Let the summer wave to us with a pen, open shoes should not be removed on the mezzanine: weather forecasters promise warm days even at the end of September, and politicians – a gradual opening of borders. We tell you how to take care of your feet so that your favorite sandals are worn with pleasure, and not with embarrassment.
Of course, it’s always nice to put yourself in the hands of a professional pedicurist – you sit in a comfortable chair, watch frivolous films while your heels turn from sandpaper to baby ones. But there are situations when a salon pedicure is not available – someone does not have enough time, someone does not have enough money, and someone goes exclusively to one master, who just now went on maternity leave.
You can achieve quite a decent result on your own, the main thing is to know a few rules and secrets. One of the main mistakes that non-professionals make when trying to make their feet look divine is the wrong cutting of nails. They should always be cut in a straight line, without rounding the corners, but maintaining a natural shape. Otherwise, you risk earning an ingrown nail, and this is an extremely unpleasant thing.
Masters do not advise actively filing toenails, but it is quite possible to grind a little, make the edges a little softer – the main thing is to use a high-quality file to prevent damage and delamination of the nail edge. If the nail plate is uneven, bumpy, which happens with rougher toenails, it can also be slightly sanded – use a soft buffer for this, and not a hard file, which is used to remove gel polish.
You should not be too zealous – the nail should become a little smoother, more shiny and uniform, but do not grind it down to a perfect mirror surface. Over-sanded, it can become too thin and brittle, and this is fraught with problems and discomfort.
Experts do not recommend cutting the cuticle on the legs, although some pedicure masters sometimes resort to tweezers if the skin around the nail has become too rough or has grown too much.
To begin with, you should try to get by with a cuticle softener – apply for a few minutes, and then gently, without picking the nail itself, try to push back the excess skin with an orange stick or a metal pedicure spatula. If, nevertheless, there is too much regrown cuticle, very delicately walk along it with nail scissors or tweezers. Here, too, it is better to undertighten a little than to overtighten – if you injure the skin, you can earn painful irritation.
It is worth adding a cream with urea to your cosmetic arsenal – it softens the skin and helps to avoid corns and rough heels.
The feet themselves, including the heels, which receive a particularly high load, can be processed dry or wet. Special files or pumice perfectly grind rough skin, removing dry excess from it. It is worth processing in a circular motion – first with a rougher side, then with a more gentle one – until the skin becomes smooth and the “hooks” disappear. Here, too, you should definitely make sure not to “cut down” too much, otherwise the skin will become too sensitive – this is fraught with injuries and pain when walking.
The wet method involves pre-soaking the feet in warm water, to which you can add liquid soap or shower gel, or you can use a special solution to soften the feet before a pedicure. By the way, if it was not possible to beautifully remove the cuticle with the help of just a tool and a stick, such soaking will help to cope with it. After letting your feet get slightly wet – it takes about 10 minutes – treat the dry areas with the same pumice stone or file.
For the wet method, you will need a rougher option than for the dry one. After treatment, the foot should definitely be lubricated with a moisturizing and nourishing cream – at the same time, you can please yourself and your feet with a pleasant massage. By the way, the cream can also act as an emollient – this is a convenient way to avoid fussing with water and a basin. You just need to spread it more abundantly and wrap the feet in cling film or ordinary plastic bags. Be sure to put a towel next to it, and even two is better – wet and dry – in order to remove excess cream before treating the skin. Walking in “cream bags” is dangerous because your feet will slip a lot.
If you like a colored pedicure, be sure to go over your nails with nail polish remover first – it will degrease the nail plate and remove the cream or soap solution. Then the varnish will lie down more evenly and last longer.
To keep your feet looking well-groomed for longer, you should get a nail brush in the bathroom and treat your feet with it while taking a shower – it will help to further exfoliate the skin and remove dirt in hard-to-reach places like the corners of the nails. It is worth adding a cream with urea to your cosmetic arsenal – it softens the skin and helps to avoid corns and rough heels.
If the cream has a high percentage of urea, it is enough to use it two or three times a week, and on the other evenings apply a regular moisturizing or nourishing one. If the percentage is moderate, you can safely use it every day – preferably at night. So the legs will always look neat and well-groomed, and there will be no reason for the fear of not getting a pedicure before the long-awaited vacation.