Feeling the burn

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So after 4 weeks of fairly intensive playing after a long, long, break, my poor battered fingertips toughened up nicely. For a few glorious days I played without discomfort. And then I began string bending and promptly shredded my previously gnarly fingertips, giving the double gift of a)bits of finger that catch on strings and b)shiny new skin that is most definitely not tough.
What I’m dying to know is, will the skin on my fingertips likely toughen up to a deeper level, or am I doomed to an endless cycle of brief periods of celebrating my hardened digits, followed by regular periods of wincing as I play? Surely they’ll sort themselves out eventually?
I’ve been playing 2 or 3 hours a day but had to back off a bit today because it’s just too damn painful.
What are others experiences?

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Yes your fingers will get thicker at the tips.
I sand the callouses off my fingers with an emery board
when they get thick and dry.
This keeps them soft but like soft leather so the don’t catch
on the strings but don’t hurt either

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My fingers now have permanent calluses on the tips. Occasionally they get thick and dry and give me a bit of trouble. Hang in there. It gets easier and easier.

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As a person who was building calluses over from scratch after more than 10 years guitar break less than 2 years ago now I am at the stage when none of this happens. So it’s gonna take some time at first probably few months but then it gets better. Filing when skin drops off is a great way to make it tougher, just don’t file too deep.

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Thanks folks, top tips (as it were). I’ll push through and look forward to toughening up. :raised_hand_with_fingers_splayed:

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OMG this is genius!! I hate the shredded tears and always scratch them.

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Yes, it will. Eventually you get to a stage where your calluses are leathery and stable. As others have said, you kind of have to nurse them along until they get to that stage. Nursing them along is filing and smoothing them with a nail file, or even repairing a “flap” with super glue. Once they get to the more “permanent” leathery stage you won’t need to do much to them.

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