Pedicure at home - step by step instructions and analysis of common mistakes

Foot care is required not only in summer, when open shoes are worn, but also in winter. To put your legs in order, it is not at all necessary to go to a professional salon, you can do a pedicure yourself at home if you study the technology in more detail.

It is always worth starting a pedicure at home with a warm bath. It helps to steam out the 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 the water in order 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 easy to prepare, you only need different components. To make a tonic bath, you will need warm water, peppermint oil, and sea salt. If there is no oil, you can steam the dry herb separately and add the infusion to the water.

If you have 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 preventive measure is the simplest baking soda. 4 tablespoons are enough for a small bowl. The tool perfectly kills bacteria and destroys unpleasant odors.

If everything is in order with your legs, then you can simply make a relaxing bath with calendula or chamomile. They have an additional moisturizing effect. This product is ideal for those who have to wear tight shoes or high heels. Healing of small wounds and cracks in the heels occurs faster after a course of such baths.

Water with salt helps to get rid of rough skin and microcracks, it perfectly disinfects and helps to remove corns. It is not recommended to keep your feet in water for too long, 15 minutes is enough to achieve the desired effect. Any girl can make her own bath at home. It is always easier to steam your feet with the addition of herbal extracts, salt or soda. The solution is easily and quickly prepared with your own hands, you only need to have dry herbs, which can be easily found at the pharmacy.

If you add a few tablespoons of vinegar, for example, apple cider vinegar, to the water, you can achieve a softening effect. But you can't use acetic acid. Duration of steaming - no more than 15 minutes.

Hardware pedicure may not be available at home, so hydrogen peroxide is becoming an excellent remedy for dead skin. And at home you can achieve excellent results on your own if you have everything you need at hand:

• a foot bath, which can be either plastic or ceramic;

• stand;

• file for heels with small abrasives;

• pumice;

• spacers installed between the fingers;

• pedicure set;

• grinding machine;

• varnish;

• acetone;

• cream;

• cotton pads.

Step by step instructions will help you get beautiful toenails correctly. If you act in stages, you can make your heels soft and attractive in just one procedure.

At the very beginning, you need to make a special bath to relax and soften the skin for its further removal. After that, the feet are wiped off with a towel and placed on a stand. Old varnish is removed by using a nail polish remover. If necessary, nails are trimmed and shaped. It is worth saying that a long pedicure on the legs 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. The file is only needed to correct the shape.

The cuticle is removed after a special product with fruit acid has been applied to it. It is distributed over the nail and lateral parts. Remove excess skin using a bamboo stick.

Now they move on to processing the heels. You can use a small machine that will quickly sand the leather, or you can use a regular file, pumice stone, or grater. It is important to be very careful to reach the delicate layer of the skin without damaging it. If there is no experience in using such a pedicure technique, then it is better to take acid pedicure products, which will allow you to quickly and easily remove keratinized skin.

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, this is the only way to avoid their ingrowth into the skin. The plate itself should be covered with an antiseptic.

Depending on the condition of the heels, it is necessary to choose a tool for processing them. When a thick layer of keratinized skin forms, it is best to use a special grater or machine.

When buying a grater, it is worth looking at what materials it is made of. It is good when the handle is made of wood, and the work surface is made of:

• pumice;

• nickel;

• of stainless steel;

• plastic.

On good products, there are two working sides - one with coarser notches, the other with small and less traumatic ones. After steaming the legs, a coarser grater is used for initial processing. 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 leg can be immersed in hot water again for finishing with a soft grater.

Increasingly, girls began to use special machines for pedicure at home. When buying, special attention should be paid to the material from which the blade was made. Surgical steel always outperforms other materials because it is more wear-resistant.

Before carrying out the procedure, it is better to steam your legs using useful infusions and other components. Legs should be dry and movement light. There is no need to press hard on the machine. More attention is paid to the hardened parts; when processing 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 fifteen minutes later they are sanded with a special file with fine abrasives. Finally, a moisturizer, antibacterial or any other cream is applied.

You need to work with the nail plate carefully so as not to damage it, using the necessary tools for this. Professionals discourage the use of coarse-coated files during a pedicure, especially those that resemble sandpaper.

If you ignore this advice, then you can face with time such problems as:

• flaking nails;

• unattractive appearance;

• deformation of the nail plate.

There is a special filing technology that involves moving in one direction. It is not difficult to give the plate the correct shape, every woman can cope with this task, but you should not experiment on the legs, 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 you will need to consult a specialist. If this problem has already appeared, then the legs will need to be steamed in a solution of soda and salt.

At the second stage, a double-sided file is used. First, use a rougher surface to remove irregularities, remove the remains of varnish or gel. The second side is used for polishing, it allows you to achieve shine and smoothness.

The cuticle performs a protective function, it does not allow infection to penetrate under the nail, therefore, with an independent pedicure, you only need to remove unnecessary skin, but in no case damage the normal one. In some, the cuticle grows strongly and it is necessary to remove it, monitor health, and give the nails a well-groomed look.

The skin can be trimmed. For this, special devices are used:

• scissors;

• tweezers.

