What is a pedicure, what happens and how to do it?

Arguing about the beautiful form of a female figure, one can not forget about the slimness of her legs, driving more than one generation of men from the very times when women's legs became the property of their gaze. Continuing this thought, it should be said about the condition of the feet and nails on the fingers of women. They should be in perfect condition. Special procedures aimed at their care and moisturizing - not just a tribute to fashion or the desire to look attractive, but also a concern for health.

Pedicure is a procedure involving the care of feet and toenails, which is carried out with a certain frequency. This cosmetic procedure is also therapeutic. In the process of it, keratinous cells are removed from the skin, various cracks on the heels, ingrown nails are treated, and dry calluses are eliminated.

There are the following types of pedicure, all the variety of which can be reduced to 2 groups - manual pedicure (performed by a specialist manually) and hardware (using a pedicure device with cutters).

Let us consider in more detail the most popular types of pedicure.

The essence of the procedure is not only giving the legs a beautiful and well-groomed appearance, but also treatment. Such a pedicure is performed using a medical device that gently and non-traumaticly removes dead cells. Undoubtedly, this is one of the advantages of the procedure - the absence of injuries and open wounds on the skin. Another advantage of the medical pedicure is the use of not only treatment, but medical compositions. Finally, such a procedure, according to existing standards, is carried out only by a specialist with a medical education.

Removal of cornified areas is carried out with the help of remuvers - special compositions, for example, on organic acids, which soften dry skin and seals, after which they can be easily removed with pumice. If necessary, during the procedure, the specialist will perform the treatment of the feet (remove the ingrown nail, eliminate the cracks on the heels). Medical pedicure usually ends with a moisturizing cream with antifungal and antiseptic effect on the feet and their massage.

One of the well-known, fairly versatile and popular types of pedicure. Speaking correctly is a classic edged pedicure. It involves applying a softening cream on the feet and nail treatment (caring for the cuticle, making the nails of the desired length and shape).

After that, the legs are steamed out in a bath with the addition of sea salt, sometimes - extracts of herbs. Steaming usually takes no more than a quarter of an hour, after which the cornified areas are treated with graters and pumice. In the arsenal of the master there are several of them - with a larger abrasive and smaller. First, coarse abrasives, graters, and then more delicate tools are used. At the end of the procedure, a moisturizer is applied.

The effect of the procedures is noticeable immediately, and it is quite impressive. On average, the result is enough for a month. It is worth noting its efficiency - it will take about 40-60 minutes.

The procedure is performed using a pedicure device with different nozzles. Changing nozzles, you can solve various problems with the feet, eliminating including rough skin.

Apparatus pedicure is suitable even for the care of men's feet, which by nature are more rough and dry.

Another advantage is the lack of cuts and other damage to the integrity of the skin, so you can talk about the safety and atraumatic hardware pedicure.

In this case, the procedure itself takes a little time - about an hour, painless. In especially neglected cases, it is necessary to do 2-3 procedures so that there is a tangible effect.

European pedicure is also called unedged, and special creams and gels are used to soften the cornified areas on the feet and fingers and remove the cuticle. This allows you to make the procedure safe and painless, but it can be ineffective on severely neglected legs. Frequent and regular procedures will help to achieve a more pronounced result.

European pedicure begin with the application of remuver and cuticle formulations. When the latter is softened, it is not cut, but is pushed back with an orange stick to the nail bed. Nails also do not shear, and use only different files.

The next step is the removal of hardened skin on the feet (it just softens after the remuver) with the help of graters and files.

Great importance in carrying out this procedure is given to the relaxation of the client. For this, a pleasant atmosphere is used (pleasant music sounds, aromatherapy is used). Horny cells are removed with scrubs, creams and various extracts from natural ingredients. Pedicure machines, scrapers and pumice stones are not used. An essential element of the SPA pedicure is foot massage, which is performed manually by a specialist. In addition, moisturizing serums are applied on feet. The procedure can be quite long, up to two hours.

