Success, one foot at a time

November 24, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - Valley nail technician Joeley Weakley loves it when she introduces someone to the pampering experience of a pedicure.

&#8220I love giving a first-time pedicure to a person who's been ashamed of her feet, ashamed of her toes. Afterwards, they look at the pedicure and they want to show off their feet,” Weakley said.

After five years with Seven Feathers Casino in Oregon, with the excitement of winners and losers surrounding her as she secured the slot machine area, the girl who was raised in Myrtlewood, Ore., followed a fiancé to Alaska.

Residing in the Valley, she wanted her own independence with a flexible schedule that would allow her to make runs to the airport when her husband left for or returned from his job at Red Dog Mine on the North Slope.

&#8220I encourage people to take care of their feet all through the year. Just because they're hidden doesn't mean they're not important,” Weakley said. &#8220People don't realize the feet take the brunt of everything. They need more pampering.”

Weakley now works at Wave Lengths at the corner of Bogard and Seldon roads, and has a clientele of about 100 women who visit her during an extremely busy three-day work week.

Regular Tish Briggs, who works at a tanning salon, describes the importance of having pretty, presentable feet.

&#8220Over at my work, it's summer every day. I like wearing open-toed shoes. I don't like having enclosed feet,” Briggs said during a pedicure session on the eve of her birthday.

The majority of Weakley's clients prefer to expose their hands, rather than their feet.

But those women who hand the care of their feet over to Weakley come back for more or give gift certificates to friends, mothers, sisters or daughters.

Hands down, Mothers' Day week tops the list as Weakley's busiest time of year. Although, without a doubt, more women go to professionals to have their toenails painted during the summertime months, a few select the holidays to have a pedicure - whether it's for an upcoming company party where they plan to wear strappy shoes or a vacation to warmer climates, Weakley said.

&#8220I like to do the toes of women who are about to have babies. I paint their toes, and they have something to focus on when they are in labor,” she said.

She also sweeps seniors off their feet.

&#8220Some of my older clients have a hard time reaching their toes, even to clip their toenails,” she said.

The expansion of Wave Lengths sometime in January will help Weakley provide her following with an even more pampering venue. When the beauty salon moves into a bigger space in the same strip mall, the nail technician will be able to set up a pedicure throne. She will be able to mount her many nail polishes on the wall, rather than on racks that have to be stored on her days off. And she will be able to put in more hours.

Warning: Don't fall asleep at Weakley's home. You will end up with painted nails in the color of her choosing.

Recently, she painted her husband's toenails, and he wasn't even sleeping.

&#8220He was watching TV. He was so engulfed, he didn't notice that I was on the floor painting his toenails red,” she said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252 or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.