Have you ever wondered how you can keep your feet looking pretty without incurring the expense of time and money that it takes to get a professional pedicure?
Professional pedicures are a splurge and to be honest I love getting them.
However, even before the pandemic hit, I was experimenting with ways to keep my feet looking pretty between pedicures. During the pandemic, when it became impossible to get a professional pedicure, I became pretty skilled at keeping my feet looking decent without the benefit of a professional pedicure.
If you would like to have pretty feet without spending a lot of time and money, it’s actually fairly easy to do.
Spoiler alert: This is not a step-by-step guide to a diy pedicure. Instead, these are some really simple ideas that will help you keep your feet looking pretty most of the time.
Tasks that enable to keep your feet looking pretty most of the time can be divided into two categories:
Tasks that need to be done frequently and tasks that can be done on an as needed basis.
The tasks to which you will need to commit most frequently are treating calluses and exfoliating dead skin.
One of the biggest benefits to getting a professional pedicure is the removal of that nasty, dead skin, and the treatment of ugly calluses.
Treating calluses and exfoliating dead skin at home is an easy, two-step process:
First, commit to moisturizing your feet nightly.
Use a heavy crème or petroleum jelly on your feet and heels nightly. Typically, I use a less greasy heavy crème (I like Eucerin Advance Repair Cream) on my feet and Vaseline Petroleum Jelly on my heels and calluses.
Petroleum jelly is the best thing that I have found to heal my cracked heals and treat calluses.
Second, two or three times per week, gently exfoliate the dead skin.
There are a lot of tools available for this job. Personally, I like the Ped Egg better than anything I have tried. It’s easy to use, effective and affordable.
Helpful hint: Indulge in a mini-foot massage when you apply your moisturizer. Just a brief foot massage does wonders in helping your relax.
Most of what you need to do to keep your feet looking pretty can be done on an as-needed basis:
Treat your cuticles
When you get a professional pedicure, it typically starts with a foot soak. Soaking your feet makes cuticles softer and easier to treat.
However, a warm bath or shower can easily provide the soak you need before your treat your cuticles.
Helpful hint: If you want to soak your feet while showering, plug the drain (if you can do so without flooding the floor) so that your feet will soak as you shower.
Using your fingers, massage a little bit of olive oil or cuticle oil into your toenail cuticles.
Using an orange stick, gently push back your cuticles.
Many people cut their cuticles. I choose not to. Keeping them treated with olive oil seems to be sufficient.
Clean the dirt out from under your toenails
It’s pretty amazing how much dirt builds up under your toenails.
Use a (different) orange stick to clean out the crud.
Clip and file your toenails
Learning to shape your toenails takes practice. You may not get it right the first few times. Conventional practice says cut your toenails and then shape them with the nail file.
Instead, I shape my nails with the toenail cutter and use the nail file to smooth the rough edges.
Take off the old polish
It’s not the most popular choice, but I use an acetone nail polish remover.
There are pros and cons to choosing an acetone polish remover. Non-acetone is gentler on your nails. Acetone gets the job done quicker. If the store where you shop doesn’t carry acetone remover, you can find it at a beauty supply store.
Either do this step before your bath or shower or rinse your feet well after you take off the old polish.
And finally, paint your toenails!
Have you ever heard the expression “this will separate the men from the boys”?
Well, painting your toenails is the part that separates the professional from the amateur!
Start with a base coat
A base coat fills in any ridges and provides a smoother surface on which to paint.
The right base coat is designed to keep your nails from staining.
Apply your toenail color
This is the part that has sent me back to a professional every single time. However, there is one trick that will allow you to paint your toenails as good as a professional.
Choose a light color that has a hint of glitter.
Here’s my theory: A light color makes it difficult to see mistakes and the glitter hides the imperfections.
I only apply one coat of color.
Helpful Hint: Using a bright light or painting your toenails outdoors on a sunny day makes it much easier to see what you are doing.
Apply a top coat of polish
The reason for a top coat of nail polish is to seal the polish and help the color last longer.
There’s tons more that you can do to make your foot care fun and keep your feet looking pretty. Sugar scrubs, foot peels and decals are a few of my favorites.
Before you know it, keeping your feet looking pretty right at home may be your pedicure of choice!
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I need help with not picking my feet. I have a terrible habit of picking and ripping the dead skin off the bottoms of my feet until they become sore. I think I will go give myself a pedicure!