Feet love ‘em or hate ‘em they walk us around the world, and take the full impact of our body day in day out so our feet should have TLC all year round, but furthest from our eyes many of us only pay attention to our our toes when the sun and sandals come out.
Karen J Gerrard
Feet can be complicated! The skin is thickest on the soles of our feet for obvious reasons but whilst thick skin gives a protective barrier too much pressure triggers excessive thickening leading to hard skin cracked heels, callouses and blisters. There are no sebaceous glands producing oil on the soles of our feet which is why there is no hair, but there are about 125,000 sweat glands higher than any other part of our body! There are approximately 200,000 nerve endings per foot that send messages to the brain to make adjustments when we walk and also accentuate the pain of tight fitting shoes and corns!
FOR TIP TOP TOES -
MOISTURISE morning and night – Whilst it is more obvious to use foot cream at night on sore feet, moisturizing in the morning will keep the skin supple for the day ahead.
PUMICE – and exfoliate regularly to remove the dry skin. In the shower is good whilst your skin softens.
PEEL – Don’t use sharp objects on your feet, you can gorge the skin, which will become painful and can cause infections, instead use a foot peeling pack with care.
DRY – your feet well, putting damp feet into shoes or trainers can bring on fungal infections, athletes foot.
GYM – the skin on the top of our feet is much softer and thinner to allow for elasticity in movement don’t forget your foot stretches when at the gym! Go onto tiptoes and back flat again one foot at a time.
SOCKS – Wear socks in sports shoes, to stop them rubbing and so that any sweat will not get into the trainers causing an odour.
TOE NAILS – trim toe nails regularly, and put a couple of drops of tea tree oil under the nail once a week, to help to keep your nails healthy and avoid any fungus, but if you notice anything unusual go to a doctor, or chiropodist.
PEDICURE - once a month, remember to take flip-flops with you as nail varnish on the toes can take 1-2 hours to dry. Try to leave nail polish off occasionally to let the nails breathe and avoid turning yellow.
NAIL POLISH – match or mismatch? Fingers and toes don’t have to match have some fun coordinating colours and tones much as you would your clothes. Let your fingertips hint to the colour on the feet. Anyway fingertips will chip before toes so you will need to change the nail varnish there more regularly.
Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground and put your feet up on the sun lounger this summer with soft smooth groomed feet
Karen J.
Tagged in Feet