How Do You Wash Your Feet in the Shower?

Because, true story. When I was younger, and, yes, stronger, more agile (you get the picture :wink: ), I had a method. I’d hop on one leg, as I did the other foot, of course. How I never broke my neck I still don’t know.

Anyways, I have arthritis in my lower limbs now too, which would make that method quite impractical, if not impossible. But I found quite an effective solution. I cross my one leg over the other (think of how men, not women, cross their legs when they sit). [Unnecessarily criticism anticipation: no, women can use this shower method. The male leg crossing reference was purely a body position description. Okay :slightly_smiling_face: ?]

For some reason it gives me the stability I need, not to fall. I think it also helps if I lean against the wall. But hey it works!

How do you wash your feet when you shower :slightly_smiling_face: ?

Now a couple more things. You always have to be careful in the shower, obviously, IAE. And my method may not work for all. And for goodness sake, get a rubber bath mat, whether in the tub or shower. Or else you just might break your neck.

:slightly_smiling_face:

I sit on the very conveniently place shower bench.

It’s taking up floor space in the shower, I may as well get the use out of it.

I can’t picture this. When you say “hop”, did you literally jump in the air so that none of your body was touching the tub? Why was that necessary?

If you mean that you were standing on one leg, and the foot of the other leg is now close enough to your groin that you can reach it and wash it, then that’s exactly what I’ve done my whole life (including the part about sometimes leaning against the wall).

Another idea that I use sometimes - but only in a tub and not in a stall - is to rest the foot on the edge of the tub.

A few years ago, I’d lean against a wall while raising one leg up to wash it. Now that I have Parkinson’s instead of balance, I use a shower chair to wash my lower legs and feet. Because I can’t reliably stay upright with my eyes closed, I also wash my face and hair while seated. Then I stand up to wash everything else. Yes, I have grab rails in the shower, too.

@Keeve I didn’t hop on purpose. But as I lost my balance, I had a tendency to do that. I was just trying to give the fullest picture possible :wink: .

@AskNott Yeah, I sometimes take a shower-bath too, if that’s what you mean. My mother was actually the one who introduced me to that, when I started cleaning myself as older child. :slightly_smiling_face:

I don’t wash my feet in the shower, but they do get a soapy rinse from the other parts of my body that I do wash.

If I wanted to wash my feet, we have a nice bench I could sit on in the shower, but the tile is cold if I don’t intentionally heat it up with a jet of hot water.

When I want to specifically wash my feet I sit on the edge of the tub and use the sprayer attachment to rinse them. That way I don’t have to worry about falling and breaking my neck.

I also use the trickle-down theory.

Hold on to the hand rail and hike the foot up.

I stand on one leg. All that yoga is useful for something finally.

One arm/hand against the wall for balance. Then I lift foot up and wash that. Then do the other one.

Yessir. Anything below the knee is on its own.

mmm

PSA, for the trickle down people: that’s not cleaning anything. Please wash all of your parts, especially the stinky bits.

I do the leg crossing maneuver, myself. Now that I’m over 50, I do it while holding on to the shower bar/handle I installed for one of my mother’s visits a few years ago.

My feet wash my feet.

For my left foot I place my left hand high up on the shower wall for stability and then lift my left foot placing the heel above my right kneecap and use my right hand to wash it.
Completely opposite for other foot.

Evidence, not just assertion, please. My feet look and smell fine, have not been washed to my knowledge in decades.

Same. My feet are fine. The worse thing they get is sweaty, and a soapy rinse does the trick (as far as I can tell). I do soak them in a hot tub a few times a week, and keep the chemicals at high enough levels to allay any concerns.

Foot chemistry varies from person to person. My feet stay pretty odor-free unless I’m wearing shoes for long periods of time doing heavy activity in high temperatures. And even then it doesn’t take long for them to stop smelling bad if I air them out a bit. And yet I’ve known people who have feet that stink all of the time.

I have naturally oily hair and face and I think that makes up for my feet. I very rarely wash my feet and generally don’t have to. I do give attention to my feet almost every night, because I’ve found as I got older they have a tendency to dry and eventually peel/crack, so I will exfoliate them and put moisturizers on them regularly. (If I don’t, they will eventually get bad enough to bleed and my toes feel like I have splinters in them.) I also keep my toenails clean and trim. Otherwise my feet are in pretty good shape without needing to be cleaned.

I’ve also never had any kind of foot fungus, etc. I just don’t need it. Everything knees-up is scrubbed and washed.

I bend over.