I need to scrub down some cracked calloused areas (lots of walking!) and while I have plenty of nicely scented scrubby stuff, I’m at a loss how best to use it. A terry cloth washcloth seems like it would hold onto all the grit - would it ever get clean? My hands are readily available, but the skin on my palms is too thin and soft.
What do you use? What should I use?
Welp, if you don’t want to use your hands and you don’t have gloves (do you have rubber dishwashing gloves?) then put a baggie over your hand and rub it in. I don’t think it would tear up a baggie.
My advice is to get a pumice stone or similar object and rub your callus while it’s dry. That will scrape off the outermost deadest layers. What’s left you can probably handle with specialized foot moisturizers.
Instead of an actual pumice stone I have one of these. It’s not easy to see in the photo, but it is slightly cupped so it fits naturally around the curves of your heel; and you can use the other side (the convex side) to go after stubborn spots. I’ve had it for months and it still works as well as it did when it was new; the rough surface doesn’t seem to wear off and lose its effectiveness.
There are a lot of callus removal gadgets out there, from motorized wheels to cutters and slicers and pedi-eggs. I haven’t tried them, but most of them seem like overkill, or else scary. Anyway, the key is to use it dry, so it can’t do any damage or tear up your skin. Then moisturize, ideally after a shower or bath.
I live in the tropics, and the calluses don’t cause any pain. When I visit the desert areas of the USA, they crack and bleed. I have been using what looks like a parmesan cheese grater. The instructions say to use on feet that have been soaked. Eventually you get down to live cells. Then keep moisturized.
But i already have tubs of various foot scrubs that folks have given me. I want to know how best to use those?
The problem with gooping some into my palm when I’m standing in the shower and just wipe-scrubbing my heels is that the toughened skin on my feet can stand (heh) up to the treatment far longer than my office workers hands.
I see tons of DIY recipes online for sugar scrubs and such. That’s what I want to use, I just don’t know how to apply it.
Since my shower is the size of a shoebox, I prefer to do my foot scrubbing in bed. I assemble a plastic bowl, a hand towel, a soaked washcloth, and a nice scented foot scrub. I usually squeeze the scrub directly on to the foot, and then scrub thoroughly with the washcloth. Once I’m done with a foot, I toss the washcloth into the bowl, and dry the foot with the towel, removing any remaining grit. I then do the same with the other foot. When both feet are done, I toss the washcloth and the towel into the laundry.
I highly recommend using an Emjoi callus remover. It’s the reason that my feet don’t require excessive scrubbing and feel really soft.
And after writing this out, I think I’m going to give myself a thorough foot treatment.
purplehorseshoe, I use rubber gloves. My office-worker hands can’t take the scrubby bits, either.
I’m a klutz, so when I do use a foot scrub, it’s sitting on the edge of the tub. But I also have mega-calluses, so I use a callus shaver on the worst parts (thank goodness the Interwebs recently told me that I would ZOMG!!! DIE!!! from using it. I’ve been in ignorance of my impending doom for the last 25 years.)
I have one of these, too, and really like it!
I shave the really thick calluses (such as under the metatarsal of my second toe; it’s totally biomechanical), then go over the rest of my feet with the electric remover. It’s especially good for getting to the little weird calluses on the tips of toes or the edges of the big toe. Sweet!
Sugar (and salt) scrubs are good for removing the top layers of dead skin cells, especially the ones that accumulate between and at the base of your toes on top (please tell me mine aren’t the only feet that get grody there!), but they’re not actually much use for removing thick calluses.
The *safest *place to apply it is in or sitting on the edge of the bathtub, and then getting in very carefully. Your feet will be extremely slippery. But as for method of application, I’ve always used my hands (but again, not to get the calluses off of my feet.)
Nah, I walk too much to want to take the callouses off. I just want to smooth out some of the roughest parts, and frankly, use up some of these tubs of “here, you’re female and I’m socially obligated to give you a gift” I have cluttering up my bathroom.
So using a washcloth won’t end up getting the sand/crushed walnut shells/microcrystalline pearls/fossilized unicorn tears (you know, whatever turns it into a “scrub” product) thoroughly ground into the rest of my laundry? OK, good to know - I’ll try that.
pokes bottom of foot with other toes I have that!
I live in the tropics, and when I get a callous, it definitely does hurt.
When I hit my 50s, the bottoms of my feet started turning all hard and scaly. That’s when I learned the wife had some sort of emery board – a block really – used for scrubbing her feet. I started using one too. Available in supermarkets and pharmacies over here.
But I also started getting pedicures regularly. I’d always thought of those as a beauty-shop treatment, but I discovered lot’s of men get them too. My regular barber shop has a mostly male clientele, and it’s common to see some of the guys getting pedicures at any given time. The staff really scrub that skin off. I get one once a month now, and I’d recommend the OP try that.
They use a microplane on my feet at the pedicurist’s. Or, if it’s a particularly bad week, a cheese grater. I’m not even kidding. My feet are disgusting with calluses. (And I have no idea why, nor does my doctor. I don’t go barefoot except indoors. My feet are just determined to grow their own hardsoles.)
Sounds a lot like mine. It was never that way until I hit my 50s. I’m thinking it’s an age thing.