I had my first pedicure ever 3 months ago. It hurt quite a bit and the pain lasted a long time (months). Most of the pain is gone now--the too short toenails are now grown out--but I still get twinges on a couple of my cuticles. I will never do this again. I went with my daughter and she said the place we had the pedicures was actually a lot gentler than some places. Wow, are my feet just supersensitive or do other people find the experience painful? For me the after pain has been a lot worse than the during-the-procedure pain. The guy who did my feet had bare feet with sandals and no pedicure. I asked him if he ever got a pedicure and he said no, that it really wasn't good for the feet to cut off the cuticles that way. That the cuticles help protect from infection. I really regret having mine cut off. Why on earth did this weird practice ever begin? A toe without a cuticle does not really look much different or better than a toe with a cuticle.