Grooming strokes |
I'm using the word "stroke" to designate the particular ways the skin is touched during grooming activities.
About 90% of grooming is done in oscillating strokes, just like scratching, sawing, cutting, ...
These activities are two part actions, where only one half is important. The other half merely returns you to your original position.
In the remaining 10%, where the nails glide along the path of a fold for longer distances, the strokes are so long they become movements.
For grooming strokes, let's call the pulling half "the in-stroke" and the returning half "the out-stroke".
For scratching strokes, the pressure remains for both the in-stroke and the out-stroke.
Strokes are very short
Typical nail travel is less than an eighth of an inch.
You may reach one inch at times, the same way you already do when you scratch.
But grooming is precise work, done slowly, unlike scratching which is imprecise and fast.
Each stroke, even with such a short throw, can be quite eventful and take several seconds.
Minute details on your skin appear as large crevasses, valleys, and peaks that your nail follows and modifies.
Support and grasp
Whatever part of the hand that is not used directly in the grooming action may act to support it.
The unused fingers may stretch and stabilize the skin or simply anchor your hand for
stableness.
In some positions, you can rest the hand on you, relieving you from the weight of your arm.
Moving just the tip of your finger
In many situations, the area you are grooming is small, such as a fold crossing.
You are going over it repeatedly for a while.
Going down the path
Once you’re done with a particular spot, you loosen your grasp and follow the fold down to the next crossing.
Grooming and scratching speeds
There can be confusion over the word "scratching".
I use it both for grooming strokes and for regular scratching.
In fact, slow scratching and fast grooming can be quite similar.
Only the understanding in the performer differs.
Here is a table to compare their speeds:
-Scratching: 3 strokes per second
to
10 strokes per second
-Grooming: 1 stroke per 10 seconds
to
5 strokes per second
Nail and fingertip positions
-You can use just the tip of your nail.
The nail then performs most of the sensory signal reception and all the grooming work alone.
-You can use both your nail and fingertip.
Even occasional fingertip contacts with the skin relay mounds of information.
Any part of the flesh will do.
-You can use only your fingertip.
It is amazing how much grooming you can do without using your nail at all.
Often, just passing your fingertip on the fold opens one layer.
Single finger grooming strokes |
Now we’re talking action.
Each stroke has one precise goal: unfolding.
Your nail is your multi-function tool.
It can be used front or sideways, in a slicing manner, pulled in a scratching manner, pressed in a scraping manner, ...
Most often you mix these techniques continuously.
| •Cutting and slicing strokes |
The nail is positioned sideways.
You use the corner of your nail in a manner similar to a knife blade.
Often, you put your nail inside a fold as deep as you can. You simply follow the path, opening the fold as you go.
You should feel some resistance at the cutting edge.
In spite of their name, cutting strokes do not cut the skin.
Your nail is always placed on the seam of a fold or on a fold crossing.
You are cutting through the dead epidermis cells that keep these structures together.
No harm is done to the skin.
| •Scraping strokes |
The nail position is similar to scratching, but the pressure on the nail is released for the out-stroke
.
This stroke could be called one-sided scratching.
| •Scratching strokes |
This is slow, forceful scratching.
Intelligent, sensitive scratching.
You put more pressure on your nail than simple scratching and your gestures are directed towards unfolding and epidermis removal.
The difference between scraping and scratching strokes is that your nail stays in contact with the skin and grooms during the out-stroke.
The problem with scratching strokes is that you cannot put that much pressure on your nail because it would block during the out-stroke.
Even if the pressure is more than regular scratching, it is less than other grooming strokes.
Not much is accomplished with each stroke and you will never get to the end of complex fold crossings using it alone. You need to use the other, more violent, strokes to be effective.
If you are using scratching strokes more than half the time, you are not really grooming,
| •Digging strokes |
You use your nail as a scoop.
Put the back side of your nail next to your grooming goal and use it to dig epidermis.
You can put lots of pressure on your nail mostly at the end of the positioning portion of the stroke.
Like any digging or shoveling task, each stroke is specifically designed and directed towards removing some matter, portion by portion.
| •Prying open strokes |
This stroke resembles the action of forcing an oyster open with a flat knife.
Once your nail is squeezed deeply into the fold or crossing, you use a twisting action to break the epidermis apart.
| •Pulling strokes |
You first secure some grip on the fold or crossing with your nail.
You pull on the skin slowly, without releasing your grip, as far as you can.
In the end, you will lose your hold and the skin will free itself noisily.
The idea is to keep the pulling action going on as long as needed without losing your grip.
You use the force of your whole hand and arm to pull the skin away.
| •Wrecking strokes |
They do not hurt your skin in any way.
If any bleeding occurs, you may be doing them wrong.
Wrecking strokes involve a sudden jerk, pulling upwards or sideways.
Instructions on performing this jerk follow below.
Wrecking strokes work better on tense skin.
Caution: The name may be confusing but wrecking strokes do not mean to dig recklessly into your skin in an urge to get done with it.
The jerk
Many strokes involve a short, fast period of attack.
You start by parking your nail carefully at a precise point.
Often, it will be inside a depression in your skin
You then perform your grooming stroke relatively fast, the speed depending on your goal.
In third step, your nail returns.
Parking is different for bumps, moles, ...
You rest your nail carefully at a point past the area to be groomed.
Part of the bump is removed as your nail passes over.
Finger strokes |
You can help your nail, whenever needed, by using part or all of your finger along with it.
At times, no nail is involved at all.
| •Finger pressing strokes |
Unfolding often involves flattening folds and crossings simply by putting pressure on them.
Your finger acts as an iron would on clothes.
Pressing can be done with any part of the finger even in conjunction with nail strokes.
One special use of this stroke is the final flattening of your skin:
-After grooming
-After a shower
-Before meeting people
| •Finger pulling strokes |
Use the side of your grooming finger.
Try to fit any portion of you finger you can inside a fold and use the leverage obtained to pull and open it.
The fold to be pulled must be deep and long enough for your finger to find a hold on it.
While grooming with your nail, you can use just the lower part of your finger to pull a fold apart while your nail resets for another stroke.
