An Unusual Pedicure in Shenzhen

We had an interesting experience in Shenzhen last weekend. My friend and I had been shopping and we couldn’t find the way back to our hotel. As we walked among the crowds we came across a small shop offering pedicure and manicure services for a small sum.  We decided to try it out.

No sooner had we sat down, soaking our feet in warm water when a middle-aged man came up and he checked my friend’s foot.  He offered to do “feet scraping”, i.e. scraping the dead skin from the soles of the feet for a sum. This is different from scrubbing which the nail salons do back home. They have a special tool which had a sharp blade.

Then after pressing her sole, he declared that she had three corns and these were causing her shoulder pains. He stressed that the removal of those corns will alleviate her shoulder pains and he could do it without causing any pain. This would cost extra money.  My friend decided to go for it.

As for me, my feet were attended to by a younger man.  He scraped the soles of my feet.  I didn’t have any corns but I had ingrown toe nails which were in fact causing me pain intermittently, depending on how far and how long I walked.  He said that he could remove the ingrown part of the toe nail and this would be painless.  Besides, the nail would not become ingrown again.

I was wary because I wasn’t sure that it wouldn’t cause pain or bleeding.  He said he would do one toe for me.  Indeed there was no pain and he did it very swiftly using a special cutting tool. I saw the part of the nail he had removed.  So I agreed to let him do both the big toes for me.  It was a tad expensive but I reckon it was worth it. Now my big toes no longer hurt when I press them and they are soft, not hard like before.

After that, he said I should have a small growth removed from the bottom of my right sole as it was the cause of numbness in my calf. I was surprised because indeed, my right calf often became numb. Since he had removed the ingrown part of the toe nails and I didn't feel any pain, I decided to have the growth removed. It has been a few days since I returned home and so far my right calf has not gone numb. Keeping my fingers crossed!

After this two women did the usual pedicure for us, trimming the nails and buffing them.  We declined to have the nails coated with nail colors.

When we finally got back to the hotel, my friend was astonished to find that indeed her shoulder pains had disappeared! She regretted not having done the other foot as the other shoulder still had some pain. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to return to the shop as we had to go for dinner with the rest of the group.