Don't scratch your itch! Groom it!

Itch is a perfectly well-designed natural sensation, telling you where your body needs attention.

What to do when it itches

The correct reaction to itching is to crush the skin, not scratch it.

Crush, don't scratch!

Scratching is bad for your skin.
You don't scratch for long before your skin gets irritated.
Scratching only numbs the skin for a few minutes, and does nothing to remove the source of the itch.
Instead, press your nail directly onto the exact spot where the itch originates, and apply pressure for a few seconds.
This action won't damage your skin, but it will relieve your itch, and eliminate it over time.

Press your nail down into your skin, instead of going back and forth.

You're doing it wrong.
You scratch when it itches.
Instead, use your nail to explore the skin that is causing the itch.
You'll discover a hardened skin structure with a cavity in the center.
That's a fold crossing.
Near the top of the fold crossing, the skin becomes so folded and crumpled that a continuous pinching sensation appears; we call it itch.
Forcing the fold crossing open, by pressing your nail into it, frees the skin and eliminates the itch.

Your itch is just beneath the surface of your skin.

Scratching doesn't work. Only pressure grooming techniques will let you reach the source of your itch.

The anesthetic effect

Scratching, or repeatedly scraping your skin, doesn't suppress the cause of your irritation.
The sting is only temporarily relieved.
The simple act of touching your skin desensitizes it for a while.
When you scratch, an anesthetic effect occurs, causing a temporary loss of sensation in the immediate area around where your nail strikes.
However, the source of the itching is not removed.
You feel relieved, but you've done nothing at all.
At any occasion the itching will return.

Who is scratching, and who is not?

All these animals are scratching except the last one.
The gorilla is grooming.
Gorillas are primates, and only primates can groom themselves, because they have flat nails.

Your ancestors' claws have evolved into flat nails, so you can groom the cause of your irritations.

Scratching is the wrong response to itch

Only primates have the right tools

Animals resort to all kinds of scratching techniques to relieve their itching.
Consider how ill-equipped you would be to respond to an irritation if you had pointed claws, webbed feet, or hooves.
For animals with claws, scratching must be a fairly perilous adventure, even if they are retracted.
The flat nails of primates have evolved gradually from claws, starting with the index fingers (called toilet claws) to extend to all digits.
Your flat nails allow you to gently unfold and mend the itching area, rather than brutally tearing the skin.

What is human grooming?

Human grooming lets you use your nails to treat all kinds of skin and health-related problems.
The following video will get you started:

Itch is pain

Itch and pain have always been considered two separate phenomena.
However, grooming the skin proves that the two sensations are simply different stages in the development of the same cutaneous deformation.
Itching is low-level pain.
If left unattended, it may develop into full-blown pain.