This weekend my sister-in-law treated me to my first pedicure. I had long wanted to try one, going so far as to price them at various locations, peek in the windows of pedicure places, and ask people what pedicures were like—but I kept not following through out of New Things/Places Nervousness. Also, I have ticklish feet and was worried the experience would be torture.
Going with someone else was KEY: I, my sister-in-law Anna, and my sister-in-law’s sister Lottie who I also think of as my sister-in-law all went together, and it is just so much more comfortable to go through the process with people you can chat with if you are feeling awkward about a stranger rubbing your calves. Also, it is nice to go with people who have had pedicures before, because they can give you the heads-up about the calf-rubbing.
Plus, one thing I remembered from my first manicure a long while back is that the manicure did not include clipping. That is, I was supposed to cut my own nails, and the manicure place would use a file to shape them, but that most of the point of the manicure was the fancier things with cuticles and paint. So it was nice to have someone to ask if I was supposed to cut my own toenails first. The answer was “Yes, if you don’t like someone else doing it for you.” Indeed I don’t, so I clipped my own. The pedicurist still did do a few little tiny shaping snips, but not many—maybe three or four tiny snips total.
Oh, and I remember one more question I was glad to get to ask ahead of time, which was whether I was supposed to take off the rest of my toenail polish beforehand. The answer was no, they would do that. This was very pleasing, because I hate taking off the old polish. Also, I’d used blue the last time and hadn’t used a protective base coat, so the nails were stained blue; the pedicurist got most of that off with something abrasive.
I’d been worried about ticklishness, but it was not too bad. Most of the foot-touching is too firm to feel tickly. The filing was the only part I found uncomfortable, and that wasn’t so much the tickliness as the vibrating/scraping sensation that is exactly what I don’t like about filing. But on the other hand, I was also VERY DISTRACTED by the interesting conversation we were having, so perhaps if I went on my own the other parts would bother me more.
Another of my concerns was that the pedicurist might reel back in horror at my never-been-pedicured feet. This did not occur. She did not even make critical remarks, or tsk at me, or say anything from my imaginings (“Wow, I can really tell YOU’VE never had a pedicure before!” or “Boy, I’ve got MY work cut out for me!”). She just got to work without comment.
Polish-choosing was fun and a little stressful. There were so many choices! But nobody rushed us: the color-choosing was the very first thing, so it was as if we hadn’t even arrived for our appointments until we’d chosen the color. This was much better than at my manicure, where the manicurist got to the painting part and THEN directed me to choose a color while she waited.
I’d thought I would choose a blue or green or purple, but got nervous about the shade looking corpsey/zombie-like. Plus, my old polish was blue, so I felt like having something different. My inclination was to choose something unlike anything I had at home, but it can be so difficult to know what a polish will look like: at my manicure, I got a pink that looked subtle in the bottle but like bubblegum on my fingernails. Eventually I stopped trying to force myself to be adventurous, and chose the color that most appealed to me, which was a magenta-pink I know I like.
One of my sisters-in-law was undecided between two shades, so she brought both over and asked to see them. The pedicurist painted one of her own fingernails in each of the colors so we could see. This was extremely helpful, though it led to the pedicurist giving her own strong opinion on which was better, which fortunately was the same as the one the three of us thought was better. If it were me, and if the pedicurist’s opinion were different than my own, I’d feel some discomfort choosing the polish I wanted instead of the polish she wanted. I’m not saying this is how things SHOULD be, but there it is. This is another situation where it would be nice to have a companion: I can picture the pedicurist giving her opinion, and then me turning to my friend and saying, “I don’t know, I might like the other one,” and my friend saying, “Oh, me too” and then me feeling more braced.
There were some language-barrier issues, which I think would improve with repeated experience: it’s much easier to understand instructions and questions when you know what sorts of instructions and questions to expect.
