Manicure

A woman giving another woman a manicure. Belleville, Ontario, 1930s.
Manicure closeup –clear nail polish being applied

A manicure is a mostly cosmetic beauty treatment for the fingernails and hands performed at home or in a nail salon. A manicure usually consists of filing and shaping the free edge of nails, pushing and clipping (with a cuticle pusher and cuticle nippers) any nonliving tissue at the cuticle and removing hangnails, treatments with various liquids, massage of the hand, and the application of fingernail polish. When the same is applied to the toenails and feet, the treatment is referred to as a pedicure. Together, the treatments may be known as a mani-pedi.

Acrylic manicure with jewel design

Some manicures include painting pictures or designs on the nails, applying small decals, or imitation jewels (from 2 dimensions to 3 dimensions). Other nail treatments may include the application of artificial gel nails, tips, or acrylics.

Nail technicians, such as manicurists and pedicurists, must be licensed in certain states and countries, and must follow government regulations. Since the skin is manipulated and often times trimmed, there is a risk of spreading infection when tools are used across many people. Therefore, having improper sanitation can pose serious issues.

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.