Take care of your feet with these natural DIY treatments for corns and calluses
Corns and calluses on the feet are ailments common to many people: whether it is the fault of posture or the irregular distribution of weight, sometimes even the type of footwear usually worn is to blame. But everyone finds themselves, from time to time, with hardened skin on their feet - and, not infrequently, this also causes some pain.
Around the areas of thick, hardened skin, in fact, sometimes there is a redness and it is usually also accompanied by an annoying feeling. The larger and thicker the area of hardened skin is, the more likely it will be unpleasant to deal with it. In the most serious cases, it is best to contact a podiatrist, but when the condition is still mild, it may be sufficient to resort to some natural DIY remedies - which are also good for treating dry skin or to relieve the sensation of tiredness of the feet. We describe some of these below:
An important warning: when there is a lot of thickened skin and you want to eliminate it completely, rather than resorting to using razor blades (even the specialized ones), it is generally recommended to rather use exfoliation techniques. It is preferable, in fact, to soften the hardened skin with a warm foot bath and then use a pumice stone to scrape off the layers of dead skin.
For this, the best remedies to try at home are foot baths and DIY scrubs / balms.
- Salt scrub: in a small bowl mix one tablespoon of coconut oil with five of table salt (even the coarse type will do). Then add 3 drops of essential mint oil (alternatively, rosemary, or thyme, tea tree or ylang ylang are often used for the feet). If the coconut oil is too hard, heat it just enough to allow it to mix with the salt - but not too much, otherwise you will dissolve the salt itself. In fact, it should be enough to heat up the oil with your hands to soften it. Rub vigoursly onto the hardest parts of the foot and then rinse off with warm water. Instead of salt, you could also use sugar, or Epsom salts.
- Sugar and honey scrub: mix 3 or 4 tablespoons of raw cane sugar with the same amount of honey. Massage the foot as in the previous example and rinse off carefully.
- Footbath using Epsom salts and essential oils: pour 5 liters of hot water into a basin, add about 30 grams of Epsom salts and then 5 drops (or a few more) of an essential oil of your choice. In addition to those indicated, in the above remedies, you can also use the rose oil or rose water.
- Moisturizing yogurt mask / balm: if the problem is mostly one of dry skin, you can occasionally moisturize it with a DIY balm. Mix together 50 grams of yogurt, 1 tablespoon of oil (olive, coconut, sweet almond), 3 tablespoons of milk and 1 tablespoon of honey. Massage well into the feet until it is absorbed (or almost), then put on light socks and let the balm act overnight, rinsing off any residue the next morning.
Do you have a favorite method for taking care of your feet?
