Maintain Your Feet!

As a nail technician, I come across many questionable looking feet. I’m not sure if some people just don’t know that they have to wash their feet, or if there are serious underlying issues at hand. Now, I’m not talking about ugly feet. I see feet every single day and acknowledge that they’re all relatively ugly, I’m talking about feet with strange odours or infections.

The essence of my job is to make people feel good. I specialise in manicures and pedicures and am an expert in my field. All my clients leave feeling prettier than when they walked in, and it’s lovely that it is me that makes them feel that way. However, a lot of the time when people leave, I end up feeling a lot dirtier than before they arrived. 

The other week a new customer booked in for a pedicure, and when she took off her shoes it was very clear that she had onychomycosis. This is a real issue for the salon, as when she left I had to do a deep clean of all my equipment and the pedicure area. Of course we adhere to every health and safety code of practice, so our other customers needn’t worry about getting the infection themselves, but it is quite a hassle for us. 

After the customers appointment, I took the customer aside and suggested that she visit a foot specialist. Cheltenham, has some fantastic podiatrists around and I am concerned that she doesn’t know there’s any issue, so I gave her the names of places to go and I’m hoping she takes it on board.

The whole situation was handled very well. Although I couldn’t speak from an area of podiatry expertise, I have come across many different types of feet and toes in my time. The customer was grateful that I called attention to the potential issue, and she then (thankfully) booked another appointment.