This pedicure is also called rejuvenating, because in the process of its implementation natural moisturizers and skin softeners with antioxidant effect are used. In this case, the cuticle is not trimmed, but moved away with a wooden stick. Instead of pumice and scrapers, scrubs are used, after the application of which foot baths are provided. Softened cornified skin is cleaned with a special rice block, after which moisturizing compositions are applied, for example, with lotus extract. The procedure ends with a manual foot massage.

In addition to these, a number of salons offer their own types of pedicure, for example, acidic (using organic acid-based products), paraffinic (with softening and moisturizing paraffin baths), fish (usually found in Egypt, in Thailand, small fish bite off coarse skin) other.

Female manicure can be coated and uncoated. In the first case, the nails are decorated with colored lacquer, in the second - it is missing.

The availability of the “right” tools helps in many ways to get a quality result from a pedicure. Of course, for different masters it is different - for someone the set is minimal, while other masters use more tools. However, the basis for each remains unchanged.

For cuticles used nippers and tweezers. The first are used to remove protruding corners, burrs.The second - for trimming the cuticle. If not cut pedicure is performed, then orange sticks will also be required.

For nail care (correction of length and shape) use nail clippers and scissors, nail files and grinding files. Pedicure pusher, which is a bilateral instrument with a curette and a spatula on each side, is designed to separate the stratum corneum, cuticle.

A pedicure scraper, graters and pumice stone make it possible to achieve smoothness of the heels and remove coarse skin. They are of varying degrees of action - that is, directly for the removal of cornified skin and polishing. Externally, these devices vary in size abrasives.

Most of these tools successfully replace the cutters on the pedicure apparatus. One cannot do without it if the task is to perform a fast and atraumatic pedicure.

In addition, you will need a basin for foot baths. Today, you can also find electronic foot baths on sale, which also provide the effect of a jacuzzi and allow water massage.

The safety of the procedure depends on compliance with antiseptic rules. By standards, most of the tools should be burned in special dry kilns or cabinets after each use. If you are doing a pedicure in the salon, check if they have such a cabinet. By the way, after the decontamination procedure, each instrument is wrapped in individual Kraft packaging.

A number of tools should be disposable. These are orange sticks, various napkins, gloves of the master (by the way, any, even unedged pedicure, in the salon should be made exclusively in them).

If a pedicure is performed with a coating, then varnishes and means for their removal will be required, and if gel varnish is applied, then a special UV lamp is also needed to fix it.

The procedure also requires antiseptics, a softener of cornified skin areas, moisturizers, scrubs, lacquers and bases for them. If you intend to massage the feet, then it would be good to get a massage and aromatic oil.

Features and stages of the procedure depend on the type of pedicure. In general, the process should include the following steps:

• softening (carried out by means of remuver or steaming foot in the bath);
• removal of keratinized skin areas (for this, either special formulations or traditional scrapers and pumice stones can also be used);
• processing the nail plate (cutting the cuticle or sliding it to the nail bed with an orange stick, giving the nails of suitable length and shape);
• foot care (application of masks and compositions, paraffin masks, moistening is mandatory at this stage, in some cases, massage);
• decorating nails if pedicure is coated.

If you do a pedicure yourself at home, you can use the following step-by-step plan.

If the nails have an old coating, first of all it should be removed. Then you need to decide on the length of the toenails and cut them with pedicure scissors. An important point - to cut the toenails can only be in a straight line. Rounding corners fraught with the ingrowth of the nail plate in the nail bed.

Finally, to give the nails a suitable shape will help file. It is best to use the vitreous, because it does not violate the structure of the nail, and in addition, easy to use and durable. To give the nails smoothness will help file for grinding.

To do this, pour water into a basin or a special bath (temperature 38–40 ° C) and lower the legs into it for 15 minutes. For greater efficiency, you can add the same sea salt, decoction of chamomile, bark of thought and other herbs.

Using various additives, you can change the properties of the bath. So, if you add a couple of drops of essential oil to water, then the bath will acquire a tonic and deodorizing effect.

You can add to it a few drops of iodine to strengthen the nails. The bath with sea salt has a deodorizing and relaxing effect, but it should be discarded if there are wounds and inflammations on the skin. From sweating feet, you can make the composition with the addition of decoction of oak bark. After the procedure, wipe your feet thoroughly, ideal for this towel.

