Treat Your Feet... Its a Requirement!!!!

This blog post is the result of numerous twitpics, tweets and comments regarding BAD FEET. While we are not all fortunate enough to treat ourselves to periodic spa pedi's, there are plenty of cheap and easy ways to manage the condition of the skin on your feet. Here are just a few simple home remedies that will make even the most difficult feet presentable. Men, you can benefit from these tips as well!

The first step to decent feet is a good soak. Soaks are necessary to soften the cuticles, dead skin and callouses that form on the feet. You can find plenty of ingredients for a good soak right in your kitchen cabinet. Although I've never tried it myself, I've been told a mix of apple cider vinegar and warm water does an excellent job of priming the skin. Mix the vinegar and water in equal parts and soak your feet for 15-20 minutes. Be sure the water is warm, not hot. Hot water is drying to the skin. This soak has also been known to cure athlete's foot.

Following the soak, use a loofa sponge, pumice stone or foot rasp to scrub the dead skin from your feet. Now would be a good time to also use a homemade salt or sugar scrub. Try brown sugar or sea salt with olive oil. I think a good ratio is 3:1 sugar/salt:oil but feel free to play around with the ratio until you get a texture that you like (or need). Here's a tip: Never use a or let anyone else use a credo blade to remove the dead skin from your feet. It removes far too many layers of skin both healthy and dead. As with any healing process, the skin will come back more tough and thicker than before. The result is similar to the development of a scab when a cut or scrape is healing.

After a good scrubbing, your feet could benefit from a mask and a great moisturizer. A mixture of oatmeal, honey and olive oil makes a great mask to soothe and moisturize the skin. The key is to make it thick so that it sticks to your feet for awhile. Rinse feet with warm water and follow with your favorite lotion. Wear a pair of white cotton socks for awhile to lock in the moisture.

A little daily TLC for your tootsies will go a long way in preventing those embarassing "kicking flour" moments. My best advice is to keep a pumice stone and/or foot rasp in the shower right next to your razor.

Bad feet can ruin the hottest strappy stilettos and that's not glamorous at all!

Here's to the glam life!