Summer is a killer for feet – they are always on show and rarely look their best, unless you have just pranced out of a pedicure. Nails look ragged and skin has all the resemblance of the outer rind of some ancient cheese. They are the one bit of the body we tend to neglect until almost the last minute and then rush for a quick fix at a local salon or a worse than amateur go at home.
REMEMBER THESE
* the best pedicure anywhere you will find at the hands of Samuel Soh. Sadly Mr Soh is based in Hong Kong, at the Barber Shop in the Mandarin Oriental…but if you’re ever heading that way, book him at the same time as you book your ticket, to make sure you don’t miss out on one of the great treatments. Armed with a roll of tiny chisels, Mr S sets about returning your feet to the shape and texture they should be. With these instruments, he cuts nails, carves out corns and callouses, removes all scaly and hard skin before polishing your toes with a colour of your choice (best to bring your own). There is no pain, no blood, no hassle. This is an original Shanghai Medical Pedicure which he learnt at his father’s feet and has now passed onto an able pupil, Ben, if you can’t get an appointment with the real thing
* Bastien Gonzalez, is another foot purist and works between London, Paris, New York and a few luxury resorts in the Indian Ocean ( One&Only in the Maldives and Mauritius). He too attacks the feet with all the ferocity of an iron fist in a velvet glove ridding them of all hard skin, callouses et al. He also promises to make your toes look like the inside of a shell. He does. He even has own foot products – cream from Euro34, the silkiest talcum powder and a free from all additives nail polish. Find him two days a week at the Cadogan Hotel, London (it’s £110 a pop – but you come away with almost new feet)
* The Daniella Steiner spas in Paris, Monte Carlo, Italy and Egypt offer pedicures which combine chiropdy with the beautifying elements. This treatment cannot be carried out in the UK as most pedicurists are not medically trained as they are in Europe. It takes just over an hour and you emerge with almost new feet
Can’t get to any of them? Then Geraldine Howard, one of the founders of Aromatherapy Associates, has the best advice on feet. Keep all samples of moisturisers, night creams, oils etc that you can find (even those sachets that you find glued to magazine pages) by your bedside…and every night just massage some into your feet. It doesn’t matter whether the cream is for necks, hands, face or eyes – any attention our poor feet get is better than none. If you’re feeling wildly extravagant Geraldine’s new rose oil is a serious treat…and you only need a tiny amount.