Steaming can be done before the nails will be shaped and length, but it is important to remember that cutting and sawing the latter is possible only after they have completely dried.

As a rule, the hardest part is heels. To clean them, use a grater or coarse pumice stone, which is worth walking on the edges of the heels. It is in these places that the most thickening of the skin appears - natoptysh. It is forbidden to use a razor to remove rough skin, scrape it off with scissors or a blade. This is fraught with serious injuries, in addition, the skin removed in a similar way will be actively regenerated, which means that in a short time the natoptish will appear again.

After using tools with a rough abrasive, you need to take a more delicate and polish the treated surface and the remaining (central) part of the heel. Pumice stone with a fine abrasive can be processed and fingers, but it is much more convenient and safer to use a special scrub for the feet. It can be applied to the entire surface of the foot (including on the treated heels) and massage the legs for a few minutes. Then you should rinse your feet and blot them with a towel.

After steaming the skin becomes soft, so it's time to take care of the cuticle. First of all, remove the burrs and protruding parts of the cuticle with special nippers. Then you can cut the cuticle or move it to the nail bed. In any case, it is useful to get wet the treated areas with a cotton swab moistened in an antiseptic solution.

Complete the procedure for the treatment of feet should be applied moisturizer. It should be soft, but strong movements rubbed into the skin. Well, if the composition contains vitamins E, A, various natural oils.

If you plan to coat your nails with varnish, then you should first degrease them. This is necessary to ensure that the coloring composition lays down smoothly, because the nails could remain the remains of creams. For decontamination suitable conventional nail polish remover. After that, you need to wait 10 minutes and wipe your nails with a dry cloth, and then proceed to the application of varnish.

Ideally, when decorating nails, the base coat is first applied, on top of it - the main colored varnish. Its amount is determined by the desired color intensity. At the very end, the nails are covered with a fixative that will allow you to save a pedicure longer. The important point is that each applied layer should be given time to dry completely. For convenience of application, you can use a special separator for fingers.

To make the coating more durable will allow the application of gel polishwhich implies the use of a UV lamp. Ensuring the duration of socks up to 6 weeks and high quality coating allows adherence to the application technology (using a primer, fixing each layer in a UV lamp) and the power of the lamp itself.

It is important to remember that gel polish dries out the nail plate, therefore, periodically (for example, every second pedicure) it is recommended to apply a special repair and caring composition under the base layer.

It is necessary to immediately prepare everything necessary for the procedure. Ideal if you are using one-line professional tools.Among them, the funds from the Israeli brand Clearance, trusted by both professionals and those who do their own pedicure.

The main trend is, perhaps, beautiful and healthy feet. Today, in order to become a fashionable woman, it’s not at all necessary to master the nail art, it’s enough to maintain smooth feet, eliminate dry calluses in time, and care for your nails. As a decor, even caring compositions like “Smart Enamel” are suitable for the latter, which will give your nails shine and healthy look.

However, women's pedicure still has certain trends. Consider the most popular ones.

Such a pedicure can be called universal and simple in execution, but at the same time noble and stylish. The choice of colors is unlimited - it can be neutral, pastel (peach, pink) and bright colors. The important point is that you should not choose the same color for the legs that is used on the hands.

Complex nail art is becoming a thing of the past, and rather simple patterns and patterns come to replace it - peas, curls, unpretentious flowers. In trend geometric patterns. Today, stylists recommend combining patterns on the nails with a monochromatic coating or French manicure. The drawing is performed not on each nail, but on 1-2 and serves as an accent.

Using rhinestones is another hit of this season, but rhinestones require moderate use and thoughtfulness as a pedicure, that and the image as a whole. It is recommended to use small rhinestones, laying them out of a pattern or pattern. As a rule, rhinestones are combined with a single-colored pedicure and are used to design only the thumb. This allows you to make the design elegant, to avoid the absurdity and excessive shocking.

When the moon pedicure a separate color stands nail hole. Such a pedicure remains fashionable, perhaps, since its inception. But every season manicurists offer new solutions for the moon manicure. Today, the hole may not have a classic shape, but be triangular, square, double.