The three of us also agreed afterward that we felt a little odd about having someone else tend to us in this way. I think it’s that it might feel as if one person shouldn’t have to do certain things for another person? or something? I’m not sure I can put a finger on what the issue is, but it comes up from time to time with service-industry things. I feel similarly weird when the hair stylist is washing my hair, or when someone is cleaning the public bathroom, or when I consider hiring a house-cleaner.
What, no pics? :-)
I love getting pedicures, and most of what you described is the same as my experience, but it gets so much easier over time. I love the part where they soak my feet while I sit in a massage chair (did you have that?), and then scour some of the dry skin off my heels.
One other thing I usually do, because I have a couple of bottles of my favorite polish, I BMOB – bring my own polish and ask them to use it. I’ve done this in several different places and have never had a problem. In fact, they usually tell me how much they love the color I picked, which I’m sure is their honest opinion and in no way linked to the tip they’re hoping to get. :-)
I also had to have someone take me to my first pedicure. I could never have picked a place and gone in without someone showing me what to do. Also, when you’re dealing with feet, I imagine that your feet couldn’t possibly be worse than some of the feet they have to deal with. Like, I always apologize for my runner’s feet with blisters and callouses and whatnot and they always just laugh. I like pedicures a lot.
I’ve only ever gotten pedicures with friends! I enjoy them, but not alone. Seems too awkward…
I hate having my feet touched. I had my first pedicure for my 40th birthday with a friend. I decided at 40 it was time to get brave and just do it. While it wasn’t as horrible as I expected, I wouldn’t do it again. I did not enjoy the touching and I spent most of the time with my legs tensed, plus it just felt weird to have a stranger all over my feet. I think I’m one of the few, but I can’t do it.
Pedicures are my happy vice! I will sacrifice a whole lot if other pleasures to afford getting a pedi on the regular. Plus, I am a rather Sturdy Gertie, so it’s nice not to bend in half awkwardly to get to my own toes.
The only time I feel bad about someone waiting on me is when the person is significantly older than me, like as old as my grandmother. I am Asian and the places that I go usually have Asian workers, so it feels supremely disrespectful. I tip really well out of guilt.
I can count the number of pedicures I’ve had in my life on the fingers of one foot, as it were, although I love them. I just can’t bring myself to spend the equivalent of three e-books for someone else to paint my nails when I can do it myself. On the other hand, when I have splurged (for my father’s wedding, my son’s wedding, etc.) it has felt so spectacularly special that I vowed to do it again often.
I am dying to have a pedicure but I’m terribly nervous about getting one. My kids tell me I need one so that makes me extra paranoid that the pedicurist would snicker or gag. My plan is to have one done the next time I’m unconscious or looped up for another procedure. Knee replacement plus pedicure perhaps?
I hate the dentist so much that I have said for years that someone needs to do spa dentistry so I could have a pedicure during the dental cleaning. I’d be so distracted by both happening at the same time that I wouldn’t be as nervous.
I love this idea! I’m overdue for the dentist, and am not a pedicure person generally, but the idea that I could do *both* at the same time means that my anxiety about each would be halved. At least, that’s the way it works in my head.
I made my husband get a pedicure before our wedding. For anyone thinking their own feet are too gross or strange to have a stranger work on them, you can relax. My husband didn’t even have feet before his pedicure, he had calloused hooves that were made to look so much better! I think I tipped almost the cost of the pedicure though, because I felt it was earned!
I had my very first pedicure about a month ago (I’m 48) – no one told me anything! (I went with my sisters/mom who had all been before: head’s up people…) I had no idea about the calf thing (or massage chair or feet soaking in water or using a cheese grater on my feet, ETC) and I hadn’t shaved! I was embarrassed but the woman working on me didn’t bat an eye about it. My toes still look pretty but I’m not sure I’d go back.
