With pool and sandal season in full swing, exposing your bare feet to other folks is bound to happen sooner or later. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a guy or a gal, dry cracked feet and heels are embarrassing.
Let them go too long and they can become painful, too.
Don’t worry, a bunch of other folks are hiding their unsightly tootsies too. It’s a common problem. In fact, experts say around 20 percent of US adults, or 44 million of us, have struggled with cracked skin on our feet.
When the skin on your feet becomes too dry it’s more likely to crack. But some folks are more prone to the problem.
And certain factors can increase your risk including…
- being overweight
- frequently wearing open backed shoes or sandals
- having psoriasis or eczema
- standing on hard surfaces for long periods of time
- being diabetic
- having frequent fungal infections
But regardless of what’s behind your own foot woes this can be the year you finally win your battle.
3 food cures for your dry cracked feet
Following are three surprisingly effective, skin-smoothing cures you can whip up in your own kitchen.
1. Banana:
As strange as it sounds, bananas are a fantastic way to restore softness to your feet.
Banana is a natural, gentle exfoliator. The enzymes in the fruit help slough away the dead skin cells on the surface of your feet, leaving silky soft skin behind.
Toss two to three ripe or overripe bananas in the blender (or mash them in a bowl if you prefer). Wash your feet in warm water and dry them with a soft towel.
Smooth the banana paste onto the soles of your feet, concentrating on any visibly dry or cracked areas such as your heels. Leave the paste on for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse with lukewarm water.
Prefer to eat your banana instead? No problem, just don’t toss that peel.
It turns out you can help restore softness to your feet with the peel alone! Simply rub the inside of the banana peel over your dry spots, and leave on for 15 to 20 minutes before rinsing.
If your feet are extra dry, you can increase the exfoliating power of your mashed banana by adding in a handful of oats or a sprinkle of sugar or coarse salt.
2. Vinegar:
A foot soak made of white vinegar and water can work wonders on dry, crusty, cracked feet.
The mild acetic acid in the vinegar gently softens your feet. Simply mix together ¾ cup cool or lukewarm water (hot water tends to dry out skin), with ¼ cup white vinegar and soak your feet for 10 to 15 minutes. Double the recipe if needed.
Any dry skin that’s left behind will typically rub right off. Follow up with your favorite moisturizer, and a pair of soft cotton socks.
You can soak your feet up to three times a week, but don’t overdo it because soaking too often can actually dry skin out.
3. Olive oil and lemon juice:
If you have a bottle of olive oil and a lemon on hand, you have all you need to make a super-moisturizing overnight treatment that will leave your feet feeling silky soft in the morning.
Mix together three to five tablespoons olive oil and a teaspoon of lemon juice. Gently massage the oil over your feet, concentrating on your heels, and any other dry spots.
Slide your feet into a pair of soft cotton socks and let the olive oil sit overnight. Rinse your feet in the morning. And follow up with your favorite exfoliating foot scrub if you like. This will remove any excess dry skin, which should slide off easily now.
No lemon juice in the house? No worries, substitute white vinegar instead. For extra moisturizing power, add in a small dollop of honey.
Quit struggling with dry cracked feet. Use these effective homemade cures to restore your feet to pool or sandal ready softness.
She is an advocate of self-education and is passionate about the power of group knowledge sharing, like the kind found right here on HealthierTalk.com. Alice loves to share her views on holistic and natural healing as well as her, sometimes contentious, thoughts on the profit-driven inner workings of traditional medicine.
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