Jul 22 2008
Pedicures: Potato Salad or Fish Tank
I am not one to get a pedicure weekly. I just never have found the justification in spending $50 a week on my toes.
However, I am no stranger to a pedicure. The usual pedicure involves a comfy chair and a big bubbling mini-jacuzzi of warm water. It is definitely relaxing and feels incredible, not to mention the pretty toes.
The most bizarre pedicure I have had involved a big stainless steel bowl. No comfy chair. No bubbling mini-jacuziz. This was not at some random corner shop, it was at a chain here in Chicagoland. A chain that many people I know patronize. I treated my mom to a mani/pedi and we enjoyed a nice manicure. Then they turned our chairs, office chairs, and we glanced at each other in minor alarm when they carried out big stainless steel bowls.
These bowls were identical to the bowls my step-dad makes his potato salad in. This thought gave me pause. Prior to putting my feet in the bowl, I noticed what looked like Palmolive at the bottom.
I am soaking my feet in a potato salad bowl with dish soap.
They did a decent job with the pedicure, but frankly, nothing beats the bubbling mini-jacuzzi. Rather than put the fuzzy cotton strips between my toes, they twisted tissues. It was an interesting experience. It was cheaper than normal, and I quickly understood why. Yet it was a chain I marked as “do not return.” Potato salad bowls and Palmolive aren’t my idea of going for a pedicure. I could do that myself.
Last night, I heard of an even more bizarre pedicure. Check it out.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080721/ap_on_fe_st/fish_pedicures
Yes, that’s a fish pedicure. Little carp nipping at your feet. Apparently more sanitary than the razors they use. I imagine it tickles like crazy. Would you want to have fish giving you a pedicure?
My question is: How often do they change that water?
I am not sure which is more bizarre to me, Potato salad bowls or carp pedicures.
cherry,
that’s so funny! I guess it would be good to visualize something else nipping at your feet to get through it, huh?
I would just like to mention that even though the foot baths feel great, they are TERRIBLE for you. Every person puts their feet in that and there a a thousand nooks and crannies for bacteria to get trapped in, not to mention the bacteria sucked into the jets. How long do you think it would take to dissassemble that machine and properly disinfect it and reassemble it?? Definately not enough time for a salon to run efficiently, therefore they are rinsed and sprayed and rinsed and that is all. GROSS!! if you were to take one apart there would be nails and dead skin from hundreds of people in there! Therefore making the steel bowl the #1 choice.
As for the toe separators, the reuasable ones are not sanitary because once again they have to be properly cleaned and I doubt they are, therefore making the kleenex ones (disposable, one time one client use) also the best choice.
When it comes to the office chairs, well that is a different story, but I am glad to hear that the salon you will not return to is actually looking out for your best interests!!
Oh i forgot to mention the foot soak AKA Palmolive. Foot soaks come in many many forms, some are small beads, some are powder and some are liquid, so it could have actually been foot soak and not dish liquid!!!!!
Thanks for reading,
Melissa
Nova Scotia
Canada
Esthetician :)
Hi Melissa,
I was basically being funny, mainly because the idea of putting my feet in the same style and size bowl my step-dad uses for his potato salad is weird to me. I am sure it can be sanitary, but I don’t know that they clean those either.
Things are probably different in Canada than here, but we have very strict laws that the reputable spas follow of sanitizing the foot baths, etc. My friends in the business found the bowls odd as well.
I was referring to them not using the cotton strands for toe seperators, I’ve never seen reusable…that WOULD be quite gross, I agree.
I don’t know anything about the types of foot soaks, I just found it amusing that I had my feet in a potato salad bowl with what looked like Palmolive in a big blob on the bottom. I think they should at least have mixed it up to disolve it, but that’s just me.
I appreciate your response though. It is good to know that the big bowls aren’t that uncommon, though I hadn’t seen it before.
