Foot care is required not only in summer when open shoes are worn, but also in winter. To put your feet in order, it is not necessary to go to a professional salon, you can do a pedicure on your own at home if you study the technology in more detail.
Prep foot baths
It is always worth starting a pedicure at home with a warm bath. It helps to steal keratinized skin, soften it and facilitate the process of removing the skin. Infusions of herbs, oils and even salt with additives are often added to water to nourish the skin with useful elements and improve its condition. Baths can be divided into the following groups:
tonic;
antibacterial;
relaxing;
Wellness
softening;
exfoliating.
All of them are very simple to prepare, only different components will be needed. To make a tonic bath, you will need warm water, peppermint oil and sea salt. If there is no oil, you can steam dry grass separately and add its infusion to the water.
Who has fungal diseases, it is better to prepare yourself an antibacterial bath. It will allow you to put your feet in order after a public pool, gym, water park, and prevent infection. The best prophylactic is the simplest baking soda. 4 tablespoons are enough for a small bowl. The tool perfectly kills bacteria and destroys an unpleasant odor.
If everything is fine with the legs, then you can just make a relaxing bath with calendula or chamomile. They have an additional moisturizing effect. This tool is ideal for those who have to wear narrow shoes or high-heeled shoes. Healing of small wounds and cracks in the heels occurs faster after a course of such baths.
Water and salt help get rid of rough skin and microcracks, it perfectly disinfects and helps remove corns. Keeping your feet in water for too long is not recommended; 15 minutes is enough to achieve the desired effect. Any girl can make a bath at home alone. Steaming your legs with herbal extracts, salt or soda is always easier. The solution is easily and quickly prepared with your own hands, you need only dry herbs that can be easily found in a pharmacy.
If you add a few tablespoons of vinegar, for example, apple, to the water, you can achieve a softening effect. But you can not use acetic acid. The duration of steaming is no more than 15 minutes.
An exfoliating effect can be achieved using table salt along with hydrogen peroxide, which is added to the water in the amount of several tablespoons.
Necessary tools
Hardware pedicure may not be available at home, so hydrogen peroxide becomes an excellent tool to combat dead skin. And at home you can achieve excellent results if you have everything you need at hand:
foot bath, which can be both plastic and ceramic;
stand;
file for heels with small abrasives;
pumice;
spacers installed between the fingers;
pedicure set;
grinder;
varnish;
acetone;
cream;
cotton pads.
Stages of the procedure
Step-by-step instructions help to make beautiful toenails. If you act in stages, then you can make the heels soft and attractive in just one procedure.
At the very beginning, it is necessary to make a special bath to relax and soften the skin for its further removal. After the feet, wipe with a towel and set on a stand. Old varnish is removed by using a remover. If necessary, the nails are trimmed, make a shape. It is worth saying that on the legs a long pedicure looks unattractive, so it is worth shortening the length. If the nail plate has grown too much, cut the nail, but do not cut it to the base. A nail file is necessary only to correct the shape.
The cuticle is removed after it has been applied a special tool with fruit acid in the composition. It is distributed over the nail and lateral parts. Remove excess skin using a bamboo stick.
Now move on to the heels. You can use a small machine that quickly polishes the skin, or you can use a regular file, pumice or grater. It is important to be very careful to reach the delicate layer of the skin, but not to damage it. If there is no experience in using such a pedicure technique, then it is better to take funds for an acid pedicure, which will quickly and easily remove dead skin.
Small burrs are cut with nippers. In no case should you pull on the skin, because then open wounds will appear.
It is necessary to remove a thick layer of skin not only on the heels, but also on the pads of the thumbs. After completion, wipe the skin around with a damp cloth and spread with cream. The cuticle is removed from the middle to the edges, this is important if you do not want the process to be painful.
The edges of the toenails are made square, the only way to avoid growing them into the skin. The plate itself should be covered with an antiseptic.
Foot skin treatment
Depending on the condition of the heels, it is necessary to choose a tool for their processing. When a thick layer of keratinized skin is formed, it is best to use a special grater or machine.
When buying a grater, it's worth seeing what materials it is made of. Well, when the handle is made of wood, and the working surface is made of:
pumice
Nickel
of stainless steel;
plastic.
