Pedicure Treatments - Paraffin Pedicure Treatments

Paraffin treatments are by-far one of my absolute favorites. The difference with paraffin pedicure treatments is that your feet are covered with layers of moisturizing paraffin wax to moisturize your feet. I find this is one of the best and most relaxing ways to moisturize your feet.

The first step naturally is to wash your feet thoroughly in a basin with hot-ish water. The idea to put your feet in the “hot as you can bare” water is to open up your pores so that all the moisturizing effects of the paraffin treatment can be readily absorbed into the skin. The washing will also remove any debris that may have been accumulated, freshening up the skin ready for the paraffin treatment.

After the wash, most salons that offer the treatment will offer you a pair of plastic boots in which you must place your feet in and where the paraffin wax will be poured into. Personally I don’t like this treatment method; it’s the fast way to perform a paraffin treatment and will not soothe as well as the classic method. Always insist on having the classic paraffin treatment where the wax is melted into a bowl (normally earthen-ware) and your feet are dangled above the bowl where the melted (quite hot) wax is scooped up and slowly drizzled on your feet. This treatment is much better as it gives the wax time to work on your feet while simultaneously cooling and heating up the wax again that is already on the feet which effectively “milks” out the moisturizing elements and does wonders for your skin.

Your feet should be completely covered in paraffin way and left to dry over a couple of minutes. When the paraffin wax is about 60% hard, the best way to get the most out of the treatment is to actually bathe your feet along with the wax in some icy cold water to harden the wax 100% which has a double benefit. It will harden the wax hard enough that it will be very easy to remove and it will also impart more moisturizing elements on the skin effectively squeezing out all the moisturizing goodness from the wax to the feet.

After the paraffin wax is removed, your feet should feel rejuvenated with the skin feeling very soft and moisturized. You can then proceed to the treatment of the nails. After the paraffin treatment your nails will also be slightly softer because of the moisturizing element of the wax so you need to be aware of that before you cut your nail. It will be more susceptible to tearing than normal.

Now, cut your toe nails flat leaving nail on the sides to avoid the in-grown nail problem. Next you should file the toe nails especially at the sides to form a rounded nail that follows the contour of the toe; this is also to reduce the risk of accidentally kicking up the nail if you accidentally kick something.

After the cutting and filing you can either proceed to buff your nails or apply nail polish. Personally I always prefer buffing the toe nails as nail polish wares too easily on the toes and after 1-2 days it either needs a touch up of to be completely removed, which is quite troublesome.