Did you know that certain points on your foot correspond with a particular part of your body, so when you massage your foot in a certain way, you are actually benefiting other parts of your body? At least that's what the Chinese medicine technique of Reflexology believes.
Either way, this clearly delineates the importance of treating your feet better. Unfortunately, too many Americans are walking around in shoes that are too tight for them, with damaged skin on their soles, and other foot problems.
If you are suffering from dry skin on your feet, here are some tips to repair that damage and get your feet back to health again.
Use a Pumice Stone on Your Feet
Depending on how damaged the skin on your feet is, you might want to skip this step. If your skin isn't too damaged, then you can still use a pumice stone to restore your feet's glow.
In this case, you would soak your feet in lukewarm, soapy water for up to 20 minutes. This will help soften up all those calluses and hard areas on your foot. Once that's done, you can use a pumice stone to rub at the hard thick areas, so you can exfoliate and remove them.
Finally, you would pat your feet dry and then apply a thick deep moisturizing foot salve on your feet. Put on socks so your feet have a chance to soak up all that moisturizing goodness, and fall asleep with them on.
When you wake up in the morning, you will notice that your feet are much softer and less dry and damaged.
Soak Your Feet in Apple Cider Vinegar or Other Foot Soaks
Another thing you could do to repair damaged skin on your feet is to use natural or herbal foot soaks. There are so many different mixes of foot soak you can use here, so get creative with it. We share some ideas below to get you started:
Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) - Put 1 cup of ACV into a foot basin filled with lukewarm water and soak for 10-20 minutes. You should feel a deep relaxation and it should be easier to exfoliate any damaged or hard skin on your feet after.
Epsom Salts - If you have tired and achy feet, then add 1/2 cup of Epsom salts to a foot basin filled with lukewarm water and feel your tiredness seep away. You can also add your favorite essential oils (like lavender) to help with further relaxation.
Coconut oil - When you feel like your feet would love to get some extra moisturizing in, and you have some free time, then put several tablespoons of coconut oil or jojoba oil into a foot basin filled with water and soak your feet in this concoction.
There are many other items you could add to a foot soak like colloidal oatmeal, baking soda, or tea tree oil. It depends on what relief you are searching for exactly, as that will dictate the foot soak you end up using.
Try a Foot-Specific Salve
The great thing about the marketplace right now is that there is a remedy for everything that ails you. And that applies to dry and damaged feet as well. You can use these foot-specific salves, called Happie Toes, to restore skin damage on your feet.
It has a divine mixture of ingredients, like kokum butter, peppermint oil, and tea tree oil, that not only works great but smells amazing.
Some great benefits you can look forward to:
- Healing skin fissures
- Regenerating your damaged skin
- Keeping your feet soft and smooth
- Getting rid of or reducing calluses and hard thick skin
- Fighting bacteria and healing inflammation
You can also use these foot-specific salves on any other part of the body that needs that extra moisturizing love.
Go to a Foot Specialist if Nothing Else Works
If you have a buildup of calluses and hard thick skin on your feet, you might be tempted to take a pair of scissors or a blunt knife and start cutting away the dead, dry skin. It's never a good idea to do this on your own.
Have you tried all the remedies presented above and are still having issues with your skin damage? Then it's time to call in the specialists. Visit a foot doctor and have them take a look at your feet.
It could be that you have some other more serious ailment that's troubling your body, which is manifesting itself in your feet. As your feet are a barometer of the health of the body, you can use dry skin as a signpost to start investigating your body's health a bit more.
The foot doctor might also notice imbalances in other parts of your body, like your hip or knee alignment, that could be causing your feet to have imbalances as well. This could be the reason you have dry damaged skin on your feet.
Another cause could be that your feet are repetitively rubbing against tight-fitting or ill-fitting shoes and that's causing them to develop dry and damaged skin. These are all things that a foot doctor will see as soon as they start examining your feet and they can then suggest remedies that you wouldn't have thought of yourself.
Repair Damaged Skin with a Bit of Loving Care
We are all so used to ignoring our feet and treating them with nary care. That's why so many of us end up with foot troubles sooner rather than later.
If you take a bit of time to heal and repair damaged skin on your feet, it will repay great dividends.
Are you also looking for relief from chafing and blister prevention? Check out Squirrel's Nut Butter and their collection of anti-chafing salves. This is especially useful if you are an athlete who is tired of painful skin damage from chafing.
