Although the weather doesn’t seem to know it over here, we’re into the summer holiday season and that means that it’s time to get rid of your shoes and dig out your sandals (so it’s probably time to pay some attention to your feet again). That doesn’t mean that there’s any need to stress, in fact there are a few simple tips that you can follow at home to get your feet ship shape for the summer sun, without needing to spend months preparing.
Start out by paying attention to your toenails, specifically their length. Cutting them down to the right size and filing them to shape so that they are straight across can make it look instantly like you’ve had a professional pedicure done. Once you’ve got through the trim and file stage, you can add some nail polish to give them a dash of colour and add a bit of fun to your summer toes!
Next up, we can move away from the toes and onto the hard skin on the rest of your foot. Foot filing is a great way to get rid of the hard skin that plagues the heels and sides of your feet, leaving them silky smooth to the touch and a lot more pleasing on the eye. Something to note though is that foot filing should always be done to dry skin only, as wet skin can masks the area that you’re trying to treat with the file and makes it more prone to infection once it has been filed. The simplest way is to just not take the risk at all and make sure you only use a file on dry skin.
Once we’ve got past the parts that focus on removing dead skin from your feet, moving forwards we need to look at hydration. Just like the rest of your body, the skin on your feet will need to be looked after and kept hydrated to be in its best shape. After using a foot file, applying a layer of a good moisturiser is key and specific formulas that are able to hydrate the skin whilst simultaneously reducing the ability for hard skin to build up are really good to use. Applying a foot moisturiser daily can keep your feet looking and feeling fresh for a lot longer, and it gives you a good addition to your existing daily skincare routine.
Your feet can also benefit from the use of exfoliating treatments too, and scrubbing your feet with a good exfoliator can help to restore dull and dry skin, helping areas that your foot file is incapable of reaching properly. A good tip for exfoliating the feet is to focus specifically on the heel and ball of the foot, taking time manipulate the scrub into the space between your toes and over the top of your feet before gently rinsing them. Applying moisturiser to your feet afterwards will help your feet to instantly look and feel summer ready.
If you’re a bit shorter on time and don’t want to get yourself tied into a whole dedicated footcare routine, you can take a look at exfoliating foot socks that are a simple and effective shortcut to smooth and healthy looking feet. From the outset, they look similar to a disposable face mask that you can purchase (other than the fact they are sock shaped). Simply put your feet in, leave them in there while the gentle acids get to work and then take them off again. While the results won’t be instant, after a couple of days your skin will start to peel (similar to how you peel PVA glue off after spreading onto the back of your hand) and once all the dead outer layers have flaked away, you’re left with smooth and baby soft feet.
Outside of the above, the last thing that you can do to help to make sure you have silky smooth feet while you’re out in the summer sun is to make sure that you’re applying sunscreen. At the end of the day, while the skin on the bottom of your feet tends to be thicker and is designed to be a bit more resilient, it’s still your skin and it’s important to protect it from unwanted UV rays and sun damage that can cause problems.
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