How to Take Care of Your Feet at Home: 10 Tips

Who doesn’t love some pampering be it at home or at a fancy salon, but we may not always have enough time to treat ourselves every now and then with a relaxing foot spa or foot massage, or a calming pedicure experience? Although feet are one of the most important body parts, we often tend to overlook the importance of giving our feet some extra care as we do for our other body parts. The parts which are more prone to dust, daily wear and tear, are the feet, the toes, the heels, and nails are constantly under pressure and used every single day to conduct our daily activities.

The amount of pressure our feet carry on a daily basis can result in long term leg or foot pain, which may even result in prolonged standing problems. Our feet carry us everywhere and so they deserve some tender, love, and care. In this blog post, we will discuss ways to pamper and take care of your feet at home, with minimum efforts that derive you the best results.

Happy Feet – 10 Tips for Maintaining Healthy Feet at Home

1.      Keep your feet clean and dry: A simple and common practice but a non-negotiable one. You must always keep your feet clean by properly cleansing and washing them. After washing feet well, allow some time to let it dry completely, make sure even the individual toes are dried, to prevent any occurrence of fungal infections like athlete’s foot or itching.

2.      Exfoliate your feet: Check your skin for any calluses or corns, which are regions of rough, hardened skin. Exfoliation may occasionally be required to remove this thickened, dead skin. Although it's not necessary to exfoliate every day, it's a good idea to do so once a month for your feet to gently remove the dead skin cells and cleanse them.

3.      Inspect your feet regularly: Make it a point to inspect your feet regularly to check for blisters, redness, minor cuts, or cracked skin. If you notice any of these, consider checking up with a doctor or physical therapist. If you are diabetic, make sure to check your feet regularly without fail.

4.      Cut or trim your nails regularly: Make it a habit to trim your nails regularly, a good hygiene practice. Never cut the nails too short, as they protect your fingers, and short nails often cause soreness or infection. Growing long nails can be troublesome and are totally unhygienic, as they carry several bacteria and germs in them, so it is better to cut them frequently.

5.      Wear the right shoe size: Make sure to wear shoes that are well-fitted and comfortable to make moving around easier. Avoid tight or ill-fitting footwear, which can cause blisters, corns, and bunions. Choose shoe fabric that is breathable, reduce sweat and odor. Make sure that you choose shoes that do not irritate your feet. Wear shoes that properly support your feet and ankles to ensure safety while walking.

6.      Moisturize your feet daily at night: We always moisturize our whole body but we often ignore the feet, which are also a part of our body and definitely need moisturization, just like the rest of your body. Make sure to moisturize with a foot cream daily after washing and drying your feet well. Keep your skin soft and healthy by moisturizing every night. This can help prevent dryness, flaky skin, itching or cracking.

7.      Examine your feet regularly: Try inspecting or examining your feet regularly to check for athlete’s foot, nail fungus, etc. If you have diabetes, you should inspect your feet every day since diabetes leads to higher risk of foot sores and infections. Examination of feet gives you an idea of your feet health, and if any issue arises, it can be prevented or cured early.

8.      Soak your feet frequently: After a hectic day, soaking your feet in lukewarm water can be very relaxing and therapeutic. It assists in cleaning your feet of debris, bacteria, and dead skin while also lowering foot odour. Soaking the feet in lukewarm water also helps reduce swelling around the feet area, relaxes the nerves, reduces pain, if any. After a good pampering foot session, you may feel relaxed and would wish to have a nice relaxed sleep.

9.      Massage your feet daily: Massaging your feet daily with a lukewarm oil or a moisturizer is a good practice to enhance the blood circulation, and helps relieve the tension in your feet muscles. A regular massage helps to keep the feet moisturized and hydrated. Avoid applying lotion between the toes to reduce the risk of fungal growth.

10.  Stretch and exercise your feet: No one can deny the importance of a good stretch that does wonders to your body, same goes for the feet as well. A gentle stretching as soon as you wake up, a mild exercise just for your feet can prove to be highly beneficial in the long run. It helps to improve flexibility, blood circulation, and strengthen the feet.

Try Shankara’s Nourishing Foot Oil – For self-care indulgence the Ayurveda way

Shankara’s Nourishing Foot Oil is a carefully formulated foot oil specially curated to purify, refresh and moisturize your feet, enriched with nutrients and antioxidants. It is a tri-dosha compliant foot oil ideal for deep tissue massages, and provides relief from muscle spasms. Experience spa-like tranquility with Shankara’s Nourishing Foot Oil with the goodness of Peppermint and Tea Tree Oil and feel relaxed feet.