Aside from these important
cuticle questions, there are other issues involved with finger picking.
If you're a hack like me, the simple thing to do is assign each string to a particular finger and simply rote memorize the picking pattern in question until it is imprinted on your brain. This works for folksy acoustic type rhythms which maintain the same general picking structure as the chords change, but probably doesn't work for fancy electric guitar wailin'. Yes, there are six strings but only five fingers, but rarely does a finger picking pattern require all six, and if it does the thumb can do double duty.