What are your dry feet hacks?
April 21, 2023 1:40 PM   Subscribe

I am in my fifties and live in a desert. My feet resemble the hooves of a rhinoceros. I'm talking calluses that sprout overnight, popcorn keratosis, and toenails that turn black at the quietest, whispered suggestion. What are your top secret home pedicure tips?

There is no way I am going to make the nice women at the Walmart pedicure booth deal with these nasty hooves.
posted by mecran01 to Health & Fitness (19 answers total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Go to a podiatrist once a quarter, they have seen everything! That makes it much easier to maintain at home with normal soaks and equipment.
posted by The Last Sockpuppet at 1:49 PM on April 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


After you've taken TLS's advice, scrub with a coarse pumice every time you're in the bath/shower. I'd have nasty hooves in a week or so too if I didn't. Bonus, my feet don't get as sweaty if they aren't trapped under layers of callus.
posted by kate4914 at 2:12 PM on April 21, 2023


I've used most of the urea and salicylic acid products, with moderate success. But the best was when I decided to use up a bottle of 40% glycolic acid solution that's sold for facials. It was very cheap at Sally Beauty or someplace. I mixed it with some cheap skin cream from Traders Joe's and did the whole shower/soak/socks thing. It was miraculous. I also dabbed the solution straight from the bottle onto my toenails and later used an emery board to smooth them. Be careful with the toenails though; it works almost too well.

Sadly, I think walking around in sandals with no socks really aggravates your dry and callused feet. If you're going to do it, you will have to moisturize VERY aggressively.
posted by BibiRose at 2:18 PM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


I use Baby Foot peels. You put your feet in plastic booties full of goo for an hour or two, and about a week later, the dead skin on your feet starts coming off in the bath or shower. It doesn't hurt at all, just looks kind of gross for a few days until it's done peeling.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 2:20 PM on April 21, 2023 [8 favorites]


What happens if you make an appointment for an extensive pedicure and then just decide in advance that you'll tip very well?
posted by bluedaisy at 2:25 PM on April 21, 2023


When I lived in the desert I moisturized my feet twice daily and still had to go after them with the microplane thingy every couple of weeks. My callouses stopped when I started wearing socks with slippers pretty much all the time I wasn’t in bed or shoes. The socks were thin, mostly synthetic, highly breathable. The slippers were slipper socks that wrapped everything up to the ankle. Still needed a bit of moisturizer in the winter, but my feet really shaped up.
posted by Ookseer at 2:28 PM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


I'm seconding BibiRose on direct acid. I saw someone suggest anytime you buy an acid product you find too harsh for your face to use it on your heels instead. I've used both 10% lactic acid and 7% glycolic acid from the ordinary, and that plus a layer of aquafor plus socks is gamechanging for me, which I get in the habit of doing it.
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 2:31 PM on April 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


I can't say enough about Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Cream. Slather it on your feet, put on some socks, and go to bed. The next morning—SOFT FEET! (And have no fear if you hate coconut: So do I—it's not a strong scent.)
posted by wisekaren at 3:01 PM on April 21, 2023


This thing is a godsend. I soak in hot water and then use it for a few minutes on each side and finish with this.
posted by dobbs at 3:32 PM on April 21, 2023


About once a week, plug the tub when you shower so your feet can soak in the water. Then gently use a foot file (the kind that has large holes like a cheese grater). Go gentle with the file - You didn’t build those heels overnight and they won’t resolve overnight. Then put a TON of Vaseline on your heels and sleep in socks. Repeat a couple times a month. After every shower put a bit of Vaseline on your feet.

Whatever is making your nails turn black, address that problem- Ill fitting shoes? Are you losing toe sensation? That’s a very important symptom of diabetic neuropathy and if you want to keep your legs, heed it now!!

So if you have diabetic neuropathy or toe tingling or numbness, ignore my advice and go to a foot care specialist. People lose toes from those conditions and they need more than Vaseline!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:53 PM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


I don't use soap in the bath/shower anymore. Switched to baking soda and my feet improved greatly.
posted by falsedmitri at 5:12 PM on April 21, 2023


Oh, yes, yes yes!
You have to try Baby Foot!!!
Watch their videos on YouTube. You will be surprised, amazed, and totally enthralled and disgusted. Do the BF peel, and your hooves will start to sluff within a few days. Wait for it, because after a week or so, you will really be finding chunks and strips of old skin. If you're a picker, it's incredibly satisfying to peel off. The first time I did a BF treatment, it took almost 3 weeks before it was completely done sloughing off, but so worth it. After that, every night slather your feet with your lotions of choice and put socks on. I alternate between Bag Balm, Vaseline Intensive Care, Working Feet--any of the really heavy-duty emollients. Once a week I alternate urea and salicylic acid products with plastic wrap covering it for ten minutes, then scrub with a pumice stone.
I had to use the Baby Foot product a couple times the first year, but this regimen seems to be working to where I only need it about twice a year, as long as I'm spiritual about the lotion and pumice.

