Manicuring and Pedicuring Services
Sequence and technique
Every service follows the same skeleton: consult and inspect, wash your hands and the client's, sanitize the station, then perform, then disinfect. In a basic manicure: shape with a file held at a slight angle, moving in one direction from corner to center with a fine-grit file for natural nails (coarse grits are for artificial product reduction only); apply cuticle softener, push back gently with a rubber-tipped pusher, and use nippers only on a loose hangnail or clearly dead tissue - never on living eponychium. Buff lightly, massage with effleurage, petrissage, tapotement, friction and vibration directed toward the heart, then polish: base coat, two thin color coats, top coat, and seal the free edge.
Pedicure: disinfect the basin before and after, limit soaking to about 5–10 minutes (longer soaking over-softens the plate), trim nails straight across, reduce callus with a paddle or rasp, and refer ingrown nails, fungus, or open lesions. Diabetes, circulatory disease, neuropathy and immune suppression are referral flags, not obstacles to work around.
Traps: options that cut the cuticle, file in a back-and-forth sawing motion on natural nails, use a credo blade (restricted or prohibited in many jurisdictions - use a rasp), or continue a pedicure over broken skin. Massage contraindications (fever, acute inflammation, contagious skin disease, recent surgery) are frequently tested.
Worked example: a client arrives with a red, swollen toe and a nail curving into the sidewall. Stop, do not soak or trim, refer to a physician, and disinfect everything the foot touched. Rule of thumb: if it is red, hot, swollen, or open, it is not a nail service.