What is it called when you get your feet done? A pedicure.
Elaborate pedicures are used to be for the rich and upper class in ancient times. This is no longer true. Now pedicure prices are affordable and widely available.
Pedicure is a treatment of the feet and toenails for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons. Pedicures have been a popular beauty treatment among women worldwide but men now begin to discover the benefits of a pedicure has to offer.
Even though pedicures are popular in recent years, there are still many people, especially men still wonder what a pedicure is and why so many people are getting it.
The following sections will give you newbies a complete guide so you will know about the different types of pedicures and what you should know to prepare for your first or next pedicure appointment so you can enjoy it to the fullest.
What is a pedicure chair?
Nowadays, virtually all pedicures performed in salons take place on pedicure chairs.
It consists of a chair, chair base, foot tub and plumbing system which provides hot and cold water.
The back chair is usually has a mechanical massage that you can activate and adjust various functions with a handheld control device. This back massage is an additional feature that massages your back while the pedicure is performed.
The chair base is where the chair and foot tub is securely attached for stability.
The foot tub saves the nail technician trips to carry water to soak your feet.
The plumbing system provides hot and cold water. It also has a device to circulate water in the tub to add another relaxing sensation while your feet are soaked.
The pedicure chair has a lot of improvements over the years in terms of sanitation. The new simple tub design has eliminated all possible hard-to-clean areas that can harbor bacteria.
These features of a pedicure chair will enhance the customer’s enjoyment of a pedicure service in a nail salon.
Types of pedicures:
Even though each nail salon names its pedicures differently, pedicures are combined into two main groups due to how extensive the work will be done.
Regular pedicures:
These basic service is the simplest pedicure that includes
- Foot soaking in warm water
- Nail clipping
- Nail shaping
- Foot scrubbing to remove dead skin with a pumice stone or foot file,
- Moisturizing with lotion
- Nail polishing for those who want some color on their toenails.
Deluxe pedicures:
This is a regular pedicure with additional services:
- Callous removal
- Lower leg and foot massage
- Paraffin wax
Pedicure tools
Things are used in a salon pedicure service:
- Cotton: use to clean toenails and remove polish
- Acetone: to dissolve old polish on toenails
- Alcohol: use to sanitize the feet.
- Pedicure salt: to detoxify the feet
- Color polishes, base coat and top coats, dehydrator,
- Nail clippers: to shorten toenails
- Nail file: to shape toenails
- Cuticle or skin softener: to soften hard cuticles
- Cuticle pusher: push back excess cuticles
- Cuticle trimmer: trim the excess cuticle
- Buffer: used to smooth out nail surfaces
- Pumice stone: remove dead skins and thick callouses
- Lotion or moisturizer: hydrate the skin on the foot
What are included in a pedicure?
After you are seated on a pedicure chair, you’ll take off your shoes and socks, roll up your pants and start soaking your feet in a foot tub with bubbling warm water mixed with pedicure salt. Turn on the chair massage, you will have your back massage while you are getting a pedicure.
If it is your first time, adjust the back chair so you can sit comfortably for 30 minutes and close your eyes. Let the pedicurist do her things and enjoy the feeling of your feet being pampered by someone other than yourself. It is a unique feeling.
The pedicurist will trim your toenails, trim the excess cuticles. The toenails will be lightly buffed to remove the remaining cuticles.
The dead skin of the feet will be scrubbed away with the use of a pumice stone.
Depend on which pedicure service you choose, a leg and foot massage will be performed using foot massage lotion and skin moisturizer.
Then your legs, feet, and toenails will be washed to remove the excess lotion.
The paraffin wax will be optional. For some salons, it could be an additional service.
Then the toenails will be polished with the color of your choice.
Your pedicure session is finished.
How much is the cost for a pedicure?