My sister took me for my first one and she was adamant that they do not care about how my feet looked, or if I had shaved my legs. She repeated it several times: they do. not. care. It took away my anxiety over how well I’d shaved my legs that day :)
Just a heads-up, it’s actually better not to be freshly shaved. I think my salon is pretty conscientious about cleaning and sanitizing, but still, you are basically using a public foot bath. Better not to go in with hundreds of micro-abrasions on your skin. I usually shave 24-48 hours before a pedicure. I’m a little stubbly, but not full-on sasquatch.
I LOVE pedicures. I like to have cute feet because I can’t stand my feet being hot, so I wear open toed shoes as much as possible. I also have really badly ingrown toenails and very poor flexibility so cutting my own nails in a pain in the ass. I have had a few teeth-gritting, deep-breathing moments when my toes have been particularly tender, or the technician a little more brusque than normal. Now I’m a regular, but I still remember going in the first time (by myself!) and feeling completely at sea. Thank goodness the techs and the receptionists were all really kind and sweet…if anyone had been mean to me ( I asked a LOT of questions) I probably would never have gone back. I like to soak my feet, turn on the massage chair and read People or Cosmo or Glamour, which are all magazines that I won’t spend money on, but (secretly) love to read.
I also sacrifice in other places so that I can get a pedicure every two weeks! Having cute painted toenails makes me feel well groomed and put together, even in my pajamas. I almost always go for a shade of pink though. Coral is about as adventurous as I get.
All you ladies “afraid” of getting the pedicure: do it!! Before you know it you will start feeling comfortable and as far as splurges go, it is really not that expensive.
I hate being touched but I love sandals and start wearing them as soon as I can in the spring and wait until me feet almost freeze in the fall to start wearing closed shoes. For me getting pedicures are a necessity since feet exposed so much tend to crack and now that I am in my mid-60s I cannot do a good job of caring for my own feet (difficulty bending for extended periods).
I shopped around for pedicurists until I found one that I am totally comfortable with and get my feet done every two weeks. Best money ever spent. I do tend to over tip out of a sense of guilt. No matter how much I tell myself that it is an honorable job I still feel bad that someone has to deal with my feet while I relax.
And now I have become addicted to having gel manicures too. There are advantages of getting old, you start feeling like you deserve being spoiled. LOL.
I like going to my local beauty school for pedicures. Around my area (the midwest) there are a lot of Regency Beauty Schools…not sure if they are everywhere or not? It costs $15 for a pedicure and you get to select a new bottle of OPI polish to keep! That cuts the cost to $7 for the pedicure in my eyes! There are two pedicure seats, so it’s great for 2 friends or a larger group can take turns. They have the massage chairs and they do the calf-massage, exfoliating, etc. just like any other salon. A student does your nails, and I’ve had some great conversations with these girls (usually around 19 years of age or so). Then the instructor comes to check their work and ask you how you liked the service. It is awesome. The beauty school doesn’t have signs that advertise this until you go in, so I was nervous to try it for awhile. But basically all you have to do is call and schedule an appointment just like at any other salon. I think they take walk-ins as well, as long as they’re not too busy.
I love pedicures but I HATE the calf rubbing. Especially when they use an exfoliating cream. Ouch. I solve the “what colour” dilemma by always choosing the exact same colour and never deviating, and so it is actually in my file (Kiss the Cook by SpaRitual)
My favorite part of pedicures is that they take off my old polish for me. For some reason I really, really hate doing it myself. I also like them cutting my nails for me!
I have gotten several pedicures, and it just sort of depends on my time and budget how often I get them.
After some thought, I decided that the “do all your own touchy things” was possibly an Amero-Puritan hangover and that it is probably better for us to be able to relax and enjoy the touches of other people – even people we don’t know personally. It would be nice to be able to reciprocate in kind, but money was invented so that we don’t have to barter our transactions and although I am certainly not high in the 99% group, I have a few more flexible spending dollars than some others, and I like to trickle down to the best of my ability.
That way, my feet and my conscience can feel good at the same time.
