Natural Remedy For Cracked Heels? A Pinterest Experiment!

foot scrub

Remember? Back when you were little, when you never cared about your skin. Sunscreen and lotions were things Mom worried about and you could not have cared less. Fast forward to today. As unaware as I WAS about my skin then is now, conversely, how aware I am of my skin now. I have sunscreen in my makeup; moisturizers in my sunscreen… and a semi-complicated skin-care regime. That being said, I am still the worst to my feet.

I wish I had the time, money, or energy to get pedicures on the reg, but I don’t. Yesterday was the first day of Spring which means that sandal/flip-flop season is coming up. I’ve begun to be conscious of how bad my feet were looking. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to health and beauty, and on it I have several pins devoted to “Cracked Heel Remedies” touting to “Take the Dead Skin Off- Soften Your Feet.” I read through all of them. One involved shaving cream and Listerine, which I guess works with the menthol in the shaving cream and the alcohol in the Listerine? I don’t know. But when I suggested Jojo get in on this Pinterest Experiment with me this past Saturday night, he immediately nixed the shaving cream/Listerine pitch. We settled on another pin suggestion that seemed a little more natural to us. The pin took us to Home Remedies For You.com

 

To get rid of the dry skin on your heels, you should exfoliate your feet on a regular basis. Avoid harsh cosmetic exfoliating scrubs and instead you can make your own gentle and natural scrub with honey, apple cider vinegar, and rice flour. You will fist have to grind a handful of rice until your get a fine but coarse flour. After that, add a few spoons of raw honey to the mixture along with enough apple cider vinegar to obtain a thick paste. If the cracks are very deep, you can add a spoon of olive oil or sweet almond oil to the paste. Soak your feet for 20 minutes and then gently massage them with this paste. The vinegar in this cracked heel treatment will help to dissolve the thickened layers of dead skin while the rice flour will gently abrade the top layer of dead skin. Honey and olive oil act as natural moisturizers and will help to keep the skin on your feet soft and moisturized and this will prevent further cracking.

 

Sounded easy enough… especially since I know that grinding rice in your coffee grinder scoured the grinder– cleaning and deodorizing it. Double win. We followed the above instructions and added extra olive oil, hoping for a miracle. I ran a bath, lit a candle, turned off the lights, put the White Noise App on my phone on “Ocean” and we soaked our feet for twenty minutes. Which is always nice. It was great to have a 20 minute spa oasis in the middle of a hectic weekend and it felt like a treat. After 20 minutes had elapsed, we both applied the paste to our feet vigorously. After leaving the paste on for 5 minutes, we rinsed off our feet. Right out of the tub, my feet felt super greasy and I worried that this was going to be a repeat of the Pam/Cooking Lubricant fiasco. After toweling my foot fingers off, things were much better… except I had an oily towel. But, whatevs. Were our feet super soft? Oh yeah. Were the cracks on my heels impacted? Eh. I guess I should have expected this with words like “gentle and natural” in the description. I have no idea what the benefits of A.C.V. and honey are on the skin… but I suspect the softness of my skin had more to do with the soaking and moisturizing/paying attention to my feet for 30 minutes part. So, is this a good, natural alternative to stuff in the stores? Probably. Though, I may need to upgrade to the harder stuff before I bust out my summer sandals. Any recommendations?

At her finest

 

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Leigh

6 Comments

  1. Just buy a pumice stone and go to town on those heals once per week in the shower. Lotion on them every night before bed. They will look better in a few weeks 🙂

  2. Ken uses an actual foot file, like a Ped Egg, but it has a long handle so you can do it while you’re standing after your morning shower. He’s tried all kinds of cracked heel creams, but the file is the only thing that really seems to work.

  3. I guess this is just the post I needed to quit being in denial about my cracking, grody heels. And you’re right! Sandal season is coming….Thanks for the tips. I’ll get right on it.

  4. Yeah. I’ve actually got an awesome pumice bar called, “Mr. Pumice”… but I wanted a magical solution… something where I don’t have to balance precariously on one leg in the shower while I super scrub. I had visions of the dead skin just sloughing off with the brisk rubdown from the towel. *sad trombone* And those files always kind of scare me. I know at the pedicure places in Georgia the ladies use this apparatus with a razor blade for callouses and heals and stuff. Its always kind of scared me and I know that they aren’t legal in all states. Additionally, I read that using them causes your skin to grow back tougher. Any body got any details! Thanks for the comments, ladies! Love discussions!

  5. i use an oprah tip: stridex pads and eucerin mositurizing creme
    rub a stridex pad over the dry areas (it acts as an exfoliant) and then follow up with a liberal application of the eucerin creme. apply socks.
    i do this before bed everynight for about 5 nights, depending on how bad the heels are. works wonders!

    • I went directly to the store and bought Oxy pads (Target didn’t HAVE Stridex!!!) and Eucerin crème. If it’s good enough for Oprah… 🙂 This sounds like a post follow-up to me! Will start the regimen tonight! Thanks, Jennie!

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