Pedicure prices can vary from one salon to the next and across the nation. It depends on how competitive it is in a particular area. Some can pay as little as $20 while others pay $35 for the same regular pedicure. Also, the price for a basic or simple regular pedicure is lower than that of a more involved, high-quality product used in a deluxe one. Deluxe pedicures can start from $35. Tips are generally appreciated. You can find out more on average pedicure prices from 400 nail salons here
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The benefits of a pedicure
Your legs and feet are the ones that carry your bodyweight all day every day. Your feet impact the ground thousands of times as you walk every day. They deserve some attention.
Getting a pedicure is one way to keep your feet looking pretty, it also keeps toenails properly trimmed, excess dead skin, and calluses removed. Foot massage helps to stimulate circulation, relieve tension, and provides therapeutic treatment.
Many people get pedicures to relax or cosmetic touch-ups, but there are many other benefits associated with them:
Stress relief: when you are getting a pedicure, he or she does not have to do anything other than sitting back and let a pedicurist perform the service. It is a time when you can escape reality and after a long, busy day or week.
Infection prevention: a trained pedicurist will be able to determine if your feet have any fungal infections or excessive callous build-up from your daily activities and let you know before they become a major problem so they can deal with them before they get any worse.
Softer skin: exfoliation will remove dead thick skin and thick callouses will also be addressed. This results in softer feet. The feeling of walking on cleaned feet after a pedicure is a great sensation.
Are pedicures at a salon really safe?
In the United States, any person who passes the state examination is licensed to provide manicure and pedicure services to the public. So pedicurist is a state-licensed manicurist who gives pedicure services to her customers. This licensed manicurist should possess all the knowledge of what is allowed and what is not in terms of products, equipment, and procedures in a pedicure service.
If a pedicure is done properly by a trained pedicurist, you should not have any problem. Any licensed nail technician can give a pedicure service, a well-trained nail technician will give you a safe one. He or she will be competent as far as safety and skills are concerned.
So on the lookout for how a salon handles its sanitation, equipment sterilization. Disposable tools should be used for one person. As a well informed consumer, you will be able to protect yourself from possible accidents and infections.
An inexperienced pedicurist can trim your cuticles too deep or over scrubbing on the skin that causes bleeding while an experienced one will know how to do them just right.
Pedicurists are responsible to clean and sterilize their own equipment. If you do not see any sterilization device visible, do ask your pedicurist how their equipment is handled. If you do not get any satisfactory answers, look for another salon that you are comfortable with.
Bad things you can get from a pedicure
Even though how clean a salon is or how competent your pedicurist is, skin infections are still possible. Here are some of them:
Ingrown toenails: it is possible that you can get this condition. They are a combination of your bad shoe-fitting, how much walking you do in a day and short toenails contribute to ingrown toenails. If the sides of your toenails hurt after a recent pedicure, it is likely that the toenails are trimmed too short.
To relieve the pain, try not to wear tight closed-toe shoes or high heels for a week. If you wear tennis shoes, tie your shoelaces a little tighter so your toenails will not hit the inside of the shoes as you walk.
Foot fungus: fungus thrives in a damp, dark environment, and inside of your tennis shoes is one good place for fungus to grow and you can get nail fungus on toes. One good habit is never to put on socks and shoes when your feet are damp or wet.
Keeping your feet, socks, and shoes dry is a simple but effective measure in preventing foot fungus from developing on your feet.
Infections: no matter how well trained or careful your pedicurist, over trimming or cutting that damages your skin is possible.
If you accidentally have a cut during a pedicure, make sure your pedicurist follows the normal procedure to treat an open-cut wound and clean the affected skin to properly prevent you from getting any infections. Also, do follow a proper re-dressing of your wound a home until it is healed.
Notes on two pedicure tools
Nowadays many nail salon uses a pedicure implement to remove thick skin and excessive callouses. They look like a cheese grater so they are commonly called with the same name. Pedicurists like this tool because they are great at dealing with callouses. Together with the tool that uses a razor blade, however, they are banned in many states because of their sharpness and their ability to cause bleeding.
If your pedicurist is about to use this cheese grater on your feet, just politely say you prefer a pumice stone, it will take a little longer to scrub off the thick skin or calloused on your feet but you will feel safer this way. Do not forget to leave a little tip for the extra work.
