I have absolutely no problem with doing feet - I do a pretty good pedicure BUT I just cant be arsed doing them - I dont know why.

Im mobile - so there just seems loads to sort out before you get started (filling, emptying and cleaning bowl for starters).

But I dont get squirmish at anything really.

But I have to say I thin a pedicure is bloody good value compared to the services a podiatrist offers - hell they charge £15 just to cut the toe nails. Not dissing them of course - but a pedicure gives everything.

By the way - I did my beauty training in 1990 when it was still 3hr body and facial and electrolysis practical and theory exams (with art, anatomy, oral english, sciences and business studies thrown in for good measure) - and was more 'tough' than beauty training is today. Sorry everyone but it really was!!!

feet dont bother me in the slightest, i love having a good old dig around. Im a sicko i know!! lol.

But the only problem i have is my back KILLs afterwards. I just cant find the right way of doing it!!

Ive done 4 pedis today, and luckily my back doesnt feel too bad now, probably because i hade my massage and accupuncture last night!! But it really does take its toll, i was thinking about removing them from the price list!

generally speaking chiropodists are now more like doctors. So they should get paid for the however many years they spent in uni.

a podiatrist or sometimes 'foot health practitioner' i think they are called, is not a medical professional, just someone that has studied feet in more detail and would generally just work on feet.

this is my understanding on the matter anyway.

I was going to study to do it, but as a podiatrist. just never got round to it!

Also, a pedicure should NOT have everything a chiropody treatment does. In no way shape of form should we be slicing off clients skin, which is what some of them need. nor should we be digging out ingrown toenails (as much as id like to lol) or cutting corns etc.

So IMO a pedicure is for someone that wants you to look after and pamper their feet and make them look nicer. It is the job of a chiropodist or similar to sort out any other problems thay have with them.

Yeh but when I say everything - I mean people go to them to have their toe nails cut or have their hard skin rubbed down...er...I do that in a pedicure was what I was saying. I have seen really raggy toe nails after they have been to see the podiatrist. We shape them.
I wasnt saying I do what a chiropodist does (corns warts, verucaas etc) but can advise how to look after their feet. They get alot of work done on their feet for a alot less than if they went to a podiatrist.
I can help them to alleviate the pain associated with ingrown toe nails.

When I went to see a chiropodist - for some persistent verucaes, he even said it himself that I probably do far more than him on an appointment.

He didnt do anything for my verucaes he just cut my toes and couldnt take away my hard skin cos I didnt have any and charged me more than I charge for a pedi.

If you get regular pedis you wouldnt need to see a chiropodist. Any serious problems would need medical treatment.

i agree pazzy
i also took my training when full time meant 5 days a week, 9-5!
and i remember having to retake my biology o level to increase the grade!

Just wanted to say I did CIBTAC and CIDESCO international beauty diploma training 9-5 every day for just over a year and had two three hour exams on the same day (morning and afternoon) and an extra electrolysis exam of 30 minutes. On top of this I had to write a dissertation, do 600 hours practical work on clients and take two theory exams of 1 hour each. It was hard work- I have a Bsc Psychology degree and did more study for my beauty exams!

Not all courses are easy now, I only took mine three years ago.

hi weezie
i agree, not all of the beauty courses are easy now, but they have been condensed as if you wanted to do beauty therapy to level 3 then, it was full time 5 days aweek for 2 yrs. ie school terms. if your course was 12 months long, then it prob covered the same amount of curriculum.
im not saying condensing is a bad thing.
it is prob a better way to approach the industry, as now you can choose to do beauty to level 2, or to level 3, or holistic therapies, or nail treatments, or all of them.
we didnt have a choice, we had to do 2 yrs to level 3 incl. everything ( but unfortunately not nails!)
the only condensing you could do, was to do both level 3 in beauty and level 3 in hair and do it in 3 yrs, which is what i did.
it was hard going as there were evening classes aswell, but it was cool as it cut my course from 4 to 3 yrs.
that option is no longer avialable, because full time is now 3/3.5 days per wk, so you will spend 4 yrs if u choose to do both.
also, private courses then & now are condensed as the class numbers are very small, compared to college courses which are usually 20-30 pupils.
hopefully things progress and lots of things have, its just like the current arguement that tha A levels have got easier cos loads of students are getting all A grades.
at the end of the day, no matter what course or qualification you r studying for, if u gat a high grade or a good pass, you have achieved your goal and should b congratulated.

