This is sort of a carry-over from my sticky fingers thread.
As I was typing it asking for suggestions regarding hot or cold packs, I started thinking of the other things that I could use some suggestions on.
Not to use for giving medical advice for serious conditions, but. . . . Well, let me just ask:
I love to go barefoot even in the snowy, freezing, Utah winters. I take the garbage out barefoot through 3 feet of snow. I love it.
Now that it is summer, the heels of my feet are starting to get really gross. The hot gravel road that I need to walk down to get my mail (I live in the country) really tears up my feet.
I cake on the lotion and even George Strait’s (OMG, baaaaaaaaa-beeeeeeeeeey) Udder Creme made for cows (really :)) but nothing seems to work 100 percent.
Don’t suggest wearing socks over lotion soaked feet over night. I have my feet warm and I always rip the socks off in my sleep.
Anyone know a less painful way to pluck eyebrows? Ice cubes don’t seem to work well.
Don’t know about your feet, but when you pluck your eyebrows pull the skin very tight. You can do this is small areas, just where you are working. Seems to work good for me, my friend learned it in beauty school.
Wqait a minute, I just thought of something for your feet. Try Corn Huskers Lotion. My Mom used to use it for exactly the same reason. Find it in the drug store, or maybe a farm supply. Check out the top or very bottom shelves.
I think I have used that a long time ago. Is it almost clear and a little runny? If so, I remember liking it a lot, I guess I had just forgotten about it.
I’ll try the eyebrow thing. My daughter’s friend who is in beauty school said that they taught them that drinking apple juice right before a wax or plucking helps dull the pain. I can’t imagine how.
I’ll try that tomorrow morning when I take a shower.
BTW - How do you know this?
True story - I used to hang out with a lot of bikers when I was a teenager and then into my 20’s, in fact, I married one. My wedding line included a few members of a motorcycle club.
Anyhooooow. . . . There was this chick named Cat who was married to a club member. I couldn’t stand either one of them and in fact, another good friend of mine killed Cat’s husband in self defense. Long story.
Freaky Cat was an addict, weighted about 80 pounds, covered in tattoos and had shaved her eyebrows off and had a 1/4" solid black line tattooed across her forehead like this [
LOL about the eyebrow line. Now that would scare me!
Thank you! Heheh. Well, the foot thing has always been a thing for me. I was in the army for seven years and hated wearing damn boots every day. They really kick your feet’s asses! Lots of scrubbing with the pumice stone works wonders, and you actually get used to that scraping after a while. You shouldn’t need it as much, but I know about the barefoot thing. I am addicted to barefoot!
As for the eyebrow plucking, I have plucked my own and have had mine plucked before, so… Hey, good eyebrows are essential! Unfortunately, I have been lax with mine and have had no “eyebrow artist” to hook me up. That will be changing very soon thank god!
I pumice mine all the time, I’m the same way Diane. And I absolutely love Udder Cream. Put loads of the stuff on and then put on a pair of socks. I sleep in mine, but some folks can’t sleep in socks.
Okay, okay, you drew me back in with the pumice stone. Skip that. Where would you find one, anyway? Haven’t seen one for years.
What is nice, feels great, relaxing, all that, is a good soak in Epsom salts and fairly hot water. When the water starts cooling too much, take your feet out, dry them, and rub all the excess skin away with a massage and Pretty Hands & Feet. Bonus: your athlete’s foot won’t know what hit it.
Plucking/shaving/tatooing/electrolysising eyebrows is just gross and unneeded. Even unibrows are cute.
Remember that we are on this planet to cause pain for others, not ourselves.
For eyebrows, I go for the wax… large amounts of hair gone in one swipe, takes about 1/4 of the time it takes to pluck the same amount of hair, and once I’m done, I put a cold washcloth on my brow for about 10 minutes, and I’m ok. I’ve been doing this for about 5 years or so, so there is also the added benefit of the hair starting to grow in lighter, hence it’s less painful.
Dropzone’s got the right idea of the soaking in Epsom salts and the pumice stone–I do it too, since I get pretty bad feet, as I’m on my feet quite a bit. I use Garden Botanika’s Alpha-Hydroxy Peppermint Foot Lotion. Works a charm. Also, if you can, every once in a while, take a little trip to the beauty parlor and get a pedicure–they’re trained to deal with feet like that, and can get them pretty nice looking.
That ambesol works good on your eyebrows. You know that stuff your supposed to put on your gums to numb the pain? Use it on your eyebrows.
For the feet follow these steps:
Soak your feet in warm water mix in some foot bath salts or if you have none simply use epsom salts. (If you wish to clip your toenails you do that before you do this)
Using a pumice stone or even a foot scrub (both of which you can pick up in any beauty section of your local grocery store… at least mine here or go to someplace like the Body Shop) you scrub your feet to take off as much dead skin as possible.
Dunk your feet to wash them off and if nescessary repeat 2.
Using whatever lotion you prefer massage it into your feet using circular motions or however you feel it feels best.