They must be made of stainless steel, hand sharpened, only in this way the tool will fulfill the task and will not damage the nail. Legs must be steamed. A special emollient is applied to the area where the cuticle is located. It is kept for several minutes, then removed with a damp cloth.

Gently, with a spatula from the pedicure set, the skin rises up. It is removed with another instrument. The main thing is not to touch the nail and living tissues under the cuticle. Trim the skin in one go to avoid leaving any burrs, then apply the cream to your fingers and nails.

If you cannot easily and naturally wield tweezers, then you should use the innovative unedged method using keratolics. They are necessary to soften the skin sufficiently and then remove it with a bamboo stick. Finally, the nail plate is treated with a special oil. One of the main advantages of this method is its safety. All keratinized skin is easily removed.

During a pedicure, the legs are treated with special attachments and cutters, the cuticle is not cut off, therefore, there is no injury to the skin. The equipment is sold with different attachments, small ones are used to clean the space between the fingers and around the nail plate. You can use this device to treat feet, heels and toes.

The first is a rough-surfaced nozzle. When more dead skin has already been removed, attachments 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 not only nails beautiful, but also remove calluses, cracks, and painlessly remove cuticles.

In the process of a hardware pedicure, it is important to first apply emollients to the skin. Now it will be easy to remove the keratinized tissue. The cutter quickly removes corns or old calluses, polishes the cuticle. Then you need to separately shape the nail, sand it by hand and varnish it.

Many models come with a special callus attachment. It allows you to quickly and delicately remove exfoliated skin without causing harm. Moreover, such devices additionally have a massage effect. The blood circulation improves, the skin color improves, it becomes softer.

The color and design of the nail plate cover depends on the girl's imagination. It has become popular to make a white jacket or just paint your nails with gel polish of the same tone. If you are choosing a brighter palette, for example, red nails, then you should carefully insert special dividers between your fingers. With them, not only is it convenient to cover your nails, but the varnish will not flow 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 you apply a specially designed base under the varnish, then it will last much longer.

Bright shades will require multiple coats to completely paint over the nail. Light colors can be coated once. When the coating is dry, a special fixer is used.

The modern design offers a variety of pedicure options. These are not only images of flowers and animals on nails, but also special techniques. The moon manicure looks very attractive, the aquarium technique is especially popular. 3D pictures are the height of professionalism, not every woman can create such a picture at home, but you can always try to experiment.

The black and white palette is a timeless classic. Such a pedicure is suitable for a special occasion and a business meeting, it looks good in everyday life, regardless of the image chosen by a woman.

Any pedicure should be completed with the application of a special antiseptic or moisturizing cream. Further, appropriate care will be required - if the skin is dry, you will need to apply the cream to the skin at night and put on special socks. Scrubs have a beneficial effect on the legs, but they should not be abused.

It is useful to massage to improve blood circulation in the feet. If your feet constantly sweat and smell unpleasant, you will need to purchase a deodorant or antiseptic. When a woman constantly feels tired, you can use tonic creams or repeat the baths more often.

To keep your nails beautiful, you will need to apply cuticle oil every day. Over time, the nail plate will become smoother, the nails will grow faster, and their thickness will increase.

If the nails are yellow, a bath of lemon juice will help, which has a whitening effect. If there are cracks in your heels, apply generous amounts of Vaseline and wear cotton socks. The difference becomes noticeable within a few days.

For some reason, most women think that the hotter the water in the bath, the faster and better the dead skin will come off. In fact, this is wrong - the water temperature should be no more than 30 degrees Celsius.

In no case should large calluses and corns be cut off with scissors or even more so with a blade. All this injures the skin, making it vulnerable to fungal infections. Only a scraper or pumice stone will help to quickly and harmlessly remove keratinized tissue.

If you decide to skip the top base coat, the varnish won't last as long as you'd like. Colored varnish can change the natural shade and dry your nails, they will become brittle without a high-quality protective layer. Do not blow on varnish or gel, since small air bubbles still penetrate the coating, which is why chips then appear.

Special requirements are imposed on polishing, because if you remove layer by layer of the nail, you can severely damage it. If there is no experience, then you do not need to use electric files. It is difficult to control the degree of their immersion in the nail plate, so it is better to erase the top layer by hand.

The best remedies for removing dead skin are preparations with urea or lactic acid. With all this, they are completely harmless, but they can be used only after test use, since they sometimes cause an allergic reaction.

Avoid applying a thick layer of varnish unless an additional fixer is used, as this will cause chips to appear faster. Bright shades look better on legs in a rich color. This can be achieved by double application of the composition, but not one and in large quantities. In addition, it will take much longer for the varnish to dry, it may leak and smear the adjacent fingers.

Varnish, like any other coating, cannot be applied to a damp surface, otherwise it will peel off after a few days. When painting, you should always start with the left little finger and move in order to the right. This is how you will never be able to smear the applied varnish with your hand. If you follow the advice of professionals and perform the pedicure in stages, you can make your legs beautiful and attractive on your own.

How to get the perfect pedicure at home, see the video below.