The scent of creams wafts through the air at the pedicure room in Page 3 Salon. I sit on a reclining chair, my feet are immersed in a basin of warm water and Mercy, the body therapist, seats herself in front of me with a nail cutter, cuticle cutter, filer, a scrubber, buffer and pumice stones. There are two kinds of pedicure services I could avail - cosmetic and therapeutic, says Latha Verghis, the franchisee of Page 3. “I suggest you go for a therapeutic pedicure as your feet have cracks. The lotions contain tea tree oil, mint and eucalyptus oil.”
While a parlour would use certain products that may not be easily available in the market, there are ways of doing the pedicure at home.
Here’s how:
Nails
Soak your feet in warm water for five minutes. This is to make the skin soft and easy to scrub off the dead cells. At the salon they put a drop of Pedicure soak that contains Tea tree oil, lavender extracts and arnica.
1. Wipe the nails with a wet cloth to remove dirt
2. Trim the nails, using a nail cutter.
3. Take off loose layers of skin around the toes with the cuticle cutter
4. Smoothen out the surface of the nails by a filer
5. Apply cream on the nails to moisturize them
Callus exfoliation
1. Soak your feet for next two minutes in warm water
2. Apply “Callus Exfoliator”, a cream with natural aloe vera extracts such as tea tree oil, to soften and disinfect the skin. You could use any scrub at home.
3. Using a foot scrapper, scrub feet to peel off the callus skin layers.
4. Apply scrub, a dry mixture with pumice grains, on the feet to kill dead skin cells. You could also use granulated sugar and cornflakes as scrub.
5. After washing off the scrub, apply shea butter to moisturize the dry skin.
Masque
1. For the masque, make a mixture of oatmeal and milk and apply on the feet.
2.Wrap feet with cling wrap. This is to allow the masque to work on the skin of your feet.
3. Wash off masque after five minutes
4. Apply the cooling gel, with menthol and peppermint, to disinfect, deodorize and sooth the skin. Lemon and orange are also good cooling agents.
Moisturise the feet and Buff the nails to make them shine. Or apply nail colour on the nails if you want.
Feet are often the most ignored parts of our body, says Latha.
“Many of my young clients often come for manicure and facials, but not for pedicure. They think it is less important as they are not visible. In fact, it is all the more important to take care of your feet not just because it is the most soiled body part but also that all the nerves of your body are connected to it.”
