How to Properly Exfoliate Your Feet at Home

So you want to learn how to exfoliate your feet at home? Perhaps you’re wondering what the different methods of exfoliating your feet are or how often you can do it. Keep reading, because we have you covered.

 

Why Exfoliate Feet

Some reasons to exfoliate your feet are:

1. You Want Softer Skin

When you exfoliate your feet, you’re eliminating the dead skin cells clinging to your feet. You’ll also scrub your foot’s hard surfaces off, leaving you with soft feet.

2. You Want Healthier Feet

Feet are frequently one of the body’s first points where you might notice warning signs of various health problems. They’ll hint towards signs of things like:

• Diabetes
• Arthritis
• Vascular disease

By having routine pedicures done to exfoliate your feet at nail salons, it will allow you to have a specialist observe your feet who could potentially see any of these warning signs. Not to mention, the more exfoliating you do, the more massaging your feet will receive. Foot massages help stimulate the flow of blood, which could lead to reduced foot pain.

3.You Want to Remove Dead Skin

When you exfoliate your feet, it helps to remove dead skin cells that are clinging to your feet.

 

Different Methods for Exfoliating

There are various methods when learning how to exfoliate your feet, including using:

Pumice

It’s easy to learn how to exfoliate feet with pumice! Pumice stones are popular tools for foot care for a reason. The small pieces of volcanic, porous rock are ideal to scrub calluses and dead skin away without damaging your skin and creating more issues than what you started with.

Scrubs

What do you use to scrub your feet? How about trying a baking soda foot scrub? You can soothe your feet and eliminate dull skin after a long day by soaking your feet in a baking soda bath. Dissolve a few tablespoons of baking soda in a basin of warm water. You can then gently scrub your feet afterward with a baking soda paste.

Foot Soak

If you’re wondering what to soak feet in to remove dead skin, you might want to consider a foot soak. An efficient way of rejuvenating your feet and helping to break dead foot skin down is by soaking your feet in a soothing foot soak. The warm water seeps into the cracks of your feet, helping to loosen the dead skin cells. Add a skin-softening agent, say coconut oil, and you’ll experience an even greater effect.

Creams

There are a few great foot creams available that could help you eliminate those unwanted dead skin cells. Podiatrists often recommend AmLactin Foot Cream which contains lactic acid combined with ingredients that eat through dead skin and leave your foot skin supple and soft. These ingredients are:

• Sodium lactate
• Potassium
• Ammonium hydroxide

Foot Peels

Foot peels are also a great home remedy for smoothing your feet and removing dead skin. One good one is Baby Foot Peel. You simply put on plastic booties containing a gel fruit acid solution and other moisturizers and leave them on for about an hour. They help shed your feet of dead skin.

 

What Can Cause Dry Feet?

The following daily factors might cause dry skin on your feet:

• Irritation: When you stand for too long or wear shoes that fit poorly it could put constant pressure on certain areas of your feet, causing skin friction. This can lead to those feet areas becoming calloused, dry, or cracked.
• A lack of moisture: Cracked, dry, and flaking skin is particularly common on the sole and heel since these areas don’t have as many oil glands as other skin found on the rest of your body.
• Humidity and heat: Closed shoes like boots and sneakers create a very humid and hot environment for your feet. Humidity and heat draw moisture from your skin, leading to thick, dry, or cracked foot areas.
• Aging: Your skin loses its ability to retain water over time and becomes less plump and thinner. Older individuals might be more likely of experiencing dry skin due to the natural aging process.
• Soaps: Body washes and soaps containing harsh irritants and chemicals can strip away your skin’s moisture. When you don’t wash excess soap off of your skin, it could cause these issues.
• Medicine: Specific medicines, like diuretics, could cause dry skin on your feet.

 

How Often Can You Exfoliate Your Feet?

If you’re experiencing mild to moderately dry feet, you should exfoliate once every two weeks in the shower. If your feet are severely cracked, dry, or callused, exfoliating once or twice a week with a pumice stone rub should help prevent the buildup of hardened areas and maintain feet health.

 

Remember to Moisturize

The best way of preventing dead skin from building up on your feet is by regularly moisturizing. Your podiatrist can suggest ointments, therapeutic oils, or creams that could help prevent your skin from becoming dry. You’ll want to avoid creams and lotions containing alcohol as these could dry your feet out more. Peppermint lotions are good alternatives. The peppermint’s cooling sensation will even last well after your soak.