How to Have a Pedicure

There is one part of the body that people take for granted when it comes to their health and beauty regimes, and that is their feet. A lot of people are guilty of neglect when it comes to these important extremities. As more and more people lead active lives with jobs that mean they have to stand up for long hours, there is a greater need to take care of your feet. To do so there are several things that you can do.

What is a pedicure?

A pedicure usually consists of treating the toe nails, cuticles and skin of the feet.

Toe nails are often clipped with nail clippers or they may be filed down with an emery board. There has been some debate in the past as to which method is the safest, since cutting the nails with clippers can cause ingrown toe nails which are extremely painful nails that grow the wrong way. This only occurs if the nail is cut too short or some part of the nail cuticle is damaged. Other people say that filing the nails the wrong way can cause ingrown toe nails especially if the file is used in both directions. It is advisable to file from left to right or right to left.

Toe nails that are left to grow too long will overhang the toe and can cause shoes to fit badly, if this is the case the way you walk will be affected and that will affect your posture too. So trimming nails is very important. If you are someone who prefers to clip nails then it is good to follow up with filing, so that the nails are not sharp.

Cuticles are the pieces of fibrous membranes that surround the nail. Some people have large cuticles which grow too far onto the nail; in this case the cuticles need to be trimmed back. They can be trimmed using a special scraping tool often found in manicure and pedicure sets. Again it is important not to trim cuticles too far because they may cause in grown nails. Cuticles often need to be moisturised well with cream containing ingredients such as cocoa butter which not only smell great but also lubricate well too. Treating the cuticles is so much easier when the feet have been pre soaked in warm water.

Feet take such a lot during the day that the effects of continuous wear will show up as calluses and hard skin. This skin is not painful, it is just hardened and only needs to be filed off gently using a pumice file. Pumice stone is tough yet gentle enough to remove these types of lumps and bumps that can be found around the heels, toes and the ball of the foot. Like the cuticles it is often easier to treat the hard skin when the feet have been pre soaked and are soft. This can also be achieved by rubbing the feet with pedicure skin products like specially made cream. The cream is usually rubbed into the hard skin or all over the feet until the hard skin begins to peel off.

1. Washing and soaking the feet
2. Clipping and filing nails
3. Trimming the cuticles
4. Removing hardened skin
5. Washing and drying the feet
6. Applying moisturising cream