At-home pedicure for winter, done in seven steps
Soak, trim straight across, push back the cuticles, smooth rough skin with a pumice stone, moisturize and polish. A careful pedicure at home, with no razors.
Feet spend winter in socks and boots, and they slip out of mind until the holiday party with the open-toe shoes or the January trip somewhere warm. A pedicure at home takes about forty-five minutes, and the tools fit in one small bag.
The goal is a tidy, comfortable pedicure done carefully. Most of the steps that cause trouble at home, like cutting cuticles or shaving off rough skin, are the ones to skip.
Set up first
Put a towel on the floor in front of a comfortable chair, with good light. Gather everything before you start: a basin, a gentle soap, clippers, a file, an orange stick or cuticle pusher, a pumice stone, a moisturizer, toe separators and polish if you’re using it. Getting up with wet feet to find the clippers is how the bathroom floor gets soaked.
1. Soak
FootCareMD, the patient site of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society, recommends soaking your feet in warm, soapy water for about ten minutes. That’s enough to soften the nails and skin without wrinkling everything. Dry your feet well afterward, including between the toes.
2. Trim straight across
FootCareMD advises trimming toenails straight across rather than in a curved pattern. Cut in small snips instead of one big clip, and leave the nail about even with the tip of the toe. Then smooth the edges with a file so they don’t catch on socks.
3. Push back the cuticles, don’t cut them
Push the cuticles back gently with an orange stick, as FootCareMD suggests. It warns that any trimming that goes further than the nail margin or draws blood is unsafe. The cuticle is there for a reason, so leave it in place.
4. Smooth rough skin with a pumice stone
On heels and the balls of the feet, rub a wet pumice stone gently over rough spots in small circles, a few passes at a time. FootCareMD names a pumice stone or an emery board as the gentle way to smooth calluses, and is clear that cutting or shaving the skin is not safe or recommended for anyone who isn’t licensed to do it. Skip callus razors and shavers entirely, however tempting they look in the store.
Stop while the skin still feels slightly firm. Taking off too much leaves feet tender.
5. Moisturize
Rinse and dry your feet, then rub in a thick moisturizer, working it into the heels. If you’re skipping polish, put on a pair of soft socks for half an hour, or overnight if you’re doing this at bedtime, so the moisturizer soaks in rather than ending up on the floor.
6. Polish, if you like
Wipe each toenail with a little polish remover first, so the polish isn’t sitting on moisturizer. Put toe separators in, then paint a base coat, two thin coats of color and a top coat. Toenails need more drying time than fingernails, so wait before socks and shoes. Paint with a window open and away from candles or other flames, since many polishes carry a flammable warning on the label.
7. Clean the tools
Wash the clippers, file and pumice stone with soap and water, let them dry completely, and store them in their own bag so they aren’t shared. Pumice stones that stay damp in the shower don’t stay pleasant for long.
A touch-up every two weeks
The full routine takes about forty-five minutes. Keeping it up takes ten. Every two weeks, trim and file the toenails, run the pumice stone over the heels after a shower, and moisturize at bedtime. Touch up chipped polish, or take it off and give the nails a week bare.
Keep the tools in one bag in the bathroom closet, so the touch-up doesn’t start with a search.
When to see a professional
FootCareMD advises people with significant medical problems to check with a medical doctor about foot care. If a toenail is painful, discolored or growing into the skin, see a doctor rather than working on it at home.
What to actually buy
The basin. An AllSett Health extra-large foot soaking tub, for the ten-minute soak.
The clippers. Tweezerman stainless steel toenail clippers with straight blades, made for cutting straight across.
The pumice stone. A Pumice Valley natural pumice stone from volcanic rock, for smoothing rough heels gently. Rinse it before the first use.
The orange sticks. 100 Amazon Essentials wooden manicure sticks, double-sided, with a rounded end for pushing back cuticles. Use a fresh one each time.
Who this is not for
- If you have a significant medical condition that affects your feet, ask your doctor before an at-home pedicure.
- If you get regular salon pedicures, use this between appointments for trimming and moisturizing only.
- If you’re short on time, skip the polish. The soak, trim and moisturizer do most of the work.
Start on any Monday
This week, put the tools together in one bag and set aside forty-five minutes on a quiet evening.
Soak, trim, push back, smooth, moisturize and polish. Then trim and moisturize every two weeks through the winter.