Skin tension

The more tense the skin is, the more folded it is

Folding has a hardening effect on skin.
The paths of the folds solidify slowly.
Their crossings become firm objects within your skin.
It looses its elasticity.
With time, the skin can become hard like wood with reduced sensibility.

Material concentration

This rigidity is understandable because:
•The skin is squeezed tight in those areas.
•As more folding occurs, more skin is trapped.
•The epidermis that is formed to glue these structures in place is   very hard.
•...

Flabs of skin

Folds and crossings have an anchoring action.
They pin the skin down in some places.
Between those locked positions, the skin may dangle, become stretched and flabs may appear.
It is important to understand that the problem is in the folds and their crossings.
Only groom there.
Leave the stretched or flabby areas alone. Only groom them superficially.

 

Skin tension theory

Folds reduce elasticity in extensible materials.
To illustrate this, picture a piece of elastic material held in space by its four corners.
You place a rock on it and examine how deep a depression the rock makes.

Now, suppose we made small folds in the center of both sides. They could be held together with a bit of glue.

Placing the same rock on the material would show the loss of elasticity caused by two folds.
Years of refolding and regluing end up giving very tense skin.

 

Skin tension evaluation

Before you groom, use these methods to see how tense an area has become.

The skin tension pinch

One simple way to find out your skin tension is to pinch it and pull it away from your body.

Examine how far you can stretch the skin.
Compare different areas.
Some places, such as your scalp, possibly cannot be pinched. That’s how tense they have become.

X-Y motion

Here is another method for skin tension evaluation.
Place the tip of you nail on your skin and add a bit of pressure.
Now, try to move the nail horizontally and vertically, back and forth, as far as it will go.

Analyze and compare the distances reached on both axes everywhere on your body.

 

Skin tension while grooming

The goal of your grooming actions is to remove skin tension wherever you find it.
As you do so, your skin repositions itself continuously.
You can feel these skin tension changes evolving beneath your finger.
They have to be well read and understood.

Skin tension and your nail

You can feel skin tension by simply pressing your nail anywhere on your body and evaluating how deep it goes.

While grooming, you perceive it as hardness below your nail.
The stiffer the skin is, the more folded it is.

Unfolding haste

As soon as you touch some fold crossings, they start unfolding.
They have been waiting for you to do this for soooooooo long.
Immediately, their tension diminishes slightly.
You can feel this urge to unfold below your nail.
Some places are just crying to be groomed, some are not.
As you groom, you can sense your skin’s willingness to be groomed by distinguishing which folds and crossings unfold the most easily.
When your work goes very fast, it tells you that you that you are grooming exactly at the right place and that you should keep on working there.
After unpain, unfolding haste is your second best guide as to where to groom.

Tensions beneath your nail

During each successful grooming stroke, skin tensions change as you go.
Your passing nail produces a wave of varying pressures.
You can feel three different tensions simultaneously at your fingertip.

•The initial tension

You feel the initial skin tension at the cutting edge of your nail.
It is the one you are chiefly concentrated on.
Since tension reduction is your goal, you are actively looking for tense skin.

•The grooming tension

The grooming tension is felt at the part of the nail that is the deepest into your skin.
You often use all your might to dig into a fold crossing.
Your nail creates a depression into the skin, trying to reach as deep as possible.
These efforts result in a diminution of the skin tension right below your nail.

•The residual tension

The residual tension is felt at the tail end of the nail.
As your nail leaves, the skin returns promptly to normal.
It rebounds.
You can feel the skin slap back into position.
The residual tension is always one notch less than the initial tension.
How big the difference is depends on how well you have done your grooming work.

 

Tension redistribution

The balance between all the tensions in your skin determines your well-being.

Each fold crossing has formed pulling relationships with its neighbors.
Your grooming removes tension at specific locations and ruins this equilibrium.

The associated crossings will feel a lessening of the pull they receive.
Their tension will decrease until a new balance is found.

Tension redistribution starts fast but ends slowly.
Lots of it takes place in the following seconds but it takes about eight hours to complete.

Moving the pain around

Many folds circle your body, so grooming one section will influence the rest.
Your most painful spots are those most challenged by your actions.
They receive the blunt of the pulling forces.
When you groom one of them, you remove part of its supportive structure.
This absence is felt by the other crossing all around the circular fold.

Removing tension from any crossing may simply shift the pain around.