Whether you have to stand for long hours on the
job, or run around for most part of the day, your feet are the ones to take a
bad beating every day. Perhaps that is why a pedicure seems like a heavenly
gift, where you soak your feet in warm water and the beautician massages and
cleans them while doing her magic. You may think pedicure as the ideal solution
for keeping your feet clean and healthy but sadly it is not so always. If you
ignore to notice the tell-tale signs associated with a pedicure at your chosen
salon, your feet may end up being harmed in the long run. If you still do not
believe that a pedicure can hurt your feet, here are five ways in which they
really do:
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| Image Courtesy : Pixabay |
1. Dirty tubs and foot baths triggering infections: If
the tubs used for giving you a footbath are not cleaned and disinfected
properly, they may contain the remnants of the preceding customer. Dipping your
feet in them would trigger fungal and bacterial infections. Ideally, between
each customer, your salon should use an EPA-registered hospital disinfectant,
which usually calls for a 10-minute session of disinfection. However, many do
not do it and even those who do, may compromise with the steps of disinfecting
the tubs and tools properly when they have back-to-back customers.
2. Use of unclean or wrong tools: Unclean tools that
are not diligently scrubbed and sterilized increase the risk of fungal and
bacterial infection. Even using the wrong tools or being too aggressive with
them (say, with the exfoliating tools) may cause skin trauma. For example, if
the exfoliating tools are used very vigorously on your feet, it could make your
skin on that area to grow back harder and thicker.
3. Cuts and bruises caused by razors: The use of a
razor by your beautician can cause permanent damage to your skin along with increasing the risk
of infection through bruises and cuts, and even the possible transfer of blood
between customers. Some salons, while trying to remove callouses, may even end
up removing too much of the toughened skin, which in turn can make even walking,
a hurtful task.
4. Busy professionals of reputed salons may hurt your
feet in a hurry: While attending to consecutive customers, your beautician may
not clean the tubs or tools properly, which would make your feet prone to
infections. Apart from your personal hygiene, even salon hygiene may be
compromised when the salon staff neglect any or all the steps to clean or
decontaminate things (which includes sanitizing, disinfecting, and sterilizing).
Nicks, cuts and bruises too may happen when the beauticians are in a hurry and
just want to get over with the task so that they can call in the next client.
5. You are overdoing your pedicures: If you are
going for pedicures every two weeks, you may be overdoing it. This way, you
would be doing your feet more harm than good as they are being over-exfoliated.
Ideally, you should go for a pedicure once every 4 to 6 weeks.
A pedicure needs to be a relaxing experience where your feet and legs are taken care of by experts in the right way. So, choose a reliable salon know for its high standards of cleanliness, and that which has experienced beauticians to do your feet (and even your money) justice.
