“BRB, I need to cheese grate my feet.”
Yes, I just used cheese grater as a verb.
Dang, those foot calluses are stealthy! I can’t pinpoint exactly when mine emerged, but halfway through the summer I noticed my once soft, smooth regular ol’ tootsies suddenly transformed into a full-on blocks of parmesan.
‘Tis the price one pays when you stomp-walk around the pool barefoot. Sigh!
Anywho, I got a $26 Gehwol Biosana Swiss Foot Files from Nordstrom years ago, and it is the best thing I’ve found for exfoliating away all calluses on my feet.
I know what you’re probably thinking. $26? FOR A FOOT FILE?
Girl, listen. If you’re going to cheese grate the crap out of your feet, this one does it better than all the other discount versions you’ll find elsewhere. So much gross stuff comes off with a quickness! It’s weirdly thrilling.
One key is the multi-directionality. You can go up, down, left, right, really all the ways you can think of. With this file so it’s easy to get into all the nooks and crannies.
I like to soak for 10 minutes, and then I start with the rough side of the file to get the bulk of the thick skin off. Then I do some “fine tuning” with the side with the finer grit.
FYI, I’ve done a lot of reading on how much of your callus one should remove during the process, and most sources say that you should probably not take it down completely. Leave a little on for cushion, so to speak.
Your tootsies will be transformed, I tell ya!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Love Gehwol products – on my 3rd file and the foot creams are the best for dry skin.
Be very careful with foot care. I once peeled some dead skin on my foot, and ended up with a serious skin infection. I went to an ER because Primacare couldn’t handle it, and the ER fouled up and never gave me the IV antibiotics I needed (but they sure charged for them anyway). I had to contest the bill, but they found a way to make the end charge about the same, anyway. They also left me all day in an ER room without water or anything. This was an extremely expensive mistake I won’t make again. (US medical care is mostly a terrible rip-off.) For my feet now, I just use O’Keeffe’s blue-container foot care cream.
You are correct – good advice. Calluses protect your feet and should not be aggressively removed. It can lead to pain, infection and long-term foot problems. Most people also vastly overestimate their “callus problem”. It’s best to just smooth out the rough spots and try to be diligent about keeping the trouble spots lotioned. I figure if you’re using cheese grate as a verb, I’ll do the same with lotion. HAHA!