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After hiding your dogs away all winter, wouldn't it be great to give them a treat for the holidays. We've put our heads together to come up with the perfect plan for pampering your feet and making them feel special.
Step 1: Soften Your Skin and Nails
To keep things simple, try this do-it-yourself foot soak - 1 gallon or more of warm water with 3 tbsps of epsom salts and baking soda per gallon with your favorite essential oil. Soak for about 10 minutes to soften skin and nails.
Step 2: Exfoliate Your Skin
To get rid of dead skin cells, gently rub your heels or wherever the skin is rough and built up with a pumice stone and Adessa-30 Heel Liniment. The latter product is available at our office. Warning: Diabetic patients should ask their podiatrist if they can use pumice stone on their feet.
You can also use an Exfoliating Foot Scrub from Gilden Tree which is infused with aloe vera, deep skin moisturizers, and pumice for a real treat.
Step 3: Trim Your Toenails
Although you might want a particular shape for your toenails, it's important to cut them straight across so that you don't develop an ingrown nail. Toenails should be trimmed just enough so that you can see a few millimeters of skin just beyond the nail margin. View this video by a podiatrist to learn more.
Step 4: Caring for Your Cuticles
Once your nails have soaked, gently push them back with an orange stick. Never cut your cuticles. You're welcoming in bacteria and fungus if you do.
Step 5: Painting Your Nails
Use a nail polish such as Dr.'s Remedy Enriched Nail Polish free of formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, toluene and DBP. It's vegan friendly and organic ingredients such as tea tree oil. Regular nail polish can weaken your nails. It's also available at our office.
Step 6: Get a Foot Massage
The muscles in our feet get tight from walking on them and cramming them into shoes. You can massage your own feet using your hands or a foot roller and a foot lotion such as Earth Therapeutics Foot Repair Balm. Or better yet ask your sweetie to do it. Want a trained hand? Try a foot reflexologist.
Step 7: Keep Your Feet Soft All Year Long
To keep your feet feeling good all year long try Amerigel® which contains a unique ingredient called Oakin®. This ingredient acts to calm skin irritations, hydrate dry, cracked skin, and restore skin to its natural healthy form. You can purchase at our office.
About Pedicures and Fungal Nails
You may be doing a home pedicure to cover up ugly fungal nails. However, covering them up will not solve the problem and regular polish can also weaken already compromised nails. Instead of covering up your fungal nails, it's important to get them treated. Learn more about how we treat fungal nails here.
