Cracked Heels ... and one Big Toe

So after being pregnant throught the summer and being on mat leave in sumer and almost never wearing shoes (and being older than last year ;) ) ... I have lovely cracked heels and one cracked big toe. Ok, the big toe is thanks to my sandles I sometimes wore to go to the shops.

So now I'm using Scholl's Cracked Heel Cream, which is working fa-bu-las for the cracks. The thing is ... it's to be applied to CLEAN, DRY skin and although I know how to dry my own feet ... I obviously don't know how to clean them!!! :doh: :rolleyes:

I scrub my dirty little walkers with a nailbrush and some soap, but I can't seem to get the dirt out of the cracks (this is me walking barefeet the minute I get home from work till I get into bed at night ... hate shoes during summer) So now it seems like the crack are healing OVER the dirt and honestly ... it looks DIRTY!!!

How the blooming hell do I clean my feet????

Well...I'm not too sure but I would be sanding them with one of theose foot board things to get the dry skin off and then I would soak them and scrub them a bit and then I would put the cream on. I would try and do this once a week. I'd put the cream on everyday tho :)
HTH...you could get a nice pedicure....heaven!!!

I were sanding them :( But I could not get the dirt out of the cracks, so that is why I switched to the nailbrush. That works better, but I still can't get all of it out. DH cracks up every evening, because I go and sit flat on my bottom in the shower and scrub my feet.

And I put cream on everynight (I am suppose to put it on in the morning also, but my feet are then slippery in my sandels and that irks me to the marrow.

Hmmm a pedi .... would have to call DH to treat me on that one ;)

My darling sister bought me a pedicure for my birthday. It was so wonderful. She totally splurged on me and got me a parafin treatment too. Well worth the money for an hr me time...plus my feet still look great after 2 almost 3 weeks!!!

not sure how to clean them but i sympathise, I have split and cracked heels and toes as well :(

At the chemist I buy a piece of volcanic ash type stuff. It is in a block like a cake of soap and then packaged in a box and it is only a few dollars. You wet it and out soap on it and scrub away and it takes out my cracks and the dirt (sounds weird put like that....). The block wears away as you use ut and leaves little bits of ash on the shower floor that go down the drain...
May be worth a try?

Pumice?
Mine hurt (and bleed) too much to use that when they are cracked, but Nadine if you are able to use a nail brush on yours then Id give a pumice stone a try!

Melt paraffin wax and mix it well with little mustard oil. Apply on the dry or cracked area of the heels. Rinse it off in the morning. A continuous application for 10 to15 days can achieve desirable results.:D

Pumice ... I'll have to get me some of that. I know what it looks like and yes [B]rayray[B] I'll be able to use that, because mine is not open. I really feel for you. That must be so sore :hug:

Thanks for the tip robertw .. now if I can only get myself to sleep with my feet out from under the covers .... hmmmm

The past two days were really cold, so I wore socks and boots. My feet LOVE that. I took to the dirty heals with my footsander last night and I think that by next summer I would have sanded out the dirt as the new skin forms. Not a imediate improvement, but next summer's first strappy-sandles would look utterly fantastic.

Ps. Went to book a pedi ... they were fully booked for the next month :o perks of living in a small town, so I booked myself a spot at the hairsalon instead just because :rolleyes:

i had the same problem. nothing i used fixed it until i got myself a pedi. im so in need of one - sigh

I love to get me a pedi .. but like I said .. the wait will drive me crazy :lol:

I am actually a bit hesitant to go for a pedi again. I got one just before ds were born (could not cut my own toenails and don't trust DH with a clipper ;) ) and the girl, ok she was new, shaved off half my foot with that thingy that looks like a cake lifter, that takes the razor blade. I bled!!! It was ouchies, so I'm scared that they will dig to deep again. Back then I did not yet used that Scholl Cream, so the cracks were pretty deep with lots of dry skin, so I could not blame her .. but it did still hurt!!!

ohhh you poor thing - i hate those vege peelers they use...i cringe when they start peeling away. I cant believe you were bleeding from it !!!!!!:doh:

Be persistent.....work on this (your feet !!) for at least a month....every night, do the cream thing, and rub lightly. I would also lather your feet and heels in baby oil, put some socks on and go to bed. Do this maybe twice a week. You will notice an improvement.