The hole, or the "smile" on the nails can be contrasted with respect to the main color or can be performed in the same range with it. It is possible to decorate with holes only the big toes, painting the rest of the nail plate in a monochrome shade. Quite often, "pedicure with smiles" is combined with rhinestones.

Those who consider French manicure to be something boring and too simple, simply haven’t seen its modern interpretation for a long time. Traditional strips on the edge of the nail today are performed in contrasting shades, as well as using gold and silver brushes. French is harmoniously combined with the "hole", geometric patterns, there is a striped version of it, decorated with a pattern and rhinestones.

The ombre manicure, or gradient, which implies a smooth transition from one more saturated hue to a lighter one, does not give up its position. Today, the technique is applied not only within one nail plate. Stretching from tone to tone can cover all fingers at once. That is, a large one is painted in the most saturated color, the index one is lighter, the middle one is even lighter and so on.

Delicate gradient can also be decorated with rhinestones or pattern.

This option is especially good for the summer season, trips to the sea. However, you can choose it and those who wish to make bright colors in the gray autumn-winter weekdays. As a rule, this technique uses 2-3 different colors, which can be both close and contrasting. The combination of yellow and blue, violet palette, pink and mint, turquoise has already become classic.

The advantage of such coverage is not only in its brightness and originality, but also in its universality.It is enough to choose for the mosaic pedicure those shades of lacquer that blend with the color of your basic pairs of shoes.

When choosing a shade of nail polish should be considered not only personal preferences and fashion trends, but also skin tone. Young ladies with a warm skin tone will suit, respectively, warm colors (orange, red, peach). It is recommended to owners of a skin of a cold shade to choose cold pink, lilac, blue, blue. If this rule is not observed, unnaturalness, dissonance in skin tone and colored nails cannot be avoided.

Experts recommend doing a pedicure once a month and once a week to maintain it, using almost smooth pumice stones, scrubs. For this procedure, you can not specifically steam out the legs, but simply do the treatment after a shower or bath, because the feet at this moment also soften.

When performing a pedicure in the salon, the design of nails is usually separately included in the price. For example, decoration of one nail with rhinestones or rubbing can cost from 30 to 150 rubles. If you want to get an unusual pedicure, but at the same time save, ask the master to use 2 or more colors. According to the price list it will look like a monochromatic coating without the use of additional decor, but in fact, highlighting certain fingers in different shades, you will get an original design.

For home pedicure, you can use special socks. Reviews suggest that such procedures will help restore smoothness even to “running” feet. Socks can be of cotton fabric with a special impregnation inside or cellophane, also containing a softening composition. The first usually put on at night, the second - for 15-30 minutes.

In choosing a fashionable pedicure design, you can try to draw inspiration from the stars. Of course, the variants of their pedicure should be perceived as samples, ideas, not trying to exactly reproduce what they saw. To do this, you may not have at hand the right materials or skills. In addition, personal care, in particular the design of nails - is a kind of an act of creativity, the ability to show their own individuality.

Bright, but at the same time gentle, turquoise-blue shade of varnish is perfectly combined with shiny shoes on a refined stiletto.

Looking for a win-win decor that would be appropriate in any situation? Choose a classic red in monochrome design without rhinestones and patterns. You can “support” it with an element of makeup or an accessory, as Michelle Williams did.

Another traditional and yet elegant option is milk and powdery shades of nail polish. This is easily seen by looking at the stylish and sophisticated Penelope Cruz. The main thing that they were not in skin tone or lighter than him. An excellent addition to open shoes beige, golden and brown shades.

Monochrome solutions using dark colors (black, dark chocolate, rich burgundy) seem never to go out of fashion. The secret of their popularity is in particular charm and compatibility with almost any shoe. Elizabeth Banks once again confirms this thought.

It is possible to pass for “fashionable trick” by carefully choosing the tone of varnish to match the shoe. Undoubtedly, so did J. Law, collecting this stylish and bold image. True, when changing shoes you have to change the shade of the nails.

How to make an acid pedicure at home, see the following video.