Your skin loves water.
It cleanses and hydrates it.
Water auto-grooms you.
Every time you immerse your body, dead epidermis cells are washed away.

Aquatic grooming can be performed:
• Totally immersed,
• Partially immersed,
• By wetting your skin.

Water modifies your skin's texture, making it more malleable.
This allows for the use of a special grooming technique: facial fold forcing.

Aquatic fold forcing is one of the most effective human grooming techniques.
However, it's not easy to perform.
That's because both hands are involved:
• One finger follows the path of a fold, and forces it open,
• One finger, on the other hand, holds the skin in place.

The idea is to slide the side of your finger along the path of a fold on your face.
But, your other hand must pin the skin down, and create a counter-pressure.

Use the index finger of your writing hand.
• Place the side of your finger inside a fold on your face.
• Press it down into your skin.
• Push your finger forward.
• The bottom corner of your nail forces the fold open.

As the corner of your nail forces its way through the fold, it will encounter some points of resistance.
Often, your nail stays stuck, and can't advance anymore.
That's your chance to do some fold forcing !!!!
• Wiggle your nail,
• Change its angle, so it directly targets the problem,
• Forcefully press your nail into the blockage,
• Apply all the pressure you can.

When I reach the end of a fold-forcing stroke, and my nail can't advance any further, I sometimes end the process with a violent gesture; a jerk.
You can see in the video above that I finish some strokes with a quick, sharp, sudden movement.
I forcefully pull my nail out of the fold, trying to inflict maximum damage on the skin barrier that was preventing me from advancing.

You use underpinning in your everyday life when you put something hard under a flexible material you want to work on.
This may be necessary because the material isn't rigid enough to resist your actions.
By placing a mass behind it, you can work on it.

While grooming, your work is often hampered because the skin is unstable and has no firmness.
So, use one or more fingers from your other hand to hold the skin in place.
However, the underpinning fingers must be positioned to counteract the pressure coming from the grooming finger.

• Press a finger of your non-grooming hand onto your skin, about half an inch below the area being groomed by your other hand.
• Press it firmly into the skin,
• A flab of skin is trapped between your two fingers; use it as a work table.

Be mobile, and follow the placement of your grooming finger.
You can switch fingers, or use several at once.

Grooming in the bath, shower, pool, lake, sea, or any other wet place, makes your work much easier.
You groom yourself differently underwater.
Your skin becomes more supple, and it unfolds willingly.
The water rinses the top layer of epidermis, loosening patches of dried skin.
This accelerates your grooming.
If you can't submerge your body; try wetting certain parts with a towel.

By adding grooming to your regular washing routine, you increase the time you spend in the water.
Some people wash real fast.
Grooming is slow, and takes considerable time.
It's important to have a well-planned grooming routine.
Some areas of your body should be groomed every time you get wet.
Try to invent a short grooming/washing procedure that can be easily elongated.

Because water makes your skin more flexible, it becomes easier to manipulate.
You'll find that you don't necessarily need to use your nails to unfold your skin.
Finger strokes utilize only the finger to open up the folds.
Underwater, the flat or the side of your finger will often work just as well as your nail.
As an added benefit, the risks of hurting yourself are diminished.

For a few minutes after you get out of the water, your skin becomes particularly easy to groom.
This effect decreases steadily as time passes, but it can still be present after twenty minutes.
You're usually quite busy during this time period; drying, combing, dressing, ...
The few minutes you can dedicate to grooming will be well worth your trouble.
You can take advantage of your skin's increased groomability to work on specific regions such as your feet.

It is absolutely essential that you bathe every day.
If you are serious about your grooming routine, your skin will benefit from multiple daily immersions.
Since the wetting/drying cycle is so effective; the more you do it, the faster you get done.