(Seriously, watch the videos. Quite entertaining. My skin peeling off looked like the hide coming off a moose.)
posted by BlueHorse at 5:25 PM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


Bubbling sugar scrub from the haus of gloi everytime I shower has made a huge difference. The scrub is aggressive and exfoliaty but still relatively gentle with moisturizing effect. The sugar scrub smells are really excellent as well which I say as a person who generally hates perfumed products. Quite cost effective compared to other magical potions/goos I've purchased previously. The routine is fast/easy and because I like the product I am consistent about using it which also helps maintaining.

I've definitely tried similar products even with pumice stones and haven't had nearly the same results.
posted by countrymod at 6:21 PM on April 21, 2023


Yes on starting with a very thorough pedicure from a podiatrist, not a booth at Walmart. Choose someone whose price list includes at least three different methods of dealing with serious ingrown toenails, that's my usual tell-tale that it's a podiatrist for people with problem feet and not someone who took a week's course. They might advertise for diabetics (hygienic foot care is very important for diabetics who lose feeling in their feet due to neuropathy). They will have seen much, much worse and will appreciate someone with clean feet who wants to actually learn how to take care of them.

And I'll let you in on a secret from my podiatrist. Once the initial calluses are filed down, get a propolis ointment or cream. Not the facial cream kind, but the heavy kind advertised for helping with wound care. Since you mentioned Walmart, this salve looks about right, unless you have a local beekeeper who makes their own. Propolis is magic on softening skin, just put it on your feet immediately before putting on socks and the calluses plain won't reappear.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 10:17 PM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


I live in a dry climate and have hereditary calluses. My son does, too. We just flat-out use a lemon zester on a regular basis (on dry, non-showered feet). I read that foot models use vaseline, so I slather my feet with vaseline after each shower, and it's effective.
posted by SageTrail at 5:48 AM on April 22, 2023


Response by poster: I was sort of worried about posting this question, thinking I would just be told to use lotion. This is the most weirdly useful and informative set of answers I have seen in a while. You folks are hard core! Thank you!

We just flat-out use a lemon zester on a regular basis (on dry, non-showered feet). I read that foot models use vaseline

Practical, and hilarious! I think part of me realized that foot models were a thing, but maybe I never really believed it.
posted by mecran01 at 7:45 AM on April 22, 2023 [3 favorites]


I think this Flexitol Heel Balm is what I use - it has both lanolin and urea (and lots of other stuff) - and it has changed the game for me. I put it on after a shower and put socks on until it absorbs. I don't need to scrub my feet every single day like I used to. Nor do I need the foot peel things anymore.
posted by evening at 9:30 AM on April 23, 2023 [1 favorite]


If you get a painful crack or other opening (such as from overaggressive treatment of a callus), apply petroleum jelly. If it's a crack, use a toothpick to get the PJ down in there. Cover with an nonabsorbing occlusive dressing* that will keep the wound from drying out; keep that in place for at least 12 hours.

*This could be a bandaid where you seal the sides with tape. The shiny, nonabsorbing pad on a bandaid is sold as Telfa pads which you can get at any drugstore in various sizes and cut to need. I use Singer's little sewing scissors for that. 3M's Nexcare gentle paper tape is great. 2 inch Hypafix tape is also great.
posted by neuron at 12:04 PM on April 23, 2023


I had awful feet for years. Painful calluses. Fissures. I tried heel balms, pumice, soaks. The things that really seemed to turn it around for me (after literal years of trying) was plain old CeraVe, applied after showering, and occasional use of a shitty rotary callus grinder (Own Harmony was the brand I bought). I had tried so many foot-specific remedies with very little success. But the CeraVe seemed to show dramatic results within a very short period of time. I’d used it for a long time on my dry shins, but not on my feet. What can I say? Shit’s got devil magic in it.
posted by thinman at 8:18 PM on May 21, 2023


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