Foot care

[blandana]

How do you deal with hard skin on your feet and how do you make them soft and pretty?
I had this electric foot file thing which was pretty good but wondered what else I can do (inexpensive).

Just went to a private podiatrist for a bit of a tidy up and some advice and she basically said your feet shouldn't be soft really - the hard skin is just your foots protection.
But mine were excessively dry with a lot of hard skin and deep cracks and splits. She said magic is in the motion not the potion - use a decent, but not necessarily premium, moisturizer regularly. I'm using flexitol at night and E45 body moisturiser in the morning. She also said not always be barefoot - wearing socks will help stop feet drying out.
2 weeks in I'm still wearing sandals when out but socks at home, and doing the twice a day as much as possible and splits have healed and the mildest bits are soft again. The heels and ball of foot are still a bit gross looking but I'll persevere!

Agree that feet shouldn’t be totally soft but like you I have (sometimes painful) cracking, especially around the heel.
Had forgotten about flexitol, thanks - used to use that for my rough hands years ago (but don’t have that problem any more, it’s migrated to my feet!).

Profoot Intensive Repair Cracked Heel Cream 60ml - Tesco Groceries
worked for me

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CNPXLJKJ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share&tag=mumsnetapp-21

That foot file and Margaret Dabbs miracle foot cream, transformed my feet in 5 days.

Do you use it when your feet are wet or dry?

I use one of these:

https://nuvebrand.com/en-gb/products/silk-3-pro

It’s fantastic! Makes a huge difference. My feet are incredibly soft and look wonderful. Best thing I’ve ever used - and I’m a bit obsessive since a podiatrist said to me years ago how important it is to look after your feet.

@roseymoiraon dry feet

I use a Glowxie foot file once or twice a week and then Kerasal foot balm once a week at night and a cheap cracked heel cream (just like Flexitol) every night. I also wear socks for bed which helps. Mine are not totally soft and, as I wear flip flops all the time, they can get dry but this routine keeps them nice.

(They look overly red on this picture but they’re not in real life!)

Foot file when feet dry

Any moisturiser containing urea (like flexitol)

Slap on a generous amount of vaseline and put on fluffy socks before bed. Wash off in the morning and feet will feel softer (or at least less dry). If you can be bothered with it, those foot peeling masks also help - be warned that the process of the skin peeling off is pretty gross (and peels for about a week!) but great for getting rid of dead skin.