The transition from summer to fall often brings skin injuries from changing seasonal footwear. Here are some home remedies to help you cope.
Wet Blisters
Stocking up on medical bandages in September isn’t just for gardeners digging up potatoes. Wet blisters on the hands are easy to get when delicate palm skin rubs against a shovel handle. A soft bubble can even form on a finger while peeling potatoes. Still, the most common place to find this unpleasant surprise is on your feet.
Fresh abrasions on the soles, toes, and heels are often caused by tight or uncomfortable new shoes. In summer, your feet have enjoyed a break from constricting footwear and now must readjust to closed shoes. This painful process can get bloody: blisters filled with cloudy fluid can bleed when they burst. If an infection reaches the wound, the consequences can be worse. To avoid inflammation and the risk of sepsis, don’t ignore wet blisters.
Raw Potato
Grate a raw potato and press the paste onto a gauze pad. Place the pad on the affected skin and secure it with a bandage or adhesive tape. Change the dressing after a day. Repeat at least three times for the wet blister to subside.
Wild Sorrel, Calendula, Plantain
Gather sorrel, plantain leaves, and calendula flowers. Wash and finely chop them into a paste. Use these plants separately or together. Apply the plant paste to a gauze pad the same way as above.
Dry Calluses
These skin imperfections don’t usually hurt or interfere with walking, but they can affect the appearance of your feet.
Tomato
At night, bind a compress made from crushed ripe tomato flesh to the dry callus. Each morning, gently file the hardened skin with a nail file or pumice stone: the callus will peel away layer by layer.
Onion
Roast an onion, cut it in half, and press the cut side against the callus. Secure the onion compress at night and cover with socks. After five days, the callus should fade. Remove any lingering onion smell with soapy water and foot deodorant.
Lemon
Grind a whole lemon in a meat grinder and spread the pulp and zest on the dry callus overnight. Wrap your foot and sleep with the compress. In the morning, remove the softened, peeling skin with a nail file.
Hard Calluses
The longest and most challenging battle is against old, hard calluses.
Prunes
Soak prunes in boiling water, blend into a paste, and apply the warm paste to the hard callus. Secure with a bandage, wear socks, and leave it on overnight. In the morning, scrape off the peeling epidermis and rub the area with olive or flaxseed oil. Repeat until the callus disappears.
Onion and Vinegar
Pour half a cup of vinegar over 150 grams of onion peels in a glass container. Seal tightly and store in a dark place for two weeks. Apply the resulting compress to hard calluses at night.
Skin Care
To prevent dry and hard calluses, remove hardened skin from your feet once a week, preferably after soaking them in a warm salt or baking soda bath.
For painful blisters, dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 liter of warm water. Soak your feet for 15–20 minutes, then remove them and let them dry naturally without rinsing. The pain should ease right away.
For a nighttime baking soda soak, mix 1 tablespoon of grated household soap and 2 teaspoons of baking soda in 1 liter of warm water. Soak your feet for half an hour, then scrape off softened skin and apply foot cream to dry areas.
To protect your feet from new blisters, place fresh leaves of alder, coltsfoot, or dandelion in your shoes.
Support the delicate skin on the pads of your toes and heels by getting vitamins A and E in your diet. Find these nutrients in citrus fruits, green onions, spinach, sorrel, cabbage, carrots, liver, butter, and milk.
Cracks in Heels
The soles of the feet are especially prone to injury. Cracks often form on very dry skin or as a result of inflammation. Deep cracks can act as gateways for infection. Beyond the infection risk, cracks can leave scars after healing. Deep cracks also cause pain and bleeding.
Causes of Cracks:
- ill-fitting shoes;
- insufficient foot care;
- excessively frequent skin care procedures (avoid unnecessary peeling, since the skin needs time to recover);
- metabolic disorders;
- diabetes;
- thyroid problems;
- gastritis;
- vitamin deficiencies.
If you’re prone to cracks, include foods rich in vitamins A, B, and C in your diet: greens, carrots, egg yolks, fish roe, liver, and butter. Make sure your diet supplies retinol and carotene, since their deficiency can lead to dry skin—especially on the feet.
Regularly nourish the skin on your heels and toes. Treat any damaged skin on the soles with antifungal and antibacterial agents when needed.
Home Spa Treatments
- Make starch baths for deep cracks: dissolve 1 tablespoon of potato starch in 1 liter of water. Soak your feet in these baths for 30 minutes each night. Complete ten treatments. After the bath, dry your feet with a towel and apply a thick cream or glycerin to the cracks.
