Nail & Foot Care Tools

Most people cut their toenails with whatever is in the bathroom drawer, usually a pair of clippers designed for fingernails. Toenails are thicker, flatter and considerably tougher, and using the wrong tool is how nails end up split, cut too short, or growing into the skin at the side.

Our nail and foot care range covers tools made for the job. Properly shaped clippers, nippers strong enough for thickened nails, and files for smoothing edges and reducing hard skin.

Have a browse below, or read our guide further down the page if you are not sure which option suits you.

Nail & Foot Care Tools

Why Toenails Need Their Own Tools

A fingernail is thin and curved. A toenail is thick, flat and often a good deal harder, particularly the big toe and particularly as we get older.

Fingernail clippers have a curved cutting edge, which is exactly what you do not want on a toe. That curve encourages you to cut the nail into a rounded shape, following the contour of the toe, and rounded corners are the single most common cause of an ingrown toenail. The nail grows forward, meets the skin at the side rather than the free edge, and pushes into it.

Small clippers also lack the leverage for a thick nail. What happens then is that the nail is crushed rather than cut cleanly, which splits it and leaves a jagged edge that catches on socks and tears further down the line.

Proper toenail clippers have a straight or barely curved blade and a wider jaw. Nippers, which look more like small pliers, give considerably more cutting force and are the right choice for nails thickened by age, previous injury or fungal change.

None of this is complicated, and the tools are not expensive. It simply makes the difference between a task that takes two minutes and one that leads to a sore toe a fortnight later.

Choosing the Right Nail and Foot Care Tools

  • Heavy-Duty Nail Nippers

    Plier-style tools with far more cutting power, made for nails that have thickened with age, injury or fungal change. If you find yourself squeezing hard with ordinary clippers, this is the tool you actually need.

  • Nail Files and Emery Boards

    For smoothing the edge after cutting so nothing catches on socks, and for gently reducing length between trims. A file is also the safer option for anyone who would rather not use clippers at all.

  • Foot Files and Rasps

    For reducing hard skin on the heel and ball of the foot. Used gradually over several sessions rather than aggressively in one go, they keep calluses manageable without taking skin back too far.

  • Nail Files and Emery Boards

    For smoothing the edge after cutting so nothing catches on socks, and for gently reducing length between trims. A file is also the safer option for anyone who would rather not use clippers at all.

How to Cut Toenails Properly

This is the part worth reading even if you have been doing it for fifty years, because most ingrown toenails are the result of technique rather than bad luck.

Cut straight across. Follow the natural line of the end of the nail rather than curving in at the sides. The corners should remain visible and slightly proud of the skin, not tucked down into the groove beside the nail.

Do not cut too short. Leave a small strip of white at the end, roughly a millimetre or two. Cutting into the quick removes the support the nail gives to the toe underneath and encourages the skin to bunch up in front of the nail as it grows back.

Never dig down the sides. If a corner feels uncomfortable, resist the temptation to poke a clipper or a pair of scissors down beside it. This almost always leaves a small spike of nail behind, and that spike is what grows into the flesh and becomes an ingrown nail.

Take several small cuts, not one big one. Trimming in two or three passes gives you a cleaner edge and far more control than trying to take the whole nail off in a single squeeze.

File the edge afterwards. A few passes with a file removes the sharp corners without shortening the nail, which is exactly what you want. Sharp corners catch on socks and tear.

Cut after a bath or shower. Softened nails cut cleanly and split far less. If your nails are very thick, ten minutes of soaking beforehand makes a noticeable difference.

Keep your tools clean and to yourself. Wash them after each use and dry them properly. Fungal infections pass readily between people on shared clippers, and between your own nails if a tool is not cleaned.

  • FootAid Blacks File – Precision Nail & Callus Care Tool - FootAid
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FootAid

FootAid Blacks File – Precision Nail & Callus Care Tool

$12.00 NZD
$12.00 NZD
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