How to Care for Calloused Feet
Feet, ugly or hard to reach as they may be, are important. Caring for them is a crucial part of personal hygiene and of overall health. Part of a good foot grooming regimen is getting rid of and preventing calluses. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Baking soda or vinegar
- Bucket of warm water
- Pumice stone
- Callus remover
Instructions
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Make sure your footwear, even summer sandals and flip flops are the right size for your feet. The root cause of many calluses is improperly fitted footwear. Sizing is easy. Instead of assuming you know what you are doing, ask a footwear professional to help you select your correct size, even for flip-flops.
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Soak any existing calluses in either a vinegar bath or a baking soda bath. For some, the smell of vinegar is too strong. A cup of vinegar or baking soda in a bucket of warm water is your ticket to regaining soft, healthy feet. Soak your calloused feet daily for thirty minutes.
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Once your feet are adequately soaked, use a pumice stone or a metal callous remover (which resembles a cheese grater) to slough away dead and calloused skin. Don’t go too deep, as you don’t wish to cut into live skin. It’s okay if you don’t get all of your calluses the first time around. Your feet took a long time to callous. They will likely take a long time to heal.
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After you are satisfied that you have removed enough layers of calluses without damaging fresh and growing skin, then use your favorite moisturizer, rubbed generously into your feet and cover them for the night with a pair of clean white cotton socks. As you sleep, the lotion will stay on your feet better with socks on. This process, given a week or two, should be enough to restore the health of your feet.
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If you wear sandals or go barefoot a lot, be sure to repeat this process once per week to maintain the healthy feet you worked to create. Our bodies lose as much as a pint of fluid per day through our feet. If our feet are in the open air, that fluid will evaporate rather than absorb back into our bodies for proper foot moisture. That’s why summer months tend to cause us more problems with dry feet and calluses than other months.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not grind your callouses all the way to fresh skin. This can lead to painful cuts and bleeding.
