FOOT WARE - Winterize Your Sole

02-07-10 | Posted by Dorene Kaplan

As one of the most active parts of your body, your feet are programmed to take a beating from wearing heels, trekking on sidewalks, and waking bare foot on hard wood floors. Dry, cold weather makes it much worse and contributes to calluses, cracked heels and dead cell buildup.

Best bet for cracking, callused soles is exfoliation daily or every other day, to avoid dead skin from building up.

Soak your feet in warm water and throw in some soothing lavender or rosemary oil for about 10 minutes.
After your feet have soaked, use a pumice stone to smooth out small mounds of dead skin, being careful not to rub off healthy skin in the process
For thicker, rough areas, use a callus filer
Rinse feet and towel dry
Apply some emollient foot cream
Repeat as necessary as buildup recurs

Finally, nothing beats Vaseline for super dry feet. To wake up with soft soles, smooth some on and put on cozy socks overnight so your feet can absorb the moisturization.

FOOT TREATMENTS ON TRIAL

*All of these were purchased

DDF Pedi-Cream – Infused with spearmint oil and refreshing menthol, and uber sloughing glycolic acids, this cream doubles as an exfoliant and leaves feet smooth and soft with regular use. Around $32.

Dr Scholl’s for Her Smooth My Soles Micro File – A step up from the Ped Egg, but far from brilliant. We loved the pretty pink plastic container that looks like a computer mouse, but the stainless Â file is too gentle to really work and the thin strips supposed to file away dead skin are less effective than a nail file. $10.99 but we sayÂ Pass.

Tweezerman Pink Travel Pedro Callus Stone – Petite so you can bring it along, and a nice oval shape to smooth away calluses, cracked heels and bunions. $12 but well worth it.

Amlactin Foot Cream Therapy – Loaded with alpha hydroxy acids for effective exfoliation and therapy for cracking heels, also makes a great product for rough elbows. Â Around $10.99

Neutrogena Norwegian Formula – The same rich cold weather formula for your hands, but thicker and stonger for your winter worn feet, and at a price you cannot beat. Around $4.49

Burt’s Bees Coconut Foot Creme – Like a pina colada, this delicious creme smells like your feet are taking you away for a quick trip to a tropical island, with a little peppermint oil thrown in to wake up your tootsies too. Â Around $8.99

L’Occitane Lavender Harvest Relaxing Foot Cream – Great for relieving stress and exhausting, this light cream relaxes tired feet with calming lavender essential oil and refreshing menthol. Aaahhh – you’ll be addicted. Around $20.