A Quick Guide On Taking Care Of Your Feet

Step 1: Take Off Any Nail Polish You Have On Your Toes

It is important to start by removing nail polish from your toes so that you could thoroughly check your toenails to see if there are any issues such as hang nails, fungus etc. You should use a non-acetone nail polish remover when stripping your nails. Non-acetone polish removers are recommended because acetone is very harsh and can easily cause your nail plate to become thinner. It also causes ridges to form on your nails. 

You should also take a break from wearing nail polish on your nails regularly. Basically, if you always keep your toenails painted, then they may become discolored over time and develop a yellow or red color. If you do have this problem with your toenails, then simply remove the nail polish and leave them without any polish for many weeks and they should regain their natural color. 

Step 2: Feet Soaking

It is quite surprising what a 20 minute foot soak can achieve. To improve your foot soak, you can also add aromatherapy oils that you enjoy. Of course, you don’t need to do this, but it can make soaking your feet a lot more luxurious. When you soak your feet, it will actually soften the rough and hard layers of skin on your feet and heels. It will also loosen any scales you may have on your feet. 

When preparing a foot soak, ensure that you don’t use water that is too heated. If you do, then it can result in your skin becoming too dry and cracked. This happens when the water evaporates, it actually takes out moisture from your skin, in particular your stratum corneum. 

Step 3: Address Your Corns And Calluses And Trim Them

Once you have soaked your feet and softened them, you can then use a callus file or even a pumice stone to rub and gently scrub your calluses and corns. It will take awhile before you can trim off the hardened skin, however, be careful that you don’t damage your skin by abrading it too much. 

When you remove calluses, this can go a long way in preventing the formation of cracks. However, if you trim off too much of your skin, this can cause skin splitting of your thin tissues. This can result in bleeding and pain as well as an increased chance of developing an infection. You need to keep in mind that you should only get rid of the dead skin and be careful around healthy skin and tissue. 

If a long time has passed since you last had a pedicure, then you should not attempt to take off all of your corns and calluses in one session. It is best that you remove them over 2 or 3 sessions where each session has a period of 4 to 6 weeks between them. 

Step 4: Get Your Toenails Trimmed

In order to trim your toenails, you should use a stainless steel nail clipper. Be careful when trimming your nails and avoid over-trimming by cutting the nails straight across. Once you have done so, you can use an emery board to round out the sharp corners of each nail. 

Next, you should push your cuticles back, however, try your best not to cut them. According to the majority of dermatologists, you shouldn’t cut your cuticles. If you do this, it increases your chances of getting split and bleeding nails. Also, it makes it a lot easier for fungus and bacteria to get into your nail bed. 

Step 5: Wax Treatment

One of the best ways to make your feet feel extremely soft is to get a paraffin wax treatment. This warm wax improves blood flow and also makes your pores open. This in turn helps your skin to absorb moisture. 

It is easy to buy portable paraffin wax baths at certain retailers or even online. They can be purchased for between $30 – $70. They also make sure that the wax never goes over 125 F. You can also purchase already packaged paraffin wax kits so that you don’t need to personally spend time and energy breaking down a big wax block and melting it. 

When the wax bath is over and the wax is cool, you should use a towel to wrap your feet and this will help the heat to stay in your feet for a bit longer. Do note that when it comes to foot wax treatments, you should only use paraffin wax that is food grade. Avoid using any waxes that contain colors, stearic acid, perfume etc, since they can easily cause your skin to become irritated. 

Step 6: Massage And Moisturize

Lastly, you need to use an emollient to moisturize your feet after the above treatment. Since the skin of your feet were softened, they will more easily absorb the moisture from the lotion. 

When you do use the lotion, make sure that you also massage your feet while doing so and stretch your toes and archs. This is particularly helpful if you have foot issues such as plantar fasciitis. If you suffer with conditions such as plantar fasciitis custom insoles can help to support your feet.

Once you’ve finished putting on the lotion and massaging your feet, put on socks or plastic wrap your feet for about 1 to 2 hours. This will help a great deal if you have dry and flaky feet and will improve moisture absorption significantly.

More information and helpful tips can found at https://sinoknit.com/17-tips-for-keeping-your-feet-healthy/