Your typical pedicure experience should be reconsidered...here's why!
Have you ever sat in a pedicure chair and watched one person leave and another slide right in? Let me share with you a short story of the typical nail salon experience… and remember, you’re the one in the chair just to the left (or right, whatever you prefer.) Person A gets up and leaves, and Person B slides right into that seat. The nail techs barely rinse the tub and then add some blue powder and like magic it is supposed to be both sanitized and spa ready for the next victim. Some poor soul settles in hoping to leave with soft feet and perfectly polished toes, and instead a month later finds out that a small cut made by over-clipping the cuticles has become infected, and a doctor’s visit reveals the need for immediate surgery. You noticed I said “victim” right? Sound like something you’ve seen or heard of? Okay maybe you don’t know someone who has had to have surgery due to a pedicure gone wrong, but we see it everyday and want to show you how to avoid it!
We do things differently at Charme Studio and over the next few posts, we hope to teach our readers why a focus on sanitation is SO important when choosing your next nail studio. Today we will talk about -- you guessed it -- “water pedicures.” Water pedicures would be the ones most of us are used to seeing when stepping into a salon… one of those bulky massage-chair-tub situations. I mean I wouldn’t mind one for my house to be honest… lay back and watch TV while soaking my feet in a mini hot tub? Sounds great.
While the experience may feel good, did you know there’s a TON of cons to a water pedicure? Here’s a few:
• When you soak your feet in water, they absorb a ton of it and unfortunately that can hide dry skin, calluses, and other concerns that you may have making it difficult for the pedicure to be effective
• Water-soaked feet become more sensitive and pliable, therefore they can be easily damaged and cut during callus removal, cuticle care, and filing which can be both uncomfortable and in the worst cases may lead to infection or disease
• Toenails absorb water so nail polish will stay on longer if nails weren’t previously soaked
• Did I mention infection and disease?! Think skin eating bacteria… yuck!
If those points aren’t enough to help you reconsider water pedicures, here’s a few additional factors to consider:
• The water portion of your pedicure does absolutely nothing (well besides maybe feel good… but at what cost?) for your feet, it is the products that are doing all the work
• Across the country, federal regulations require the removal of the filter; to scrub, clean, and disinfect the tub; PLUS fill the tub with disinfectant and run for a minimum of 20 minutes in between EACH client… you and I both know studios aren’t doing this, I mean think about our story earlier, Person A leaves and Person B slides right on in
• For my environmentalists out there, each tub takes about 4.5 to 5 gallons of water to fill so imagine how much water is wasted daily especially if all the proper sanitization procedures are happening!
• Lastly, the introduction of water creates the opportunity for cross-contamination and I know you don’t want Person A’s foot cooties to jump right into your new open wound created by pushing the cuticles just a little too much...
Now I’m sure your mind is reeling right now as you think of your favorite salon that you’ve been going to for the last 5 years and now that I mention it, you’ve never seen them remove the filter or sanitize in between clients, and actually yeah the rough spots always seem to disappear but return right away once home because you’ve just learned your feet don’t have all that water absorbed into them anymore. Hmmm. Let me implore you to please, do NOT feel bad. How would you know this information when no one shares it with you? Clearly these regulations aren’t enforced because water pedicures are happening all over the country every day and unfortunately they’re almost all being done incorrectly (I say “almost” in the off-chance that there’s a handful who actually follow the correct procedures… even if I’ve never seen one.)
In our next post, I’ll talk to you about why at Charme Studio we do “waterless pedicures.” I know, it is hard to wrap your mind around the waterless concept when you’ve only known water pedicures, but I promise you’ll want to try it out!