Step up: put your best foot forward with a spa-style pedicure

Brothers--a word to the wise. Your best grooming advice for the summer season: Treat yourself to a professional pedicure. A little TLC can transform troubled toes, cracked heels and dry skin into fret-free feet ready to be revealed in sandals or flip-flops. Brenda Braxton, owner of men's grooming salon BBRAXTON in New York, says, "It just takes one spa-style pedicure for a man to get hooked." The trick is getting a man to get over the "girly" association with pedicure rituals and actually immerse his feet into the water. "There's a stigma for a man," says Braxton. "Most of the men understand the importance of keeping manicured hands and neatly trimmed facial hair, but they overlook the feet."

At Your Service

To prep your feet for warm summer days and sultry nights, Braxton recommends a spa-style pedicure. Her salon's intensive treatment removes dead skin, softens calluses, smoothes chipped toenails and uses a paraffin wrap to infuse extra moisture into the feet to prevent dryness. Check this out: Braxton recommends that a man should get a professional pedicure at least once a month, especially if he's an athlete or spends a lot of time on his feet.

Self-Help

If you aren't the kind of guy who is ever going to make it to the spa, don't give up entirely. Incorporate a 5-minute foot-care regimen into your daily shower routine. Brush dry feet with a pumice stone to get rid of dead skin and calluses. Clip nails straight across to prevent chipping. Finish by eliminating ash and softening the skin with a moisture-rich foot cream. For special needs, try these tricks: To get rid of yellow nails, buff with a whitening toothpaste or soak nails in a mix of peroxide and lemon juice. If you have a fungal infection, add tea tree oil or lavender to your foot soak.

Tool Box

1 Creative Spa Raw Earth Spa Pedicure Foot Clean ($16, cnd.com)

2 Ace Toenail Clippers ($7, mass market retailers)

3 Earth Therapeutics Natural Sierra Pumice Stone ($3, earththerapeutics.com)

4 Curel Targeted Therapy Deep Penetrating Foot Cream ($5, drugstores)

5 Earth Therapeutics Tea Tree Oil Cooling Foot Scrub ($8, earththerapeutics.com)

6 Sally Hansen Anti-Fungal Foot Cream ($6, drugstores)

7 Peppermint Foot Therapy for Men Deodorant Foot Stick ($8, uppercanada.com)

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY KANT TELJU

COPYRIGHT 2008 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning