Nail Tech Secrets

Get comfy, put your feet in the bath, and relax for about 15 minutes. Read a book, or just close your eyes and enjoy your senses.

If you have polish on, remove it. If you are wearing polish on your nails, this can be a trick. Nail Techs are taught to put your chosen polish remover pads between your knuckles and scrub the polish off that way, but I prefer to put on some rubber gloves and do it. Also, [...]

In either a large enough bowl for your feet, or an electric pedicure unit, put some nicely scented liquid soap, maybe a drop of two of essential oil, and even some flower petals, if you happen to have some around. Light a candle or two. Fill the tub up with nice warm water, as warm [...]

[Ed. note - we are moving right on to the Spa Pedicure this week due to the news from Dallas that I reported yesterday about people being infected by Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria from pedicure baths. I hope you will forgive me if I stress cleanliness so much here, but this bacteria is [...]

I ran across this article over the weekend:

From Dallas, WFAA.com:
Hall is among several women who confirmed to News 8 that after they got pedicures in whirlpool foot spas at Beverly Hills Nails, skin infections broke out on their legs.
Dallas County Health and Human Services confirmed there is a complaint against the salon.
Beverly Hills Nails manager [...]

Unlike other people that might tell you to let your polish dry between coats, I am going to tell you to put it all on in one fell swoop. Polish is chemically designed to bond together, and as it all dries, it forms a coating that is much more durable if it all dries together. [...]

You probably don’t know this yet about me, but I am a huge stickler for sanitation, made even more paranoid about it because of my husband’s near fatal battle with MRSA last year. One of the truly great reasons for doing your own nails is the avoidance of bacteria that will thrive in a [...]

Brand and color are your preference. I have found that if you use a quality base coat and a quality top coat, then you can use whatever brand of colored polish that you choose. My preference is Jessica or OPI, but truly, just about any of them will do. Make sure that the polish [...]

You will need a quality base coat specific to your nail type, the color of your choice, and a top coat. Jessica Nail Systems have released their line to the public now, and in my opinion their treatment base coats are the very best. Jessica can be purchased through the link above, or at many [...]

Choose a good rich lotion that is meant for very dry, even cracked, skin. Neutrogena makes a great one, Cetaphil cream (above, from Drugstore.com) is great for sensitive skin (and is non scented for sensitive noses). I have become a fan of Zim’s Crack Cream (which is really an oil rather than a cream) recently. [...]