BathroomHogs

On my left pinky toe is a very wee nail. It is not smooth or long, and it grows roughly and upwards from the base. My mom calls it a chicken toe. I spent a bit of time actually Googling chicken toe this afternoon, but it seems like my family is the only one in the world that doesn’t take this phrase at the literal meaning.

Taking care of a chicken toe is important, otherwise it will snag on everything in sight as well as scratch anyone who dares to lay in a bed with you. The nail is sharp and scratchy and prone to scaling. It’s like a tiny raptor claw in a way. The best possible way for me to care for my chicken toe is:

While in the shower I always use a pumice stone on my entire foot. All around the toes included. When I get out of the shower/bath and before the foot is entirely dry, I’ll push back the cuticles and clean out the foot, push under and all around my toe nails with the “knife” part of the clippers. When I’m due for new polish I remove the old, lightly go over each nail with a medium texture professional file to get rid of any ridges (especially the pinky toe). I don’t press hard, just lightly and I might not do it each time, just depends if they need it. Then I’ll buff the nail bed with a buffer (light textured). This smooths any scratches left from the file. I rinse my foot, dry and apply my polish. In order for my toes to look good, I’ll make sure there is no dead skin around the nail EVERY single time I shower.

The most major thing though is the buffer. Buff, buff, buff! The shine and smoothness help me forget all about the weird little thing staring back up at me.