Manicuring and Pedicuring
Manicure flow
Sanitize your hands and the station, wash the client's hands, remove old polish, then shape the free edge with a file. Soak to soften tissue, gently push back the cuticle with a rubber-tipped pusher, nip only a loose hangnail, buff lightly, massage, then apply base coat, two thin color coats, and top coat. Nail shapes to recognize: square, squoval, oval, round, pointed, and stiletto.
Pedicure flow
Foot bath, then trim nails straight across and soften corners with a file, gently reduce callus, exfoliate, massage, and polish. Toe separators, disposable liners, and a disinfected basin are expected. Never use a credo blade or rasp deeper than the manufacturer allows; many injuries come from over-aggressive callus work.
Traps in questions
- Filing back and forth in a sawing motion - file in one direction, corner toward center, stopping short of the sidewall.
- Cutting living cuticle instead of pushing back dead tissue; this opens a portal for paronychia.
- Over-buffing the nail plate until it is thin and sensitive.
- Soaking far longer than needed, which swells and softens the plate.
- Massaging a client with diabetes, circulatory problems, or open lesions without clearance - refer instead.
- Reusing a nail file or buffer between clients.
Rule of thumb
File from the corner toward the center in one direction and stop before the sidewall. For a "how much is too much" question, the answer is almost always the gentler option: less filing, less soaking, less cutting, more referral.