Reading thru the posts, i really thought a pedi would have worked...esp a parrafin wax . Mine were really bad once, i got a deluxe pedi and the beautician told me to just rub them lightly (with a peddy paddle) every night, followed by moisturiser....i did, and they are soo much better.

Good luck with your lil assignment !!!!!!:lol:

Thank you mbear!

I did to the moisture and sock thing a long loooong loooooooong time ago ... I believe I was single then :rofl: DH HATES the socks in the bed, but I'm going to try that and tell him he can sleep next to a socked-wife for two days a week OR he could sleep next to a crocodile for e v e r - hehehe

ohhh yes, my DH hates socks in bed too....but lucky for me he works does nightshift 2 nights a week - so they were my sock in bed night.....good luck.....

I get this paddle looking think that has what is similar texture to sandpaper on it and after a shower or after soaking my feet if i rub my feet with that and it rubs all the dead skin off and after a little while my dry skin and cracks have gone, i found it a handy little tool =) (moisturising after rubbing) :D

Thanks aamy .. I have one of those, but my crakes are to far gone that it works :( I am persevering though ... if maybe one day it does work.

Today it's flip-flops again. Guess what I will be doing tonight ;)
I work in a workshop-office where we repair and sell spareparts for agricultural equipment (grain-mowers, mistblowers ect) ... not the cleanest office this side of the mountain, kwim??

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Thanks for the tip robertw .. now if I can only get myself to sleep with my feet out from under the covers .... hmmmm

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Nadine, get a sheet of a thin plastic foil (like Glad Cling Wrap), wrap loosely around your feet, put your socks on and you're good to go.:D

THAT is a brilliant idea ... THANK YOU!!!! :clap:

Nadine - the pumice stone is very gentle, manicare makes a blue artificial pumice which is a lot more vigorous and I find works better.

Strangely, I never used to have cracked heels until I moved from qld to melbourne and started wearing enclosed shoes & boots.

I've been moisturising my feet with coconut oil and that seems to be cleaning the dirt out of the cracks in my heels too. And I am wearing socks around the house during the day (partly so I don't get oily footprints on the carpet and floorboards and partly to help the oil soak in).

The problem with cracked heels is that you have to keep on top of them. Once fixed, they don't tend to stay fixed unless you keep maintaining them.

Oh, so glad i came across this thread as i pumice stoned my feet last night for the 1st time in ages and i felt it just wasn't doing the job so " THANKS KAZBAH :dance: " on the tip ... will be heading to Priceline for a Manicare blue one tomorrow ;)

I think I found an answer to my problem ... I am currently scrubbing the living daytlights out of my heels with the nailbrush and THEN I go to town with the pumice stone I bought. And that seems to work. It's not totally clean yet, but I can see that happening with regular shower-scrubbings.

I also wrapped my feet in the clingwrap after putting much-to-much heelcream on. That is a great idea, but it's not working for me. I had to unwrap myself at 1am in the morning ... I could not sleep :lol: I think one must get used to it, but atm my sleep is very, very, very precious, kwim??

Kazbah - that is strange ... I get cracked heels in the summer from wearing open shoes, during the winter my heels (and feet) are soft and moist from wearing boots

Curly - I think that is the trick .. keeping on top of it once you have it under control. Thing is, once you have it fixed it does not bother you anymore and then you have to make a POINT to remember to care for your heels. Like I only put cream on my feet during summer, because in winter I don't have problems, BUT it I do put cream on during winter, my feet would probably not crack in summer.

Thanks for all the help and tips, girls. My heels ... and one big toe ... are LOVING you!!!