Nail care for your feet is great self-care.

Taking care of your feet

A lot of us were not expecting the lockdown in our country to take this long, as we deal with preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The virus’ arrival has resulted in us at Step Right Foot Clinic (along with other businesses) having to cease work and stay home in the efforts of social distancing.

As we ease into phase 1, we still encourage you to stay at home and make use of the tips we are sharing. We have to remind ourselves to conduct self-care and to stay healthy while being at home as well.

At Step Right Foot Clinic we know that while it is important to stay home, our work is crucial for some people. At this point in time, for foot routine treatments we are able to take booked appointments.

Here are a few steps to make sure that your toenails are growing smoothly and are trimmed using a few tools.

You will need sharp nail scissors, or a straight cutter, a nail file and a swan neck tool. See image below.

Step 1

Soak your feet in some soothing warm water with some sea salt for 10-15 min. This will help soften the nails and make the cutting easier and gives you a chance to just sit back and relax.

Step 2

With one hand, peel back the skin at the side of your nail using the swan neck tool. Then following the natural line of the free edge, cut straight across with your straight cutter. It’s important to not cut too close and to leave some of a free edge (white bit).

Step 3

Using your swan neck tool, or any tool with a point, remove any debris under the nail and sides. Take care not to ‘dig’ it’s very tempting but you do not want to disturb the natural pattern of the hyponychium (that’s just the fancy word for the part of the nail that is ‘stuck’ to the finger).
See video below.

Note: By disturbing this part you could open yourself to infection, and that’s the last thing we need to be worrying about, so less is more.

Step 4

If you feel pressure down the side of the nail, against the skin, you may have an ingrown nail or may be getting one. If you can avoid touching that would be best, but if it’s becoming unbearable then with the help of your swan neck try to ‘investigate’ down the side of the nail.

With very gentle strokes you may find the pressure is coming from a build-up of fabric and skin particles that are caught between the nail and skin.

Step 5

File down any rough edges so as not to get them caught in socks or bed sheets.

Step 6

Enjoy walking barefoot to give your feet some deserved fresh air.

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BEFORE

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AFTER

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We are available on our email and Facebook to help you with any queries you may have. Please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are only available for foot routine type of treatments via booked appointments at this point in time.