Welcome, ladies and gents, to what is floating around the Twitterverse as “Page 6 of 366,” or, the sixth of January. I hope you all had a great New Year celebration and have begun all those darn resolutions I never make. 
Right. Well, onto the first order of business:
I’d like to send a special shout out to the newest member of this blogging team, Matt692. He’s already begun posting and I know his future posts will be just as informative as these have been; he has a lot to say and I’m very glad he’s here! 
And now, the post you’ve all been waiting for… What? You haven’t been waiting? Aww drat! Oh well, you’ll get it anyway!
Steph posted a blog a while back about painting her nails, so I believe it’s time to continue with the nail-care saga, eh? But instead of painting them, this, folks, is the story of trimming them. So grab your nail-clippers and let’s go!
If you’ve ever felt frightened about trimming your nails, I’ve come to tell you I’ve been doing it for a while and I still have all nine fingers. Oh…wait..umm… But seriously, it isn’t dangerous, and might even be easier for us than for sighted folks. I say this because we have control over the position of the clippers–by feel rather than sight–as well as a clearer idea of the shape of our nails once they’ve been trimmed–again, by feel. When I trim my nails, it’s almost as if I can guide the clippers to perform the snips the way I want, and then I can file the little rough spots and still shape my nails to be the way I want them to be. I don’t know how sighted people do it, but if they go purely off visual input, I can’t imagine the issue of filing would be as efficient as it is for us who rely mostly on tactile input.
I didn’t begin to trim my own nails until I was around seventeen; before that, my mother or grandmother would do it for me and I’d file them afterwards. Sometimes, my grandma would trim each nail just enough to allow me to pluck off the residual nail myself–*shrugs* I dunno, I had fun doing that when I was little. But as I got older, I became a bit more brave and decided to try it for myself; the first time I did it, the result was not too bad, but of course, it gets better the more you practice.
I’m not sure how to provide a detailed procedure on how I accomplish trimming my nails, but I do have a few guidelines I follow to make the process a bit smoother.
1. I used to sit on a sofa or chair with a trash can in front of me and trim my nails over it. I found, however, that my nails tended to fly every which way, so unless there is something I’m missing, I wouldn’t recommend this method.
2. I would, however, strongly recommend finding somewhere semi-contained, like a corner or something, and sit on the floor with a vacuum cleaner, swiffer, or broom and dustpan close at hand. This way, you can trim your nails and they will fall on the floor, where it is much easier to collect them.
3. When doing the actual trimming, use the blades of the nail-clipper to tell you how far in you are from the tip of your nail. I start on one edge of the nail and try to align the clippers with the curve of my fingertip. I make a cut and then move to the opposite edge of the nail; on most occasions, this will result in a pointy claw-like thing in the middle of your nail, but all you have to do is align the clippers with the curve of your fingertip and cut off that pointy part.
4. I used to have trouble with shaping my nails: sometimes they would end up a bit lopsided. The only thing I can suggest is to keep practicing; eventually, you should gain muscle memory enough to know how the clippers ought to feel in your hands to make a smooth and even shape.
5. Another thing I keep in mind is the shape of the nail on the opposite hand; whenever I trim the nail of my index finger, I try to get the nail of the index finger on the other hand to look or feel the same way. I do this by feeling its shape and trying to get the clippers to form that shape again. I also try to remember the way I positioned the clippers to form the shape.
6. If this doesn’t work, filing your nails after trimming them is always a good thing to do. Filing will help you to get to know the shape of your nails and will give you some control over that shape.
7. It’s always going to feel different when you switch hands to trim your nails; when using your less-dominant hand, you might have to concentrate a bit more to get the clippers aligned the way you want them to and even to squeeze them to make the cut.
8. If you can, try to have one clipper for fingernails and a larger one specifically for toenails–or, more accurately, your big toe’s nail. The larger nail clipper works better for my thumbs’ and big toes’ nails because they are more powerful and can cut through the thicker nail. The smaller clippers work fine for my other toes’ nails, though, because they are thinner and generally don’t grow too long anyway.
Honestly, I’ve found trimming my nails a relaxing process. It’s solitary and doesn’t require much thinking–just like washing dishes or brushing my teeth. Nail-clipping is not the daunting task I thought it to be as a child, and it is just one more thing I’ve learned to do that puts me farther along on the path to independence. I know, it’s a trivial task, and I can’t say why I waited so long to try it for myself, but the point is, it is totally doable, and I encourage anyone who feels nervous, or whose family feels nervous, to go ahead and try it. All you can loose is a finger. Just kidding! It’s not dangerous, I promise! 
Well, that’s all for now, folks. I hope you found this a somewhat useful…and if you didn’t, pretend you did. I’ll feel better. *kidding*
(: Yanagram
I’d Like to Keep All My Fingers…
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