The epidermis

	The epidermis is the skin’s surface, the outermost layer.
Skin

At last, grooming comes to the help of its desquamation process.

The epidermis is composed of several sub-layers.
Its thickness varies, but it remains very thin.

The epidermis sub-layers

Your epidermis is your first barrier of defense against the environment.
Grooming concerns only the top of the epidermis, where the cells are dead.

The epidermis formation layers

At the bottom of the epidermis lies the basal layer where millions of new epidermis cells are produced every day through mitosis or cell division.
These cells get flattened and hardened as they climb up the epidermis.
This takes close to a month.
When they reach the corneal layer, the cells are lifeless.

The corneal layer
and desquamation

The corneal layer is the top layer of your skin.
The one we can see.
«Corneum» means horn.
It is composed of deceased and deformed cells that are supposed to flake off and fall daily.
This action is called desquamation.

The self-renewing epidermis

This process is in fact a self renewal system, comparable to some other animal species shedding their skin.
The difference is that this operation is continuous.
The bottom layer is a new cell producing factory.
As fresh cells arrive, older ones are pushed up.
When they get to the topmost layer, they are inanimate and crushed.

Desquamation not functioning

At that point, the dead skin scales are supposed to detach themselves, cell by cell, flake by flake.
Unfortunately, the system doesn't work by itself.
In most places, the cells remain fastened and coats of dead epidermis pile up and harden.
The corneal layer thickens.

Grooming complements desquamation

Grooming has been devised to take care of this situation.
Your flat nails are the perfect tools for the job, they have been conceived for this task.
Simply passing your nails over your skin, with light to moderate pressure, rakes off the dead cells from the surface.

Grooming the corneal layer

Only the top part of the corneal layer has to be groomed off, so make sure you don't press too hard on your nails.
Single or four finger scraping strokes are ideal for this purpose.
Use superficial grooming techniques to slowly grind down the surface.

Science tells us there are only about fifteen to twenty coats of cells.
I have personally removed over a thousand piled-up, compressed flakes of skin in some places.

Layers and coats explained

Each layer consists of several coats of cells.
The cells are held together by proteins acting the way metal rods hold armored cement together.
They go up the epidermis as a flat, impermeable coat.
This explains the solidity of the epidermis, but also why it is shed in fine flakes or coats.

Specific epidermis formation

One would expect skin to produce epidermis equally over its surface.
Things are a bit different.
Your skin knows where problems have occured and works in specific ways in those areas.
Every night, while you're sleeping, your body has time to take care of some regenerative bodily tasks.
This is when epidermal formation happens.
Your skin sends a new set of cells up the layers of its epidermis.
Not everywhere though, it has troublespots that need immediate response.

Specific epidermis formation goals

Specific epidermis formation has at least two objectives:
•Skin protection: Where new epidermis is formed in response to the heat caused by your repeated actions or to the bad treatment and injuries it withstands.
•Skin beautification: Where the new epidermis is formed to hide, fill and cover existing anomalies. Your body wants you to look presentable.

The corneal layer and age

Babies have very thin corneal layers.
Science says that the skin of children is immature. It has not yet fully developed and is unprotected.
Let me express my divergence.
Look at their skin and you see absolutely beautiful, healthy skin
It has a natural shine and its flexibility permits those endearing facial expressions.
The problem is with the skin of adults.
Since they haven’t groomed, the corneal layer of their skin has become dreadfully thickened, folded, compressed, tight, ...

Reduced epidermis formation

During your youth, lack of grooming alters the normal operation of the skin renewal system.
A thick crust is formed, inhibiting and slowing down every function of your skin: feel, perspiration, sebum, hair, ...
It stops the normal exfoliation of dead epidermis cells.
Your skin's corneal layer gets thicker and thicker.
New epidermis production is slowed down, sometimes halted.
Normally, your skin should stay the same all your life, except for changes at puberty.
Regular grooming goes hand in hand with the natural epidermis formation and desquamation process of your skin.
Some is produced daily, some is removed daily.

The corneal layer and folds

In spite of all what we have just seen, the corneal layer's thickening is not the main reason for your skin's general thickening.
The folds are responsible (we will discuss that below).
In some places, like your scalp or the front of your chin, the corneal layer has become so hard it prevents you from feeling the folds below.
Your nails have no adherence and they slide.