Aging

You can tell someone's age by looking at them, but they know their age by the pain they feel.

Since humans don't groom, the folds in their skin deepen every day, and their life becomes more miserable and painful by the day.
We call this phenomenon aging.

Neoteny and grooming

Neoteny is the faculty, in an animal species, to conserve juvenile traits into adulthood.
Grooming does exactly that, but it conveys new perspectives;
•In grooming, neoteny is organized into a complete system which includes the tools (nails) and the sensations, coming from the skin, needed to get the job done.
•It shows that the animals themselves have their role to play in this process. They are responsible, to a great extent, for their aging or rejuvenating.

Humans are born folded

Folds on a baby's wrist

Some of the folding seems to be part of the fetus development process such as the vertical folds.
Then it starts moving and this creates more folds.
Thumb sucking starts around four and a half months.
The baby exercises its members in order to be ready to perform after birth.
These movements fold the skin, mostly in the neck-shoulder-arm area and in the leg-hip area.
Since its skin is folded so little, the fetus can do stunning facial expressions.
The folds haven't attached its flesh to the skull yet.
Ironically, babies who do a good job at thumb sucking and exercising are born more folded.
Small problems during the pregnancy may cause huge folding.
You can tell how folded a baby is at birth by evaluating how ugly it is.
Then observe its wrists, thighs, finger joints, ...
Are there already permanent folds etched in?

Post-natal grooming

A very special grooming is supposed to occur right after birth.
The mother is supposed to lick her baby clean.
That's what all primate moms do.
The newborn's skin is coated with "Vernix caseosa", a waxy white substance.
It may serve for skin protection in the womb and its lubricating properties may help the baby's exit.
It has to be removed completely.
As it is done now, the nurse, wearing rubber gloves, bathes the newborn lightly in lukewarm water or simply uses a face cloth.
The job is incomplete and unnatural for the baby, possibly cruel.
What better treatment would you want than having your mother's soft, warm tongue greet you into this world?
Making you nice and clean.
It may take one or two days to complete the task.
I'm convinced that Vernix caseosa is good tasting.

Microbial flora

Licking the baby at birth has another major advantage.
Before birth, its microbial flora is virgin.
It takes part of the mother's imprint during delivery but only where they touch.
The mother's tongue can cover the whole body and assure that they have common bacteria.

Early grooming

This special "licking" grooming does not replace regular grooming.
This has not been tested yet (as far as I know).
All facial features must be removed, leaving the skin unattached except for the base of the nose, eyes and ears.
All body folds should also be eliminated, including the navel which should disappear completely.
It will take adventurous and dedicated mothers to try grooming the skin of their baby with their nails.
I'm convinced that if a mother already grooms herself, she should know what to do.
I'm sure special precautions have to be taken, the bones of the skull have not yet solidified and the skin must be very sensitive.

Fetal impressions

For the first few hours or days of its life, the newborn's skin is still wet and highly hydrated.
It takes about three days for the baby to dry out.
Since human babies are left ungroomed, their folds become engraved for life.

The fetal mask

Those are the folds marked on the face.
When you look at an adult face you can see its fetal mask beneath the grown-up features.
Here are basic fetal mask characteristics:
-The dried out baby's chin has moved up and has become a plate at the bottom front of the chin.
-A horizontal fold in the middle of the chin.
-Prominence of the sucking folds going down the sides of the nose to the sides of the mouth and down each side of the chin.
-The two parallel folds that go between the nose and the upper lip.
-The wings of the nose.
-All around the eyes.
-Curves in the hairline.
-...

Racial features

I know that what I'm writing here is highly controversial and unproven.
I theorize that most facial features that are considered as racial are simply due to a lack of grooming.
They originate from small differences in the shape of the skull, but are magnified by the folding.
Here are some examples:
-Some racial types have a flattened nose. Well, there is no reason for a groomed nose to be flat. You have to groom the horizontal folds that pass at center nose, and start right after birth.
-Asian eyes have slanted corners, and grooming the folds at the extremity of the eyes after birth (or later) would eliminate this racial feature.
I'm convinced that we are much more similar than we thought we were.

The fetal straitjacket

Those are the folds engraved in the neck-shoulder-arm area and in the leg-hip area of a newborn.
You can see part of them; they are the big folds at the thigh and shoulder articulations.
Plastic dolls can often have their arms, legs and head removed. Fetal straitjacket folds are in similar positions but also extend between them. They go down the spine and every articulation is tied with a circular fold.
It is important to understand that they were created when the fetus was still very small, months before birth.
Take your wrist for example, the same folds you see today started out when its circumference was only a tiny fraction of what it is now.
Your growth tightens the straitjacket deeper and deeper into your skin.
Hurting more and more.

Teaching grooming

Though grooming is an instinct, we all know it can be lost.
Parents grooming their child represent the normal transmission method from one generation to another.
Captive primates do not groom right if removed from their mothers.
I have no idea at what age the baby could take over grooming chores from the parents.
One thing is sure, a well groomed kid will know how to do it basically, but teaching, checking and support seem essential.

Youth

Youth is characterized by years of pain-free well-being.
Your movements aren't hampered and your body's elasticity permits unobstructed action.

The folding's effect is much more evident in the continuous loss of beauty.
From the adorably charming baby to the average looking child, then to the ugly teenager.
This loss of seductive power is often felt early in life.

Adolescence

Your sudden size increase tightens every fold crossing on your body.
You hurt much more now.
Sometimes your pain is sharp enough to make the movements that use the hurting region uncomfortable.
Without noticing it, you shift your body position while performing these movements, at least while you feel the pain.
Gradually, you raise your pain threshold for all your aches.

On your face, your skin tension augments at the same rate as your enlarging skull.
This expels the sebum entrapped in your fold crossings.

Adulthood

Pain now comes faster.
You can’t do things for so long anymore.
Your body positions, such as standing or sitting, are now based on minimizing discomfort.
Your walking stance is becoming more awkward and unbalanced, with shortened and sometimes distorted movements.
But you don’t notice this, it happens gradually.
You start having chronic pain, caused by your major fold crossings nagging you.
You cease doing some activities and your life becomes more and more regulated by what you call “aging”.

Folds you call wrinkles appear and deepen.
You become less and less attractive.

Arthritis and rheumatism

Arthritis and rheumatism are simply names given to folded skin pain.
At that age, these circular folds are often easily observable.
They tighten around each articulation and inhibit its movements.
The folds are so deep that the skin even gets entangled into the joint.
The pain is more acute when you try to fully open or close the articulation.
Your daily positions and gestures aggress the entangled flesh as if you were pinching or stretching it.
Arthritic and rheumatismal pain is often associated with weather and atmospheric conditions.
Skin is greatly affected by changes in temperature, moisture, wind, and barometric pressure.
They generate variations in the intensity of the pain you feel.

Old age

Your whole body is now held captive by the tightened and hardened grid of folds.
In many places, your external skin condition has created internal problems. They worsen.
Every movement caries its toll of aches coming from super fold crossings of giant proportions.
You get to the point where you are hurting most of the time.

Your skin becomes visibly wrinkled all over.
Your hair is white or gone.

Life ain't much fun anymore.