On good products of the working parties, two - one with coarser incisions, the other with small and less traumatic ones. After steaming the legs, a coarser grater is used for the primary treatment. It is worth moving in one direction from the edges to the middle and from the back. At the second stage, corns are removed. The foot can again be immersed in hot water, then to finish the treatment with a soft grater.
Increasingly, girls began to use special machines for pedicures at home. When buying, special attention should be paid to the material from which the blade was made. Surgical steel always surpasses other materials as it has greater wear resistance.
Before carrying out the procedure, it is better to steam the legs using useful infusions and other components. Legs should be dry and movements light. There is no need to press hard on the machine. More attention is paid to coarsened parts; when machining with an electric file, they move from the edges to the center of the foot.
After removing the skin, the legs are again immersed in water, and after fifteen minutes they are sanded with a special nail file with small abrasives. In conclusion, a moisturizing, antibacterial or any other cream is applied.
Working with nails
It is necessary to work with the nail plate carefully so as not to damage it, using the necessary tools for this. Professionals discourage using coarse files during pedicure, especially those that resemble sandpaper.
If you ignore this advice, then you may encounter problems such as:
exfoliating nails;
unattractive appearance;
deformation of the nail plate.
The best pedicure glass nail file has proven itself because it does not damage the nail and does not grind for a long time.
There is a special sawing technology that involves moving in one direction. It is not difficult to give the correct shape to the plate, every woman can cope with this task, but it is not worth experimenting on her feet, it is better to leave the natural square shape. If you change it, then soon the nail will begin to grow into the skin and specialist advice will be required. If this problem has already appeared, then the legs will need to be steamed in a solution of soda with salt.
At the second stage, a double-sided file is used. First, a rougher surface is used to remove irregularities, to remove the remnants of varnish or gel. The second side is used for polishing, it allows you to achieve shine and smoothness.
Cuticle removal
The cuticle performs a protective function, it does not allow infection to penetrate under the nail, therefore, with an independent pedicure, you need to remove only unnecessary skin, but in no case damage the normal one. In some, the cuticle grows very much and it must be removed, monitor health, give the nails a well-groomed appearance.
The skin can be cut off. For this, special devices are used:
scissors;
tweezers.
They must be made of stainless steel, sharpened by hand, only this way the tool will complete the task and will not damage the nail. Feet must be steamed. A special emollient is applied to the cuticle area. It is held for several minutes, then removed with a damp cloth.
Gently, with a spatula from the pedicure kit, the skin rises up. It is removed with another tool. The main thing is not to touch the nail and living tissue under the cuticle. Cut the skin at a time so as not to leave any burrs, then apply the cream on the fingers and nails.
If you can’t easily and easily use tweezers, then it is worth using the innovative unedged method using keratolics. They are necessary in order to soften the skin sufficiently, and then remove it with a bamboo stick. In conclusion, the nail plate is treated with special oil. One of the main advantages of this method is its safety. All keratinized skin is easy to clean.
The hardware method is also used, which does not require steaming the legs. The whole technology is based on the use of special oil, which affects only dead skin cells.
During the pedicure, the legs are treated with special nozzles and cutters, the cuticle is not cut off, therefore, skin injury does not occur. The equipment is sold with different nozzles, small ones are used to clean the space between the fingers and around the nail plate. Using such an apparatus, it is possible to treat the feet, heels and toes.
The first to use a nozzle with a rough surface. When more dead skin has already been removed, tips with a more delicate effect are used. On the market you can find equipment with a large number of different files, brushes that help to keep in beauty not only nails, but also to clean corns, cracks, and to remove the cuticle painlessly.
In the process of hardware pedicure, it is important to first apply emollients to the skin. Now it will be easy to remove dead skin tissue. The cutter will quickly remove corns or old callus, polish the cuticle. Then you will need to separately give the nail a shape, sand it by hand and varnish.
Many models come with a special attachment for corns. It allows you to quickly and delicately remove exfoliated skin without causing harm. Moreover, such devices additionally have a massage effect. Blood circulation improves, skin color improves, it becomes softer.
