how to do pedicure at home

How To Do A Pedicure At Home

Well-groomed feet are an integral part of our overall beauty and well-being. Often, our feet are the best indicators of how well we look after ourselves. Our feet carry our weight all the time, through rough and dry, thick and thin, and they absolutely deserve some love. Don’t let foot care take the back seat in your beauty regime. While you spend a lot of time and money in taking care of the rest of your beauty needs, don’t forget to indulge your feet too. The best news is, you don’t have to go out to get beautiful feet; you can do a pedicure right in the comfort of your home.

How To Do A Pedicure At Home

1. Prep Your Nails

Using a nail paint remover, clean your nails and remove the old nail polish. Cut your nails using a nail cutter, but make sure you cut across straight. Don’t cut the corners too deep, or you will end up with painful ingrown nails. File your nails, giving them any shape you like – square, round, or oval. Some people shape their nails post the soaking, which isn’t wrong, but the nails become too soft once they have been in water.

2. Soak Your Feet

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 week. This is what you need to do:

1. Fill up some warm water in a tub to cover your ankles.

2. If you want it plain and simple, you can just add shampoo and some rock salt in the soaking 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 pains, 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 notch up your home pedicure experience, you can also add smooth pebbles. They 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, and cause 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 a cuticle pusher. 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. Once you are satisfied with the scrubbing, wash your feet with water and towel dry.

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

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsps. – 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 Tbsps. – Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. – Honey
• 2 Tbsps. – 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 feetIf 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.

More Tips 

1. If you don’t have time to go through the entire scrubbing process regularly, you can scrub your feet with the pumice stone twice a week, while you are having a bath, to clear off the dead skin.
2. Make sure you give your nails some breathing time by keeping them free of nail polish from time to time.
3. If you notice any infection or blackening on your nails, consult your doctor immediately.

Now that you know how to do pedicure at home, what are you waiting for? When you meet someone new, one of the first things they do is to look at your shoes. Ever wondered what if you are not wearing shoes? First impressions are always lasting ones, so you want your feet to look pretty always. 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.