Thursday, September 3, 2009

Cherished Toes & Toenail Shaping

I'm still gradually working my toenails back into the proper shape, which is why they look a bit odd. Metallic polish may be somewhat streaky, but it hides a multitude of sins. I did these to match my Porcelain Roses manicure this week - just a simple design with gold bouillon beads on two coats of China Glaze "Cherish". If you look closely at my left big toe there, you'll see that my line of beads has a break in it - that's what I get for heading to bed before everything is properly dried down. Oops!

So what is the proper shape for a toenail? According to one of the major nail polish companies on twitter last week, rounded nails are best. I'd always heard the opposite, so I went to a few online podiatry sites to find out the truth. The nails on my big toes are prone to being ingrown, and I want to prevent that if possible. Every single medical site I visited agreed - toenails should be cut straight across, never curved, and never shorter than the edge of the toe. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons have pictures on their web site of proper toenail shape - check it out here (scroll to the bottom). Interesting, eh? I'll keep cutting my toenails straight across.

Contest announcement tomorrow - stay tuned!

5 comments:

Brooke said...

cuuuuute!! Love the color combo and design.

LOVING the new background too!

Jamie D. said...

Thanks Brooke!

I can honestly say I didn't realize how much polish I had until I spread it all out for the photo - not as much as many people, but seems like a lot to me! ;-)

Kae said...

Thanks for the info about how to shape the toenails, I usually cut straight but then the corners bug me a lot and sometimes cut those too. Your pedi is really nice, love how it matches your mani :)

Jamie D. said...

Thanks, Kae. :-)

Truthfully, I prefer rounded toenails. I've never been a square-nail person...but since I started keeping them square, they haven't gotten ingrown at all. So function over form this time, I guess. Glad you found it useful!

Lucy said...

What a gorgeous pedicure! I love the color of the polish and the beads. I love the design you made. Looked gorgeous with your manicure. I would never round my toe nails. Especially when your prone to ingrown nails. Maybe the round is a fashion thing but not a healthy thing. I like nails that are shorter than the end of your toes. I really gag looking at long toenails.