Beauticians have proven that hardware pedicure slows down the growth of new corns and corns, the skin remains attractive and supple for longer.
Applying varnish
The color and design of the nail plate cover depends on the imagination of the girl. It has become popular to make a white jacket or just paint your nails with gel polish of the same tone. If a brighter palette is selected, for example, red nails, then it is worth carefully inserting special dividers between the fingers. With them, it’s not only convenient to cover the nails, but also the varnish will not drip until it dries.
Not all girls pre-degrease the nail plate, although it is better to do this with a special tool without acetone. If a specially designed base is applied under the varnish, then it will last much longer.
Bright shades will require several layers to completely paint the nail. Light can be coated once. When the coating dries, a special fixative is used.
If you want the varnish to dry faster, you can not use a hairdryer, since exposure to hot air causes the opposite effect. This coating will begin to peel off the nail faster.
Modern design offers many pedicure options. These are not only images on the nails of flowers and animals, but also special techniques. The moon manicure looks very attractive, the aquarium technique is especially popular. 3D pictures are the top of professionalism; not every woman can create such a picture at home, but you can always try experimenting.
The black and white palette is an unchanging classic. This pedicure is suitable for a special occasion and business meeting, it looks good in everyday life, regardless of the image chosen by the woman.
In summer, it is worth giving preference to a brighter and bolder palette, in winter the design in blue looks good using New Year's attributes.
Aftercare Recommendations
Any pedicure should be completed by applying a special antiseptic or moisturizer. Next, appropriate care will be required - if the skin is dry, you will need to apply the cream on the skin at night and put on special socks. Scrubs act favorably on the legs, but they should not be abused.
Useful massage to improve circulation in the feet. If your feet constantly sweat and smell bad, you will need to purchase a deodorant or antiseptic. When a woman constantly feels tired, you can use tonic creams or repeat baths more often.
To keep your nails beautiful, you need to apply cuticle oil on them every day. Over time, the nail plate will become more even, the nails will grow faster, and their thickness will increase.
If the nails are yellow, a bath with lemon juice will help, which has a whitening effect. If there are cracks in the heels, you should generously apply petroleum jelly on them and wear cotton socks. The difference becomes noticeable after a few days.
Great for massage olive or almond oil, in which you can add essential.
Common mistakes
For some reason, most women think that the hotter the water in the bath, the faster and better the dead skin will go. In fact, this is wrong - the water temperature should be no more than 30 degrees Celsius.
In no case should large corns and corns be cut off with scissors, or even less with a blade. All this injures the skin, makes it vulnerable to fungal infections. Only a scraper or pumice will help quickly and harmlessly remove dead skin tissue.
The shape of the toenails should remain square, as this is the only way to prevent it from growing into the skin. The nail plate is trimmed correctly only in a straight line.
If you decide to skip the top base coat, the polish will not last on the nails for as long as you want. Colored varnish can change the natural shade and dry the nails, they will become brittle without a high-quality protective layer. Do not blow on varnish or gel, because small air bubbles still penetrate the coating, which is why chips appear later.
Special requirements are set for polishing, because if you remove the nail layer by layer, it can be severely damaged. If there is no experience, then you do not need to use electric files. It is difficult to control the degree of immersion in the nail plate, so it is better to erase the top layer manually.
The best way to remove dead skin are drugs with urea or lactic acid. Moreover, they are completely harmless, but they can be used only after a test application, since they sometimes cause an allergic reaction.
You can’t cut off your toenails too short; this not only leads to discomfort, but also causes fungal diseases, since bacteria easily penetrate through damaged skin.
You should not apply a thick layer of varnish if an additional fixative is not used, since then chips will appear faster. Bright shades look better on the legs in saturated color. This can be achieved by double application of the composition, but not one and in large quantities. In addition, the varnish will dry much longer, it can leak and smear neighboring fingers.
Varnish, like any other coating, can not be applied to a damp surface, otherwise it will peel off after a few days. During painting, it is always worth starting with the left little finger and moving in order to the right. This is how it will never work to lubricate the applied varnish by hand. If you follow the advice of professionals and perform pedicures in stages, then you can independently make your legs beautiful and attractive.
How to make the perfect pedicure at home, see the video below.
