by K Lochery

Created on: May 21, 2009

If you want fabulous summer feet to show off in pretty sandals and flip flops then you need to give yourself a good pedicure. A lot of people will associate a pedicure with an expensive beautician but you can do the procedure perfectly well at home and for a fraction of the price.

The first thing that you will need is a big bowl which will be used to fill with hot water, remembering that your feet will go into it so make sure that the bowl is big enough and the water is bearable. You will also need to place a towel around the bowl and to ensure no mess whatsoever, you should place a big towel flat underneath the bowl so that it sticks out around it and prevents spillages and drips and also another towel that has been folded to rest your feet after they have finished soaking. You do not want to leave wet footprints around your home!

Although there are a lot of products that you can buy on the market to soak your feet in, you can make a much cheaper version at home with the help of a few essential oils. You will need to make sure that the oils that you are using are suitable for contact with the skin but the best three that you can use are well known to be therapeutic for feet that are constantly on the go. Menthol, Rosemary and Eucalyptus oils can be added to the water, a few drops of each and then you should sit back and relax while the warm water and therapeutic oils do the rest of the work.

If you have nail polish or residue from moisturizers on your feet then it is a good oil to remove these prior to soaking but once this is done, you should soak your feet for around five to ten minutes and even longer if you can spare the time. Once you are out of the water, leave your feet to dry for a few moments and then clip your toe nails. You should never cut the toe nails in a round motion but rather cut them straight across and then use a nail file to get the desired shape. Shaping the nails with scissors or clippers can lead to ingrown toenails and this is not a good look in summer sandals.

If you have dry skin on your feet, use a good file or a pumice stone to remove the dry and hard skin on the balls of the feet and the heels and also around the toes if you have it there as well. You can buy many products and creams for dry skin but if you file them down correctly and use a cheap lotion such as baby lotion or oil, you will soon find that these can make the world of difference to the hard skin.

Once you are done with the boring stuff, it's time to

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>