Beginner's grooming guide

First grooming experience

•Slide your nail along the lines in the palm of your hand.
•Pass repeatedly over the same fold while putting pressure.
•Don't hurt yourself, but stay just below the pain threshold.

•Go slowly, try to open the fold.
•Take time to stop and explore the deepest crevasses, digging   as you go.
•If a fold becomes irritated, groom another.

Feeling unpain

•As you groom, appreciate the sensory reactions coming from   your skin.
•Notice that when your nail reaches the deepest pockets of the   fold, a pleasurable feeling appears.
•That's unpain, that's your guide.

Fold crossings

•Visually inspect the fold you're working on.
•Observe where other folds intersect with it.
•These are fold crossings.
•Spot the biggest crossing you can find and put your nail into it.
•Slowly dig and open the cavern.
•You should feel lots of unpain, its source being in the deepest   sections of the crossing.
•Follow the fold to the next crossing and groom it. Repeat.
•Generally, you should groom the crossings ten times longer   than the rest of the fold.

Going blind

•Try following a fold with your nail without looking.
•As you go, feel each crossing you meet and the unpain you get   from it.
•This is the normal way to groom; without looking.

Unfolding

•Actively work your nail at the bottom of the fold, doing the   necessary moves to unfold it.
•You can stay several minutes at the same spot.

Workspace tension

•As you groom, try opening and closing your hand.
•Observe the difference on your grooming performance.
•When grooming elsewhere, you often have to use your second   hand to stabilize the workspace or to create an opposite force   to your grooming hand, squeezing the skin.

Grooming everywhere

•Your newly acquired skills can now be transposed anywhere on   your body.
•However, your skin will tell you where to groom it through   itching, aches and pains.