What causes dry cracked feet? Are dry cracked feet and heels treatable? Learn the causes and home remedies for dry and cracked feet, how to heal the dry cracked feet and how to get rid of cracked feet that are dry in this piece of writing.
In the past, I suffered from dry cracked feet and I did not know what was ailing me. However, on analyzing my daily activities, I realized I walked barefoot in the house since I work from home. Whenever I did laundry, I would soak my feet with the washing water full of my favorite detergent. Furthermore, I hated drinking water with a passion. Then the cracks appeared on my heels and boy were they embarrassing. It was the end for me with sandals. To top it all up, I got fungus in my big toes. What a tragedy for my beautiful feet.
It was in the venture of looking for home remedies to treat my feet woes that I learned the various causes of dry cracked feet, which I will share with you in this article. I also found many treatments that can be used at home while spending little or no money. I love to save big. Moreover, if I can maintain beautiful healthy feet and save, the better. Am sure you are interested in the causes of cracked feet that are dry as well for yourself or for a dear family member. Let us explore these causes in a short while. Discover also the best home remedies for dry cracked feet. Healing and getting rid of cracked feet that are dry is also possible easily.
What Causes Dry Cracked Feet – Common Causes
Feet that are dry and cracked affect people of all races from any part of the world. They are linear cuts or wounds that affect the heels of the feet on the epidermis level. Sometimes these cuts may get to the dermis and hurt so much. While the main cause is due to lack of moisture on the skin there, there are other common causes as well. Some causes are just simple and can be dealt with easily while others would be impossible to change, except embark on proper foot care and treatment.
What causes dry cracked feet you may wonder these are the common causes:
- Wrong footwear especially, which does not support the heel properly
- Poor foot care, for example not moisturizing as often
- Walking barefoot for long periods on the beach or on hard floors
- Standing for long hours
- Cold weather because of low humidity in homes
- Obesity, which makes the body put too much pressure on the heels
- Excessive foot activity such as walking, running or dancing
- Wearing house shoes that are open at the heel area or sandals
- Keeping your feet on a damp floor for long hours
- Aging
- Athlete’s foot
Severe Dry Cracked Feet Causes
Sometimes you may experience wide cuts that extend way up from your heel to the skin on your legs. If you notice wider cracks on your heels that are sometimes painful and could even ooze blood or some whitish discharge you have a case of severe dry cracked feet and need to see a podiatrist as soon as possible. The following could cause these:
- Diabetes
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Thyroid Disease
- Dermatitis
- Malnutrition
Home Remedies for Dry Cracked Feet – Do-It-Yourself Remedies
In most circumstances, you can take care of cracked feet that are dry at home, if you just make some time for your tootsies. Buying foot creams require spending lots of money on products that never heal your cracked feet. Furthermore, most of them contain harmful chemicals that could make your feet breakout with strange infections. It is better to be safe than sorry by making use of home remedies to cure your dry cracked feet.
It does not hurt to try and it is inexpensive since you will use items probably gathering dust on your kitchen or bathroom cabinets. Home remedies for dry cracked feet are all natural and harmless. Furthermore, they these do it yourself remedies have been tried and tested by people who at one time had the same problems, including myself.
As I said earlier, the main cause of dry cracked feet is due to lack moisture. We can get lazy when moisturizing our feet because we either have to sit down to reach them or utilize a strategy that will enable the feet to soak in as much moisture as possible. If you have problem reaching your feet especially when pregnant or potbellied, you can just pour your moisture in some flat tray and step on it for a few minutes. This will allow the moisture to soak your feet. However, do have a towel ready on the floor to dab the excess oil.
Here are the home remedies for dry cracked feet, which are mostly moisturizers. Do ensure you have washed your feet thoroughly and exfoliated the heels gently with a pumice stone or just a soft fabric to remove the extra layers of dry skin on your feet. When apply these moisturizers at night, do wear cotton socks and sleep in them to lock the moisture in your dry and cracked feet.
- Pour some olive oil in a bottle and add one type of essential oils and lemon oil. Add some water and shake the mixture to get milky oil. Apply this oil two times and make sure you shake the bottle before use.
- Apply organic Shea butter
- Massage a paste made from rice flour mixed with honey, apple cider vinegar and olive oil. Leave this paste for 15 minutes before rinsing off with warm water.
- Melt paraffin wax and mix it with coconut oil. Apply this blend on your feet twice daily, sleep in it at night and rinse in the morning
- Mix rosewater with glycerin. Your dry feet will enjoy being soothed by these two elements.
How to Heal Dry Cracked Feet a Change of Behaviors
You can also try to heal dry cracked feet with natural methods at home. For starters, you have to avoid walking without shoes on hard floors if you want your feet to heal. Furthermore, you must avoid splashing your washing detergent on your feet. This is because detergents tend to dry skin. Naturally, the skin of the feet is dry and splashing detergent on it will make it worse.
How to heal cracked feet that are dry of course takes changing a few elements in life. If you take hot showers, you will have to keep them warm as hot water dries your feet. The same case applies to hot water footbath, if you must soak your feet use warm water and never hot. Furthermore, dry your feet thoroughly and moisturize immediately after a bath or shower.
You should also get rid of the shoes that are ill fitting. In addition, when shopping for shoes you should ensure that your heel rests perfectly and a little room is left at the front for your toes to wiggle. This way, your heels will never move unnecessarily and crack at any pressure.
If you are overweight, you should try to lose some weight through exercise. This is an excellent way on how to heal dry cracked feet because you would also get to exercise them. Standing for long hours should also be kept minimal if possible by changing jobs or doing it while seated.
How to Get Rid of Dry Cracked Feet by Soaking and Applying Neem
It is possible to get rid of dry cracked feet by soaking every once or twice in a week. Your feet deserve all the pampering because of all they help you daily, the walking, climbing, running and sometimes jumping. Your feet work a lot. The only way to thank them is by getting rid of the nasty dry cracks in a soothing way.
If you cannot afford to go for a pedicure, each week then you can surely spare some 10-15 minutes for a footbath soak. This is how to get rid of cracked feet that are dry by soaking.
How to Treat Dry Cracked Feet – What to Do for Dry Cracked Feet
This is how to treat dry cracked feet everyday if you can or once in a week. What to do for dry cracked feet:
- Pour warm water in a large basin or a foot spa if you have it at home.
- Add ¼ cup of white vinegar into the water
- Soak your feet in the water and stay there for 10 minutes or when the water starts to get cold
- Remove your feet from the bath one by one
- Use a pumice stone to gently exfoliate each foot
- Dab the feet dry while ensuring you dry in between toes completely.
- Apply your foot cream or rose water mixed with glycerin. Apply it generously if it as night and wear socks to lock in the moisture overnight.
Treatment for Dry Cracked Feet –Neem Leaves
The above soaking is done once or twice in a week. However, if you can manage to soak daily for a maximum of 10 minutes in water with lemon juice it would be perfecting. Lemon juice fades freckles and it can do the same for your cracked feet that are dry by the exfoliating the flaky skin gently. Crushed neem leaves mixed with turmeric powder and some water to make a paste is the perfect treatment for dry cracked feet.
Follow these steps:
- Once you have dried your feet after soaking, apply the neem paste on the dry cracks
- Leave the neem and turmeric paste on the your feet for 60 minutes
- Rinse off with warm water
- Apply any of the above named homemade moisturizers