For me, it was a combination of the bowls, the soap, the tissues, the office chairs, the esthetician barely speaking and not being informed in advance that they use these bowls when other stores use foot baths in addition to the set up that caused me to not go back to that location. It was a very strange set up for a chain. Very small and odd to have estheticians carry bowls full of water from a back room, etc…
It can be scary, the thought of the sanitation, or lack of, in some shops. I really do appreciate your tips and thoughts on it. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Just another note about the laws for sanitation…..Here in Nova Scotia we have very very strict laws about it as well. I, as an esthetician am required to write a completely separate exam on the subject of Bacteriology and Sanitation! So I think you could feel safe that we are sanitary here :)
Oh, the bowls…..they are the norm here as they are super easy to keep clean for each client!!! No nooks and crannies, no grooves, so nowhere for bacteria to hide!!!
Now about the fish……..hmmmmm how would one clean them…..lol
Melissa, I hope I didn’t infer that Canada wasn’t sanitary! I would be curious to know if you carry the bowls out or if you have a water tap that you can fill the bowls with near the client…I would think it would be difficult to carry them full.
I have to say the nooks and crannies idea is a bit gross, but I guess it can’t be any more disgusting than hot tubs in public places. Now THAT I would not do…God only knows what goes on in there!
I do wonder how they clean the bowls they use the fish in…I mean, do they drain the bowls (they showed them in the bubbly foot baths with all the nooks and crannies)removing the fish every time? hmmm, seems too much of a pain….I also wonder, if you’ve got really bad feet with heavy calluses and whatnot, do they use bigger fish? Do the fish get fat after eating all the dead skin cells and are then retired? :P
Keyster94,
Um I do not believe that you inferred that Canada was unsanitary, I was just ensuring you that it was. :)
And, yes we carry the bowls from and area out of view of the clients where all the supplies for cleaning and sanitizing them are kept.
HOT TUBS???!!! Dont get me started eeeeewwwwww
Hmmm the fish, I wonder what would happen if someone had a fungus on their toes (so so so many clients have them) and the fish ate the skin from their toes, would that fish now have the fungus and the ability to pass it on the other clients?? I mean how do you disinfect a FISH????
Any thoughts on this anyone??
Melissa,
I imagine you have no need to workout on those arms if you are carrying those bowls all day! :D
I hope somebody does know about transferring nastiness from person to fish to person…. Say, someone has a cut on their foot and the fish is in the water with whatever germ or infection they have…would the next person get it?
I’d be very curious!
Im curious as well…..someone let us know :) Please and Thank You!!
Hi Melissa,
Not sure if you could help me or not. I was reading your postings and was hoping you could please tell me, where you purchased your stainless steel bowl for Pedicures. I am a nail technician her in North Vancouver, BC and have been looking forever for one, big enough for a pair of feet.
Thank you
I just wanted to leave you a note. I am a nail tech. and the problem with the nice comfy chairs and the whirlpool tubs is bacteria I have encountered a lot of fungus that way. I work at a spa that uses copper pots with river rocks and it is much more sanitary. I would rather put my feet in a big mixing bowl anyday…..
Hi guys…I’m a nail technician in BC, Canada and I completely concur with the stainless steel bowl (I know Im backtracking a little, but hey.)It is the latest and greatest out here, because more and more people are recognizing the health risks associated with the “old school” foot tubs with jets. Melissa is right, it is next to impossible to clean them entirely, and 99.9% of spas won’t expend the time, effort and huge money that it takes to do it… and certainly not after every client! With the stainless steel bowl, I have 3, and when 1 is used, it’s cleaned with antibacterial soap, and then sanitized with a hospital grade disinfectant, then I routate. I always make sure my clients know what my sanitation procedures are, and that they’re protected. My girlfriend said something similar about wanting the chair with the jets, but her tune soon changed when I updated her on why you will see fewer and fewer of them as time goes on. I told her I dont want to be featured in one of those “she went for a pedicure, then she died” specials, thanks very much! ha! The comfortable chair is a must though. I bought a proper pedicure chair on craigslist for $160. You can do things right and safely without spending a ton of money.