GIVE YOURSELF A FEET TREAT AT HOME.

our feet are very important. if you don’t take care of them they will make their presence known to you in a very clear manner.  giving yourself a professional pedicure is an eight step process.

Remove Polish

 Instead of cotton balls (which will leave fuzzies), try using a lint-free cotton pad. 

Saturate the cotton pad with acetone remover & rub off the old polish. If the colour isn't coming off easily, press the saturated cotton on the nail & let it soak in first. 

A tip for removing stains from nails: try rubbing whitening toothpaste on your nails. 

You can also rub a drop of lemon or lavender oil on each toe & rub a buffer back & forth over the nail.

Cut and File Nails

 
It's best to use high quality clippers made for clipping toenails. To avoid ingrown nails, cut nail straight across to just above the skin. Make sure your nail doesn't extend over the tip of your toe.

To get a soft square shape, file nails in one direction until they are even & slightly rounded at the corners. (Hint: Don't use metal files, they'll rip your nails). Basic Emory boards work great. Don't clip the sides of nails, which can cause in-growns.

Emory board tip: The fine-grade surface is for smoothing the nail edge, while the coarser surface is for shortening & shaping nails.

Soak your Feet

 
Fill a large flat-bottom bowl with warm water. Throw in bath salts, your favourite aromatherapy oils or Epsom salt & let your feet soak 10 minutes. The more cracked & calloused your feet, the longer they need to stay in.

Trick only the pros know: Add a quarter cup of milk to your bath along with the essential oils & salts. The lactic acid in the milk loosens dead skin.

Trim Cuticles

Apply cuticle remover to the base of each nail & rub it in.. Leave on for a minute, and then use an orangewood stick to gently push with a circular motion everywhere where skin meets the nail (including the sides). Be careful to remove skin only on top of the nail, don't touch the toe flesh.

Use cuticle nippers to trim any loose skin. Be careful not to nip your toe flesh.

Scrub Your Feet

Apply an exfoliating body or foot scrub to a foot file or wet pumice stone to slough away the dead skin on the balls & heels of your feet. You'll want to scrub the balls, bottoms & sides of your heels & around the toes. To get the most leverage, sit on the side of a bathtub, facing inward. Remember the pedicure motto we read about once, "smooth, and don’t remove." You'll want to stop if your foot turns bright red (this means you've scrubbed too hard). Remember, that tough skin is there for a reason.
 

Moisturize

Dry feet thoroughly including between the toes & rub in a thick foot cream.  Rub the feet & the calves. Re-hydrate cuticles by rubbing in a dab of cuticle oil.

Polish Your Toes

Use acetone remover to get rid of any excess oils on the nails (including the cuticle oil you just applied). Apply a thin base coat using 3 strokes, one down the middle, and then one on each side. Don't paint the cuticle. Wait a minute before adding two coats of your favourite polish, then finish with a thin top coat. Clean up any errors with an orangewood stick wrapped in cotton & dipped in acetone remover.

Let nails dry for at least 40 minutes.

Tip: It's good to paint any polish remaining on the brush over the front nail edge. This prevents chipping.

Finish

After nails have dried, spritz with moisturising oil. This sets your polish & moisturises your cuticles. Great! You're done!

If You Can’t Be Bothered

If you have a body shape that makes accessing your feet difficult, or you just want some tender loving care bestowed upon you, an alternative is to book into your favourite Beauty Salon, sit back and let someone else take care of the details for you.  Try to select a Salon where the therapist will help lift your Spirits whilst performing the pedicare treatment.  To feel good when having any treatment is very important because your feelings affect the cells in your body.  Do you know that tears of joy have a different composition to tears of fear or anguish shed by the same person? 

Select your therapist with care.  The skill and compassion of the therapist is of more importance than the brand of product being used.

 

Cuticles and Winter Weather

I don't know why but cuticles seem to get in worse shape in the winter than they were during summer. Perhaps we spend more time on them during the warm months, but cuticles definitely need looking to right now. When looking for cuticle care Petroleum Jelly pops up. Every night, it is suggested you massage this product into the cuticle area to soften the tough skin that forms. If you don't have Petroleum Jelly, Cocoa Butter or a Vitamin E capsule is also suggested. Petroleum jelly seems to be a product to stock up on.

There have been many discussions on the pros and cons of Petroleum Jelly, but personally, I use it all the time and haven't noticed any ill effects. It makes you wonder who comes up with these negative reviews... and the reason behind them!

Does drinking 8 glasses of water a day keep my skin moist?

No.

Despite years of having this drummed into our heads, this is not true. It is good to keep your body, including your skin, hydrated, however the outermost layer of skin does not absorb water since it is made up of dead skin cells. Moisture level of skin is not determined by internal factors, but rather external ones, such as cold or hot air, dry heat and by the number of oil-producing glands you have. So if you want to hydrate your skin, exfoliate it weekly with a sea-salt scrub or other exfoliator to remove dead skin then apply a rich moisturiser while skin is still damp.

Want to hydrate your inside?  Then by all means, drink your 8 glasses of water a day.

Your local Beauty Salon will be able to answer questions on treatments for your feet during the winter season but if for any reason you can’t make contact with them you can email your questions to me  and I will try to answer you as quickly as I can.

Christina

You can find more information at:

http://www.lepetitspa.ca/2006/04/pedicure-information-tools-and-at-home.html

or just click HERE