- Boil potato peels and soak your feet in the broth for 20 minutes. After the procedure, rinse your feet with warm water and apply castor oil to the skin.
- Pour 0.5 liters of water over 2 tablespoons of flaxseed and chopped potato peels. Cook until thick like sour cream. Cool the paste to 40°C and soak your feet in it for 15–20 minutes. Rinse with warm water, remove hardened skin around the cracks, then apply iodine tincture and cream.
- Dissolve 1 tablespoon of baking soda and 3 drops of ammonia in 3 liters of water along with 1 liter of herbal broth or infusion. Soak your feet in this bath daily for a week. After each bath, treat the cracks with salicylic ointment, a thick cream, or oil.
- Boil 1 tablespoon of chamomile in 1 liter of water for 10 minutes. Cool and use the infusion for foot baths to help heal cracks.
- Dissolve 2 tablespoons of boric acid in 1 liter of warm water. Soak your feet in this bath for 15 minutes before bed. Dry your feet and apply petroleum jelly to the cracks. Place a bandage over the jelly and leave it on for a day. Repeat for a week.
- Steep 2 tablespoons of nettle in 1 liter of boiling water, cool to a comfortable temperature, and soak your feet before bed. This infusion helps heal heel cracks.
- Boil 1 tablespoon of St. John’s wort in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Add 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and strain. Soak your feet for 20 minutes each night for a week. Before putting on cotton socks, rub your feet with flaxseed oil or a nourishing cream.
Medicinal Compresses
- Mix equal parts onion juice, aloe juice, and fish oil. Add 1 tablespoon of flour to form a paste and apply it to the crack in your heel. Secure it and leave it on overnight. In the morning, remove the paste, wipe your feet with a calendula or oak bark infusion, let them air dry, and apply a nourishing cream.
- At night, apply a paste of crushed green onions to the cracks. Secure the compress with a bandage or adhesive tape.
- Prepare a homemade ointment for heel cracks with essential oils: mix 1 tablespoon of petroleum jelly with 2 drops each of lavender and chamomile essential oils. Rub the mixture into the cracks twice a day, morning and evening. The crack may heal within a week.
- After a foot bath, treat cracks with a mask of one egg yolk, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons of starch. After it dries, rinse with warm water. Follow with gentle exfoliation and apply cream to the cracks.
- Pour half a glass of water over 1 tablespoon of calendula flowers and simmer for 5 minutes over low heat. Mash a small onion into a paste and chop 1 tablespoon of kalanchoe. Mix and apply to the cracks. Keep the compress on for 2–3 hours. Repeat daily for two weeks.
- Slightly bruise a cabbage leaf, spread honey on it, and dust it with flour. Wait for the flour to absorb the honey, then apply the compress to the cracked heel. Bandage and leave on overnight. In the morning, remove the dressing, rub your heels with a pumice stone, and apply cream. Repeat nightly for a week.
- Treat the skin with a comfrey tincture: boil 1 liter of water with 2 tablespoons of chopped comfrey root and steep in a thermos for an hour.
Healing Oils
Some of the most effective folk remedies for heel cracks are oils and ointments made from rose hips, aloe, sea buckthorn, arnica, St. John’s wort, and calendula.
St. John’s Wort Oil
Fill a half-liter jar with St. John’s wort and cover it with unrefined oil so the plant material is fully submerged and covered by about an inch of oil. Cover the jar with double cheesecloth secured with a rubber band.
Place the jar in a water bath in a pot of cold water. Turn the heat to low and warm the oil for half an hour after the water begins to boil.
Cool the jar and seal it with a plastic lid over the cheesecloth. Let the oil steep in a dark place for at least a month; it can be stored for several years.
Soak a bandage in St. John’s wort oil and apply it to the cracks. Place wax paper over the oil compress and wrap your foot in a plastic bag to prevent a mess.
Aloe Oil
Chop aloe leaves (start from the fifth leaf from the root) and prepare the oil the same way as for St. John’s wort.
Rose Hip Oil
Prepare oil from chopped rose hips in the same manner.
Propolis Infusion
Use 1 tablespoon of grated propolis for every 100 grams of vegetable oil. Sterilize the preparation the same way as for St. John’s wort oil.
Remember that the health of your feet affects your overall energy and the ease of your walk. Don’t skimp on basic hygiene products, quality footwear, and proper socks—those expenses usually pay off.
