Pay R145 for a French manicure and pedicure with French gel overlays at La Lah Nails, valued at R490 (save 70%)

Like calculators and unicycles, hands and feet are not only useful for basic mathematics and getting from A to B, they’re also taken for granted and much abused. Show your appreciation and put past wrongs to right and pay R145 for a French manicure and pedicure with French gel overlays at La Lah Nails.

Typing memos, patting prickly co-workers on the back or rifling through the black-hole that is a handbag to find your lipstick often leaves more than just your polish chipped. Of course, it’s not just the nails on your hands that often take more of a beating than a championship boxer in the fifth round. After being crammed in patent leather prisons all day, it’s no wonder your toes sometimes throw up chipped signs of protest. While you could walk around in gloves all day or wrap your feet in cotton wool, you’d probably get quite a few odd looks.

The stylish La Lah Nails salon in Lynwood is the best place to take your five-pronged pals (and their leg-end cousins) for a bit of pampering when they start metaphorically bemoaning their fate. Contrary to popular belief, manicures and pedicures aren’t just about your nails; it’s like a trip to the day-spa for the whole appendage. Highly trained in soothing unhappy hands and feet, the professional therapists can take even the most distressed digits and turn them into the glam hands and feet you see on the red-carpet. Chewed-on cuticles are trimmed and each individual nail is cleaned, buffed and moisturised till it gleams like a freshly-waxed sports car.

A French gel overlay for your toes is like more glamorous protective gear than cotton wool, and will actually nourish and protect your natural nails, all the while giving them a hint of elegance. Not wanting to leave your high-fivers feeling left out, they’re also kitted out in the white-and-pink, though they’re left with their own natural tips.

Not-Quite-French Fact: Contrary to popular belief, the iconic pink and white manicure was originally called the Teeth manicure. Invented by explorers in Spain, the colours actually came about after a new species of cat was discovered and the manicure was named after the colours of the felines teeth.