Mani Pedi Gossip

Had my mani/pedi/waxing in advance of my trip to Florida, and this is what I learned. My manicurist has insurance coverage that she pays $580 a year for in case she is sued by a client. I was trying to think how much damage a manicurist could do that a styptic pencil couldn't solve and finally asked her what she would be sued over, and the answer in ascending order of badness is cuts, followed by fungus, followed by hepatitis. A client could only get hepatitis if the manicurist cut someone who had hepatitis, didn't sterilize the tool, then cut the next client so the hep-blood got in the non-hep person. She has never been sued, and doesn't know any nail technician who has been sued. 

To be licensed takes about 200 hours of study. When she works an event or at a hotel, they require that she fax her license.

I asked her if she has seen any difference in women's feet since women have been wearing such high heels. I cringe sometimes when I look at some of these women's feet and they are clearly damaging them. It's painful to even look at. She says she can always tell if a woman wears high heels because there is a callous pad on the middle of the ball of the foot.

I think you know what a Brazilian is when it comes to waxing, but there is also a Brazilian method of manicuring which neither of us like... and that is that the manicurist just sloppily puts on the polish, all over the nail, all over the cuticle and then you use nail polish remover to clean off the excess. For a while, the Korean places in NY were doing in that way, and I never liked it. As Marianella, my manicurist, says, "If you're good, you don't have to do it that way." But she said, some women prefer the Brazilian method.

She also told me this horrible story about a friend who was trained in a low-rent mani-pedi place where they re-used everthing, including paper towels. When a client removed the twirled paper towel that they put between your toes to separate them, this place would re-use the little twirly towels. That is really revolting. I stopped going to one place when I was there near closing and smelled bleach. I turned around and one of the workers was hand washing the towels in the pedicure basin. It really made me sick, and I'm not that squeamish. One of the reasons I so trust Marienella is that all the tools come in a little individual plastic packet like you see at the dentist and she has her own autoclave (sterilizer) so hopefully I will never get a fungus.