Foot Care Tips: Pedicure Precautions to Protect Your Feet | Nagy Footcare

Foot Care Tips: Pedicure Precautions to Protect Your Feet

| July 17th, 2017

Posted In: General Foot Care

It’s summer time and that means open toed shoes are flying across pavements across the nation. Men don’t typically care how their toenails look in flip flops, but ladies, we care. Not only do we want our toes to look amazing when at the beach, but when we slip on our heels for a night out we want them to look party ready in our peep toes. Some women enjoy sitting down in front of the T.V. during the afternoon or evening and doing their own nails. Others like to spend the money and go relax in a massage chair and leave the fate of their toenails to professionals.

If you find yourself landing in the “leave it to the professionals” category there are some important foot care tips that you should know before your next pedicure appointment.

1.  Don’t Shave Your Legs

Everyone wants to be kind to their pedicurist and shave their legs before going so they don’t have to deal with prickly or hairy legs. When it comes to protecting yourself from bacteria, it’s not kind to your body so don’t shave 24hrs before your appointment. Shaving creates little cuts that are unseen by the human eye and allow bacteria to enter the blood stream.

2.  Schedule Early Morning

Everything in a nail salon needs to be sterilized, and depending on where you go they are either great at sterilizing or need some work on it (in that case, for your feet’s sake, go somewhere else). Either way, the best time to go is in the mornings when they haven’t had many customers and the tubs are more sterile than in the afternoons or evenings.

3.  Say No to Razors

Pedicurists are known for spending time to get the dead skin off around the heel and the big toe, but it’s important to know what they are using. Pumice stones and other exfoliating lotions or scrubbing tools work perfectly. It’s when they bring out the sharp objects that you need to stop them. Razor like tools can take off more than just the dead skin and trust us when we say you’ll feel it if they take off living skin.

4.  Check Soaking Tubs

While you’re in the waiting area it’s important that you keep your eyes alert to see if the nail techs change anything out between customers. Whether that is taking off a tub cover and replacing it with a new one or taking the time to scrub it clean before the next customer. If you don’t see any of this happening you should leave and go to a different salon.

5.  No Cutting Cuticles

It’s common for pedicurists to cut the cuticles around your nail when cleaning up the look of your nail, but this is something that you should ask them to skip. Cutting off the cuticles opens your skin up for bacteria and fungus to seep through or start to grow. It’s safer to let them leave it alone and just focus on trimming your nails.

6.  Rounded Edges are a No Go

When getting toenails trimmed there are two shapes that people lean towards, square and round. If you want to avoid getting ingrown toenails you should stick with just getting a square shape.

7.  BYO Tools

If you go to get your nails done a lot, you might want to invest in your own tools to bring to the salon with you. That way you know that they’re sterilized because you did it yourself.

8.  Metal vs Non-Metal Tools

There are two types of tools used within a salon – those that are metal and those that aren’t. when taking foot care into consideration, it’s important to know how each type should be treated. Metal tools can be re-used from customer to customer if they’re soaked and sterilized in-between clients. Non-metal tools are a one-use tool and should be thrown away after being used on just one person.

9.  Don’t Go If…

Please do not get a pedicure if you have toenail fungus, athlete’s foot, or any other foot fungus. If you have not done so already call your doctor or visit a New Hampshire podiatrist to discuss treatment for your condition.

Now that you have all the knowledge needed, make sure you take the proper foot care tips into consideration before and during your pedicure. It’s time to go pick a fun summer color to show off to everyone. Kick up your feet and relax in that massage charge that feels like heaven and catch up on those magazines you’ve been missing out on.

If you’re experience foot problems causing you pain, contact Nagy Footcare – our best day is the day you wake up with no foot pain!

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