How To Soften Dry, Cracked Heels

Dry, cracked feet are never sexy. While this tends to be a summer hazard, it can happen all year-round. If you can't afford a fish pedicure, get rid of dry heel syndrome with this 5-step process I cobbled together and use myself from time-to-time.

You can skip parts of this process if you choose. If you continue to wear the foot mask every night for a week, your problems should be solved.

• Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 15 minutes

Here's How:

1. Soak feet for 5-10 minutes in a warm foot bath made with 1 cup milk and 5 cups warm water.
2. Create a homemade foot scrub by putting 4 tablespoons salt or sugar in 1/2 cup oil. Baby oil, sweet almond oil or coconut oil or even vegetable oil works well.
3. Massage the homemade foot scrub in a circular motion into bottoms of feet.
4. Scrub bottoms of feet with the pumice stone. Rinse and dry feet.
5. Before you go to bed that night, try this tip from beauty guru Paula Begoun: rub a Stridex pad over dry areas of feet. Stridex, a product found in the acne section of any drugstore, contains 2 percent salicylic acid so it's a great exfoliant for the feet.
6. Apply moisturizer thickly on feet (do not wash off Stridex). A super-rich moisturizer like cocoa butter, Eucerin (my favorite) or even Vaseline works best.
   For even better results, apply a thin layer of Keralyt Gel, an OTC salicylic acid, on your feet along with a dollop of Vaseline.
7. Pull on socks and keep them on throughout the night for at least 4 hours.

What You Need:

• 1 cup milk
• Sugar or salt (either will work)
• Baby oil, sweet almond oil or coconut oil
• Pumice stone
• Stridex, found in the acne section of any drugstore
• Thick moisturizer or a salicylic acid cream
• Socks

Link   http://beauty.about.com/od/dryskinfixes/ht/dry_cracked_heels.htm