And there you go. Then repeat as nescessary. And if you want to paint your toenails swipe a cotton ball with nail polish remover over the nails (so you get the lotion off them) then apply.
Avon has a line of products for your feet. Lotions, soaks, pumice stones, etc. They work wonders.
As for eyebrows, I pluck mine right after I get out of the shower and I put my finger over the hair I’m about to pull out and press my finger into my eyebrow while pulling the hair. It really dulls the pain. There are some special kinds of tweezers that you can buy too that are supposed to make plucking “pain free.” (If there is such a thing when it comes to plucking eyebrows.) I saw these tweezers on Oprah a long time ago but can’t remember what they’re called or where you can get them.
Eyebrow plucking advice by Shirley. Either right after a hot shower or put as warm as you can stand it wet wash cloth on the eyebrows, then pluck. Warm water opens up the pour and makes it less painful.
Or, do what I do, pluck while taking a hot bath. I give myself a mud mash/scrub (its a 2 in 1) and pluck the brows while that does whatever it does. Then I just may use a cuticle cream and repair the damage to my nails.
I have to second the Utter Cream. My mom, knowing of my OCD for hand cream, is always on the look out for the stuff that I’ll like that is affordable. She just gave me a tube of it and I just love it. I’m having a hard time finding anywhere.
As for the feet. My husband has really nasty scaley, rough feet. Once in a great while he will slather on the vaseline on his feet and sleep with socks on. But since he is a guy, he doesn’t give much thought into body maintenence. This paragraph is totally useless. Please ignore.
[vague thought] I read somewhere that (something like) vicks Vapo-rub stuff is suppose to be great for dry scaley feet. The article didn’t list exactly *why * and I’ve never read anything else on that before or since. Any one else read anything about that? [/vague thought]
If you have really dry skin, one of the best moisturizers out there is CRISCO. ( Not the butter flavored one or the dog will never leave you alone.) I use it as lip creme and hand creme in a pinch. ( I hate dry hands.) This tidbit came from my mom’s dermatologist.
Another thought that just crossed my mind about your feet:
Slather your feet with something like petroleum jelly, then do an apricot scrub and rinse off with warm water. ( You don’t have to buy special foot creme. ) I highly recommend the largest and cheapest tube/container of apricot scrub you can get ( I think it’s Freemans or Swiss Formula. My husband calls it “Sand in a Can” ) Hell, sand will work just the same way.This little trick I do with my hands every once in a while.
You just may want to see a podiatrist because you may have an infection or just serious dry foot skin and a cortisone creme will probably clear it up. I think it would be worth one visit to a Doctor.
For my feet I use one of those “swedish” foot scrubbers you can get in the foot care section of a drugstore. It looks like a really big nail file with a plastic handle. I believe it’s made by Dr. Scholl’s. At the end of my shower I just sit down and scrub; then rinse, dry, and moisturize. It’s exactly what they use whenever I get a pedicure.
For eyebrows, I suggest you get a professional waxing first, then the upkeep is so much easier (just a few stray hairs). It helps if you make a habit of it too, I check for strays every day after I get out of the shower. Oh, and get a good pair of slant-tip tweezers.
Another hearty endorsement for pumice stones, even though I totally disgraced myself in a Walgreen’s once over them–but that’s another story…
Soak, soak, soak; run the tub full and let the dreary day wash away. When your feet are soft and pruney looking, rub 'em w/ the stone. The dead skin and calluses will come right off.
FWIW, fergit the expensive bath soaks, unless you enjoy the fragrances, etc. Run a few cups of oatmeal–plain ol’ oatmeal–through a food processor and sprinkle it into the tub. (Yes, rinse the tub well after use. Do not add yeast.) Honest to god, it’s the best thing you’ll ever do for your skin.
As far as the lotion thing goes, a local pharmacist makes up a truly spiffy mixture of olive oil, aloe and some other stuff I don’t know. FWIW, I avoid petroleum jelly, because it supposedly has some long-term health implications. Besides, it’s slick/icky/greasey beyond belief.
I never thought of Crisco, but it’d probably work. For serious winter alligator skin I soak a bunch, then use a titch of safflower oil; it isn’t quite as odiferous as olive oil.
It’s slightly off topic, but check out a great series of books called The Doctor’s Book of Home Remedies. Some of the titles are pretty specialized now, but they’re honestly great (published by Prevention Magazine, IIRC). I found the oatmeal thing there when an annoying rash wouldn’t go away and I was close to bankruptcy from doctor’s visits. Great commonsense stuff.
For Udder Cream (Bag Balm),Corn Huskers Lotion, pumice stones and other such old-timey ( read as usefull) stuff try the Vermont Counrty Store catalog. I don’t think they have awebsite, but if you need it, I can try to find the phone #.
Thank you! Heheh. Well, the foot thing has always been a thing for me. I was in the army for seven years and hated wearing damn boots every day. They really kick your feet’s asses!