glass needles (or as I like to say: Harpunes) to pierce your skin, which shatter on impact releasing 2) some chemical that stings and causes an inflammatory response from your body.
      The pain is your body telling you that something is wrong, so in a way it is actually good. You’re never gonna touch another stinging nettle again after the first one (unless you wear gloves maybe :))

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