I will confess that notwithstanding the fact that I am a firm believer in capitalism and free enterprise, if cosmetic and beauty salons had to depend on my support, those industries would have declined long ago. I have nothing against cosmetics, it’s just that because of my particular lifestyle with a lot of outdoor activity, skin care and sunscreen are my real concerns. As for hair, this fine, thin, flyaway stuff I inherited works best in a braid or put up in a clamp. And nails – Lord, am I rough on nails that no manicure can stand up to. Pedicure – not for my ticklish feet. Now, with all that said, I have come to appreciate a value of pedicures that I had simply not previously understood. Have you ever tried to trim your toenails without bending over or bending your knee?

One of the many eye-opening experiences that I had when coping with the elder care situation that resulted in Your Room at the End: Thoughts About Aging We’d Rather Avoid, was how something as mudane as trimming toenails could create such a problem. Numerous physical conditions can prevent you from being able to perform this task and it doesn’t take more than a few months of neglect for toenails to thicken, curve, and/or become in-grown. Shoes may no longer fit properly and unconscious nighttime scratching can result in cuts to the feet and legs. People who have always considered pedicures as an “unnecessary luxury” may well begin to hide their feet rather than admit to having problems. Once the problem becomes severe, it will require a visit to a podiatrist or a specially trained nurse to resolve. Having a pedicure 3-4 times a year is normally enough to keep this under control, although other foot problems that do require a podiatrist may also occur and then nail care is often combined as a part of treatment.

So, if you have an older relative who has difficulting in reaching their toes, find a subtle or candid way to ask the question and perhaps you can help make arrangements for perioridc pedicures. Another topic in Your Room is about how we reach a point where gifts just causes us to accumulate more stuff. A gift certificate for a pedicure is a type of “consummable” gift-giving. I know this whole things sounds a bit odd if you haven’t been through it, but it really is something to check into.