These days, beauty salons offer a wide range of services that’ll surely leave you feeling soothed and relaxed, including treatments that specifically target your nails. Most people don’t really think about how much their nails go through daily, but both manicures and pedicures are great services to avail of if you’re looking to take better care of your nails.
Before you book your first appointment, here’s what you need to know about manicures and pedicures, including the differences between them.
What is a Manicure?
A manicure is a beauty treatment that mainly focuses on your hands and fingernails. Often, a manicure will involve cleaning, shaping, and polishing your nails, as well as taking care of your cuticles and hands, to improve their appearance and possibly make them longer. There are many different types of manicures that you can choose from, such as French nails, gel nails, acrylic nails, and more.
While the steps of a manicure may vary depending on the specific nails that you’re going for, it often involves a few fundamental steps:
- Your nail technician will start by soaking your hands in some soapy water, which will clean your nails and soften your cuticles.
- Your cuticles will be carefully pushed back, and any excess bits will be trimmed off, which will make your hands look neater.
- Your technician will start trimming and shaping your nails to your preferred length and style before soaking your fingers once more to ensure that they’re as clean as possible.
- An exfoliating scrub or moisturizing body butter will be massaged into the skin of your hands, depending on what they need.
- To end your manicure session, a nail polish of your choice will be applied to your nails to give them a nice color and shine.
What is a Pedicure?
While manicures pay attention to your hands, a pedicure is a beauty treatment that focuses on your feet. Aside from taking care of the health and appearance of your toenails, a pedicure also pays attention to the skin of your feet, usually involving steps that focus on smoothening, exfoliating, and moisturizing, especially if you have any calluses or rough patches.
And unlike manicures, it isn’t very common for there to be different types of pedicures or any treatments that focus on lengthening toenails. Here are some of the basic steps that you can expect during a pedicure session:
- Pedicures often start with soaking your feet in some warm, soapy water to soften both the skin and nails of your feet and prepare them for treatment.
- Your feet will be examined and assessed for any visible issues, such as calluses or rough patches.
- The technician will trim and file your nails to your desired shape while also removing any remnants of old nail polish.
- An exfoliating scrub may be massaged into your feet to remove any dead skin cells and smooth out any rough areas before a rich moisturizer, lotion, or body butter is worked into your feet to help soften them up.
- After pushing back and trimming down your cuticles, your technician will then apply a nail polish of your choice as the last step.
Manicure vs. Pedicure: What’s the Difference?
Benefits of a Manicure and Pedicure
While both of these treatments focus on different parts of the body, they generally offer the same benefits:
- Getting a mani and pedi treatment softens and moisturizes your skin, as your nail technician will apply a moisturizing product, such as a rich lotion, cream, or butter. This leads to softer, smoother, and healthier skin.
- A manicure or pedicure also reduces your risk of infections caused by bacteria and germs hiding in your cuticles, under your nails, or dead skin cells. This is done with the help of deep cleaning, exfoliation, and nail and cuticle trimming.
- Manicure and pedicure also involve massages, which can help increase blood circulation to your skin and nails. Improved blood flow ensures that more oxygen and nutrients are delivered to your skin and nails, improving both their health and appearance.
- Mani and Pedi also offer mental health benefits by helping you relax and calm down.
The Takeaway
While both manicures and pedicures are beauty treatments that focus on your nails, they give attention to completely different parts of the body. Nevertheless, they still offer the same benefits and will leave your nails looking absolutely amazing by the time you leave the salon. And don’t worry if you’re too busy to visit your nearest salon, because Luce now offers home manicure and pedicure services to bring the salon experience to you.
