Ask Belle: Caring for Your Feet in Winter

Dear Belle,

My wedding is in three weeks and I’m wearing a pair of slingbacks with an open toe.   The problem is that my feet are very calloused and rough.  My mom suggested a trip to the nail salon, but that barely scratched the surface of the mess on my heels.  How do you keep your feet looking pretty during the winter?

Sincerely, Sheepish Bride

During the winter months, many of us pare down our personal grooming.  We’re not as diligent about our highlights.  Tights make shaving less of an issue.  And the need to keep warm takes precedence over having “pretty” feet.  But when it comes to feet, undoing the neglect takes a bit of effort.

If your feet are really rough and calloused, you might consider an Asian product called Baby Foot.  I used it this summer before my vacation, and it was…an experience.  The product causes the skin on your feet to fall off in huge pieces over the course of several days.  But the result is the softest, best looking feet you have ever seen.

Some ladies on Pinterest claim similar results from a soak in Listerine, but all that did was lightly exfoliate my heels and turn my toes blue.  But if you want to give it a shot, just look for the old school yellow Listerine, so you don’t look like a Smurf.

Not up for molting like a snake?  The solution will be not in a single product, but in an everyday routine.

The first thing you need to do is remove some of the dead skin.  When I’m doing an at-home pedicure, I use a Ped-Egg for this task.  You don’t need to remove all of it at once, just as much as you can comfortably get to in one sitting.

Then, apply a powerful skin-softener like Eucerin Aquaphor or O’Keefe’s Healthy Feet Creme.  You want to slather it on before bed, then put on a pair of cotton socks and go to sleep.  (You can also buy softening socks, which will supercharge the process.)  Sexy?  No.  Effective?  Yes.  Repeat this process every night until your feet are callous free.

If you’re dealing with a DEFCON 1 situation on your heels, you can also speed up the process by soaking your feet in Epsom Salt.  Yes, the stuff your Nana keeps under her bathroom sink.  It softens callouses and rough patches, and just makes the whole process a bit faster.

Given that some of us will be wearing heel-bearing shoes to holiday parties, it’s a good idea to engage in a bit of pedi-maintanence.  A little scrubbing, a bit of lotion and some fresh nail polish is all you need to keep your rough heels from distracting from your hot shoes.