Karen P, I love you.
I like pedicures and I should go more often as someone else said, as treats go, it’s not that expensive. I run a lot and my feet definitely reflect that. Bunions, callouses, blisters, I’ve got it all. I had one woman put on gloves before my pedicure! I’ve been by myself once and it wasn’t really awkward, just sort of boring. I am very ticklish on my feet and I usually giggle like a fool. I get the feeling that people who give pedicures have seen it all.
Friends gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure when I was about 8 months pregnant. It was nice to feel pampered but the woman giving me the pedicure was about 6 months pregnant! I felt so bad for her bent down there. She said she was fine (what else would she say?!) and got an extra big tip.
Funny….I just got two pedicures after a several year break in getting them. My summer feet were getting awful with callouses and rough skin.
Before I had always gone to a salon/spa (think Aveda) and a pedicure cost something like $70.
The last two I had were more typical strip mall places that cost $35.
I do love the massage chairs and the fact that my polish looks much prettier and cleaner than when I do it myself. For whatever reason, the cheaper place makes me feel worse (for some reason if I am paying $70 at a spa, I think it is less insulting than $35 in a store??). I don’t love the language barrier in the other place….just because I don’t understand what they are telling me.
My feet do look fantastic though!
Your feelings about choosing a nail polish color remind me of my feelings about choosing a style when I go and get my hair cut. If I have to look through the books to find a style I want I always feel like I’m keeping them waiting, but if I bring my own picture I’m always scared they won’t be able to do it. Or sometimes I’ll try to explain what I want without using a picture, and then I’ll feel like I’m not doing a good job of explaining it. The worst thing is when I’ll tell them what I want and they’ll tell me it won’t work with my hair type/it’s really high-maintenance/it won’t look good for whatever reason. I never really know what to do in that situation.
I never feel bad when I get a pedicure because the person doing it always does a way better job on my feet than I could myself. I’m paying for her skills- her foot rubbing skills, her polish painting skills, her nail maintenance skills etc. It seems silly but to me it’s like getting a hair cut. I could cut my own hair but I would rather pay someone who can do it better than me.
I used to feel exactly that way about having someone clean for me. So. Awkward. Ack. (I’ve only even had it done twice, both when I was largely pregnant and more or less useless, and even then…!) Then I saw the house the lady lived in, just a few blocks from me, and realized: this is not some sad illegal immigrant getting paid five dollars an hour to scrub my floors to a high gleam and then go home to a shack to eat beans out of a can. This is a fifty year old woman with an empty nest and some free time who likes to clean. She does this voluntarily, and only for people she wants to do it for too- I do not need to feel weird or guilty or like this is an awkward social situation. This is no different than hiring someone to bake a birthday cake for me if I happen to suck at baking or not have time to bake.
It MOSTLY helped me feel better. :)
I started getting them when my best friend told me I was a good mom for letting my four year old paint my toenails. I had done them myself. Pedicures from then on. Here they are only $25 and worth every penny.
Swistle, I just wanted to pop by and say I appreciate how much thought you put into demystifying first-time experiences for other people. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to do something for the first time and would’ve wept with relief to know where to go and exactly what to expect. There’s so much stress involved with first-time experiences that a thoughtful guide can eliminate almost entirely. (in my most trying experience, it was bagging food at a food pantry and I didn’t even know what door to go to, all the doors were locked, and there was a long line of people waiting for it to open) Swistle: a valued public service since 2006.
I’m the same with service-y things that are sort of intimate. The couple of times I’ve had a massage/pedicure/manicure all I could think the whole time was “This is weird. I’m sorry about this, stranger.” Good thing I like painting my own nails!
My feeties are so ticklish and I giggle so much during pedicures that the pedicurist (?) usually laughs at me.
I’ve also found that there is a fine line between “Ahhhh this is nice” and “OW OW OW” which I guess… also applies to other situations.