Rainbow Nails' Blog

Most of the times your feet are covered by socks, rubbing against your day-to-day shoes. It is even worse for you ladies. Your toes are being squeezed inside your pointy high heels, at the same time your toes have to support your whole body weight day in and day out. Can you imagine what kind of condition your toes have to go through? Anything could happen under such a harsh condition, therefore it can’t be any more important to spend some time checking up on and taking care of them regularly.

Having a Pedicure at the salon for sure is most ideal (once a month would be adequate), however what can you do if you can’t make it to the salon regularly for whatever reasons? We will show you a quick introduction of a simple but professional DIY Home Pedicure.  It only take about 20 minutes a week, and you can simply do it during or after taking a shower/bath.

Tools and Equipments

• 180/240 File
• Pusher
• Foot Paddle
• A.H.A Cuticle Treatment
• Cuticle Oil
• Hydrating Lotion
• Nail Hardener / Base Coat / Nail Lacquer / Top Coat / Drip Dry Oil

Step 1 – Shaping

Tools: 180/240 File

Method: Wash and dry your feet. Use 180/240 file to shorten the length of your toe nails then shape them.

Watch outs: If your toe nails are very hard, you could soak your feet into water for 5 minutes to soften it.  Use file instead of clippers to shorten nails because clippers will apply pressure to nails, increase chances of splitting them.

Step 2 – Removing hardened skin

Tools: Foot Paddle / File / Water Sprayer

Method: For normal feet :  Use Foot Paddle to rub the heels, sole of the foot, every single toe gently and repetitively along the curve of the foot in left & right or up & down motion, until you see dead skin peeling off and the surface is smoothed out.  If the foot is too dry, spray some water and continue.

For Dry/peeling/callouses feet, you can soak your feet in water for 10 minutes to soften skin first.

Watch outs: Depends on feelings and situation you may choose to use the “rough” or “smooth” side of the paddle.  Sometimes “smooth” side works well even with thick dead skin.  Right moisture level and the angle of placing the foot paddle are the key factors to remove dead skin. Don’t use too much force, and avoid over rubbing.
For the 2 sides near the toe nails, use 180 file, rub in a single direction to remove hardened skin.

Step 3 – Pushing Cuticles

Tools: Pusher, angled clippers, AHA Cuticle Treatment

Method: For Normal to Thick cuticle: Apply AHA Cuticle Treatment on each nail for 1-2 minutes to soften the cuticle first.  Then use pusher to push cuticle upwards, and may use a clipper to remove excessive skin if there is any.

ForThin and Sticky cuticle: Apply AHA Cuticle Treatment is enough.  Alpha Hydroxy Acid can stimulate metabolism of cuticle already. We suggest you not to push and cut using tools.

Watch out: Cuticle on foot usually grow slower, pushing it once a month should be enough.  Please be careful that you should be PUSHING the cuticle instead of SCRATCHING the nails (which hurts your nails and leave your nails pitted.)

Step 4 – Norishing

Tools: Cuticle Oil, Hydrating Lotion, Nail Hardener / Base Coat / Nail Lacquer / Top Coat / Drip Dry Oil

Method: Clean and dry your feet. Massage cuticle oil on your toes first, and then massage Hydrating Lotion onto the feet until you feel they are being absorbed (trust me, you can feel it). Apply nail hardener or color lacquer if you wish.

Watch out: Make sure to remove all the oil and lotion on your toes before applying nail hardener or nail lacquer.

It’s very important to do pedicure to remove the dead skin and callouses regularly, be it at home or having someone to do it for you at the salon. Otherwise no matter how much luxury lotion you use, you’re just wasting it on the dead skin.