How To Do A Pedicure At Home

Did you know your feet can tell a lot about your personilty? Well-groomed feet are the mark of a proud and confident woman, and the opposite is not. But guess what? You don’t have to spend time and money to get beautiful feet; all you need to do is follow 5 easy steps for a  pedicure at home.

You Will Need

• A Tub Of Warm Water
• Bath Salt/Shampoo
• A Good Foot Scrub
• Nail clippers
• Cuticle Pusher
• Nail File
• Pumice Stone/Foot File
• Nail Scrubber
• Nail Polish Remover
• Cuticle Cream
• A Clean Towel
• Moisturizer
• Cotton Pads

Steps To The  Pedicure

1. Prep Your Nails

• Using a nail polish remover, remove the old nail polish with a cotton pad.

• Then, cut your nails using a nail cutter, but make sure you cut across straight. Don’t cut corners too deep, or you will end up with painful ingrown nails.

• Decide the shape and style of your nails (square, oval, pointed, or squoval) so that you can file them accordingly.

• Use a nail filer to shape the nail to the desired shape. Do the filing with enough force to reshape the nail, but be gentle enough not to weaken them. Resist doing the back and forth motion across the tip of the nail, as it will weaken them. Instead, file in a single direction to get the desired shape.

2. Soak Your Feet

1. This is probably the most relaxing bit of the pedicure. Soaking your feet in warm, fragrant water is a great way to relax and unwind after a stressful day. This is what you need to do –

2. Fill up some warm water in a tub to cover your ankles. If you want it plain and simple, you can just add shampoo and a few crystals of rock salt into the liquid. But, if you want to go all the way and give yourself that ultimate pedicure, this is what you should do –

• Add half a cup of Epsom salt to the water. This will soften and soothe inflammations, reduce any kind of pain, and reduce roughness. It also acts as an exfoliator.

• Add the juice of an entire lemon, and a drop or two of shampoo as well.

• You can also add a few drops of essential oil if you have any at home. These usually calm the nerves and give your feet the spa treatment they deserve.

• To turn your home pedicure experience up a notch, you can also add smooth pebbles to give your feet a gentle massage.

3. Sit comfortably and soak your feet for a good 15-20 minutes. Don’t forget to put on some soothing music while you do this. It will act as a perfect stress buster.

4. Dry your feet with a towel.

3. Scrub Your Feet

• Once your feet are dry, massage a little cuticle cream on the base of your toenails. While the cream softens the dead skin, scrub your skin using a pumice stone. You can also use a foot file instead of a pumice stone. This will remove the rough, dry, and dead skin. If you do not remove this from time to time, the skin will harden, causing cracks and infection. Be firm, yet gentle – you want to remove all the skin, but you don’t want to hurt yourself.

• Once this is done, remove the cuticle cream, and push your cuticles with an angled cuticle pusher. Cuticles are the soft skin at the bottom of your nail where the fingernail cartilage and skin meet. With the help of the cuticle remover cream, remove the cuticles. Never cut your cuticles. This removal of the cuticle helps your nail grow and promotes healthy nails. Make sure you are gentle. Scrub your nails using a nail scrubber. Quickly wipe your feet with a towel.

• Now, use a scrub to exfoliate your feet. You could use a foot scrub or a face scrub for this. Scrub your heels, soles, and don’t forget the areas between your toes, and the sides of your feet. Scrub your ankles too.

If you don’t have a cuticle cream at home, here is a quick recipe to make one.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil/almond oil
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp glycerin/essential oil (of your choice)

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a double boiler, or in the microwave.

2. Add the coconut oil and the essential oil or glycerin to this.

3. Your cuticle cream is ready. Allow it to cool and store in a bottle.

If stored well, this could last for a long time.

You can also make a scrub at home. Here is how –

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp oatmeal powder
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil

Directions

1. Mix the oatmeal and the sugar together.

2. Add the lemon juice and honey to the oatmeal mixture, and mix well.

3. Add the olive oil and use.

 4. Moisturize Your Feet

Your feet are now fresh and clean, but you need to moisturize them for that ultimate feeling of rejuvenation. Any heavy moisturizer should do. You can massage your feet, ankles, and calf muscles for about 10 minutes. Once you are happy, you can apply a fresh coat of nail polish on your feet.

You can also use a mixture of almond oil and olive oil to massage your feet post the cleaning process. A teaspoon of each mixed with a few drops of your favorite essential oil serves as a great foot massager. Be generous as you apply it, and massage your feet. Regular massages stimulate your nerve endings and enhance blood circulation, therefore nourishing the skin and invigorating the foot muscles.

If you have cracks on your feet, mix some Vaseline with lime juice and apply it on your heels. Wrap your feet with plastic and wear loose cotton socks. Leave this on overnight to find happy feet the next morning. Do this twice a week, making sure you clean and moisturize your feet every day, and you will soon have gorgeous feet that look like a million bucks.

5. Glam Up Your Nails

Once you are done with all the above steps, you can polish your nails with a nail color of your favorite shade. You may or may not follow this step as it’s optional. You can either apply a normal nail polish or even wear French tips.

For Normal Nail Polish

• Apply a base coat on your nails first. You can also apply a transparent nail polish as the base coat.

• Then, apply the shade of your choice and let it dry for some time.

• Apply another coat over it and once the second coat also dries out, seal it with a top coat. This will enhance the appearance of your nails.