When it comes to difficult courses - ours took the biccy. Along with the practicals and papers - we were the first students to have the assessments 'tried out' on. So on top of an already pressurised last few moths - we had a full book of assessments to complete. It was unfair and it was a joke.

Our group dropped like flies - and I questioned why I was putting myself through this and wished I went in for nursing. I nearly gave it up. Glad I didnt. But couldnt believe I got credits in my papers.

Liza you will remember studying the origin, insertion and actions of the muscles in the face!!! The lymphatic nightmare. The anodes and cathodes and the cations and anions. The exercises. The 6 week client study. Drawings of the heart, a lymph gland, and cross section of hair and layers of the skin. How upset I was to learn that they skim over those now - one work experience said they didnt even do it. How things change!!!

I had to learn all of that. I did nvq level 3.

it used to be the equivalent of level 2 that was the 1st yr. all facial anatomy should b covered, and electrical science for facial electrical, ie faradic, iontophorisis etc.
level 3 was the 2nd yr, and it was body anatomy for massage and electrical science for body electrical ie faradic etc.
im not certain if it is still the same.
there is defo not the same sylabus covered as it is now 3/3.5 days instead of 5 per week.
i think mayb the missing sylabus mayb aromatherapy and holistic therapies?
its a lot of hours to drop?
we also had art lessons, but i think that was connected to the hairdressing side?
also, the way its now set up is that the students are meant to do home study and salon placement to make up the hours.
trouble is, most younger students dont take this on board and often struggle to complete their assignments on time.
i would ve been useless with this set up, at that age, i wouldve not been disciplined enough to organise my schedule!
mayb some recently qualified students can shed some like on this?

This is how I feel as well.

And someone mentioned working on feet with fungal infections being a concern because it might be spread throught their footbaths or implements. If a technician is properly disinfecting their implements and foothbaths then there is no chance to spread it.

Just out of interest as i am a quite new , how do you structure your prices if your client has thick toe nails with gunge under, thick skin and generally needs more work, do you charge her the same as a client who just wants her feet pampered and painted?

we have 4 different prices for feet.
1. file & paint
2.regular pedicure
3.luxury pedicure
4. brisa overlays (as a stand alone or an individual treatment)

if im doing a regular pedicure and they need lots of toenail attention, then i dont spend so much time on the massage.
on consultation and during the 1st treatment i will discuss which the priorities are.
the client has 2 choices. either spend same money and time but miss out on massage time, or extend to luxury pedi, which is an extension of 20-30 mins so as not to miss out on so much.
i find client are split about 50/50 on which of the 2 they choose.
some of my clients dont even have their toes painted, they just want comfie feet that look clean and tidy, so i buff & oil them after treating them.

Thanks , that is a great help!

I see this is quite an old thread now but saw it and just had to give my opinion! I used to be trained to do manicures and pedicures but did not train in any other beauty treatments. I completed a degree in Podiatry a couple years ago and so as a qualified Podiatrist feel I can comment on this question.

As far as I am concerned a pedicure should be a cosmetic treatment involving making the nails look nice, smoothing hard skin etc.
A podiatrist foot care treatment should be a medical treatment involving the removal of hard skin with a scalpel, cutting nails, reducing thickened nails, treating fungal infections and removing corns. Podiatrists are not concerned with making the feet look pretty, they are concerned with making them healthy and comfortable, when we do nails we ensure they are smooth and safe with no sharp edges.

So if an elderly patients presents with lots of gunge under her nails which is yellow, this indicates a fungal infection. A podiatrist can identify this and knows how to correct and treat it. A podiatrist is also insured should something go wrong, a pedicurist would not be in this instance. There is also the issue of cross infection, you need to wear latex or similar standard gloves and the instruments used need to be sterlilised in an autoclave after treatment.

I can see how it would be tempting as a customer to pay a pedicurist to sort your nails out rather than a podiatrist as it is cheaper. But I don't think any pedicurist should be messing about with nails which have potential fungal infections, you don't have the medical training for this. Just like a podiatrist isn't trained in manicures.

Another thought is when there is a nail pathology like fungus present, if you go and push back the cuticles on their toe nails then this causes a problem. This is because cuticles are there to stop bacteria getting into the body. When the cuticle is removed this allows passage of bacteria into the body and if the nails have fungus, you can be introducing this into the body. Bad news particularly for an elderly patient!

Podiatrists have to do a 3 year degree which is very difficult, they also have to gain certificates in local anaesthetic and prescription only medicines. That is why the can warrant charging more for foot treatment.