Is it normal for the sides of one's big toes to become infected after a pedicure in Thailand? It happens to me every time.  Would I be less likely to get infected if I went to a different salon?

Not normal, of course. Are you sure,  it's really infected?

You have diabetes?

 

Change salon.

Bring your own tools and disinfect them before you go.

Clean your feet before you go, and afterwards wear closed shoes. 

What I have experienced as so-called "pedicure" here was all terrible. 

They cut too tight, to deep, the wrong way (should leave the sides of the nail standing,  they do the opposite here,  cut as deep as possible).

And of course, nobody in these salons has any training or knows what she is doing.