If you really want to have a peace of mind about clean pedicure tools being used on your feet, you can bring your own pedicure toolset.
What does a pedicure feel like?
Nail salons that provide pedicures are all over. Chances are you will find at least one in your neighborhood. There must be a large customer base to support this popularity. Many people like this as one of their regular personal services.
If you ask people whether they like pedicure, you will get a whole range of answers from dislike to love it. The answers are very subjective because each person responds differently when his or her feet are being touched. the feelings go from torturing ticklish to very relaxing.
If you never had a pedicure before and you are ticklish as someone touches your feet, you should prepare yourself mentally or you will not be able to sit through your pedicure session or enjoy it to the fullest.
Many people go to salons to get their pedicures regularly. To these people, pedicures are included in their routines that provide relaxation, beauty treatment, and much-needed care for their tired-aching feet.
Why should you get a pedicure?
if you wear shoes for work all day long, no matter how good your shoes are, at the end of your working day, your legs and feet are the parts of your body that go through a lot of impacts, tension and stress because they carry your own weigh around.
Taking good care of your feet requires more than just trimming your toenails when they get too long.
Imagine if you are immobilized because you have some foot problems, you will come to appreciate your feet and legs. They are the ones who help you independently go places on your life journey. Also, everybody only gets one pair of legs and feet. Pedicure is one way to repay your hard-working feet.
With all the information given to you, now you know how beneficial and relaxing pedicure is. It is a service that gives your feet much-needed care in particular and your own well-being in general. For a person living in a hectic, always busy time, a little time off to get away from it and let someone taking care of aching feet is priceless. You will feel walking out of the salon on a set of new feet.
As for men, you will be glad that you discover how good pedicure is after you set foot inside a salon for your pedicure.
What should you do before your pedicure appointment?
Choose a salon:
Walk into a salon that you are thinking of getting a pedicure to do an initial check out on its overall cleanliness. Tel the people at the salon you would like a business card so you can call for a pedicure appointment later when you have time. It a good reason for you to come in without getting a service and take a look at its general cleanliness so you can decide whether this salon provides safe services.
Wash your feet before your pedicure appointment:
Nobody wants to work on dirty, stinky feet. Also, a pedicure session usually lasts about 45 minutes. Do not let your pedicurist waste any of those minutes trying to clean your feet instead of using all that time to enhance your pedicure experience.
No need for you to trim your toenails: your pedicurist will do a better job at trimming your toenails for the best matching look.
If it is your first pedicure: do let your pedicurist know that and you prefer her to go easy on your feet since they will be sensitive and not used to pedicure procedure.
Wear or bring a pair of flip flops or other open-toed shoes to wear after your pedicure, if you intend to wear regular polish because it needs about two hours to completely dry. If outside weather permits, wear open-toed footwear for about one hour or so any remaining water under your toenails to dry out.
Wear loose pants: you need to roll them up to the knees to keep them getting wet by the water in the foot tub. Tight pants will reduce blood circulation and your comfort during your pedicure session.
Bring your own pedicure tool kit: if you are concerned about the sterilized pedicure tools at the salon.
Pedicurists like to use their own pedicure implements because they like to hand-picked those tools before they buy them for their job. Many will not use other pedicurists’ tools because they might not be as comfortable as theirs. The same goes for your tools. But a good pedicurist will honor your request just to make you feel safe and happy.
Do ask whether your pedicurist will have no problem using your tools when you make your appointment. If the salon is not happy to use your own tools, make your pedicure appointment at one that does.
Conclusion:
Now you know all the facts about a pedicure. It is one more great service that is available for your enjoyment. So do not let embarrassment, self-consciousness, or shyness stop you from experiencing this great service that is now affordable and widely available.
You feet are the one carry your load. They deserve some attention and getting a pedicure can help relieve pain or sore feet after a tough workday.
The only thing that stops you from enjoying this great experience is yourself.
