As dancers, we know we need to take care of our feet—they’re basically our livelihood! But in the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day, it can be hard to find the time. If we’re feeling wise, we start by wearing orthotics (brilliant!) and staying away from shoes that put pressure on the wrong areas of our feet while outside of the studio (yasss, queen). Most commonly, though, we decide to get a pedicure (hello, self-care 💁). This is suuuuuper-helpful in terms of personal hygiene, but as all dancers know, you can count on dealing with a few headaches that most regular pedi-partakers don’t.

Here’s a list of things that are guaranteed to happen every time a dancer gets a pedicure. It’s sure to make you say “mmmmm-hmmmmm!!!!!”

If you know, you know.

Get ready to laugh out loud, people!

1. You look at your feet that are considered beautiful from the stage and realize that they’re actually a mangled mess up-close.

2. You think to yourself, “But the paint will come off the second I get back into the studio anyway. Is it really worth it??”

3. But then you think, “No, yeah, I’m worth it! Treat yo-self!”

4. When you get to the nail salon and sit in the chair, the person doing your toes looks visibly concerned about the state of your feet, and starts talking to the person next to them about it in slightly hushed tones.

5. Feeling awkward, you crack a joke about how they must be the worst feet they’ve ever seen, to which they respond just a little too quickly with, “yep.”

6. Once they get to work and you see the cheese grater they have planned for your calluses, you dramatically beg them not to use it, because, of course, your calluses are more than essential for your success as a performer.

7. They can’t fathom why you’d want to keep your calluses, and you go back and forth for about five minutes until they finally give up, but they secretly think you need professional help to work through your unhealthy emotional relationship with your feet.

8. The leg and foot massage portion of the pedicure is so heavenly you seriously consider paying five extra dollars to have it go longer, but then you remember you’re a dancer and your paycheck is either minuscule or only comes sporadically, and settle for what you can get for free.

9. You leave the salon with your feet feeling refreshed, clean and, dare I say, almost pretty!

10. Then you take two steps into the studio, your feet are black and the polish is gone, and you swear to never get a pedicure EVER again!

11. Or, like, at least until three months from now, when you forget how ineffective it actually is 🤷.