Amazing ways on how to care for your feet & toenails
Would you like to have soft and healthy looking feet? Do you often come back from work having tired painful feet? Do your feet and toenails look neglected and in need of extra care? If your answer is yes then this post can offer you lots of useful brilliant tips on how to take care of your feet and toenails. Most of us spend our days rushing and feel that we are too busy to spare some time to take care of our body let alone some spa time or even a pedicure. What we don’t realise though is that our body is under a lot of pressure everyday and that is likely that we feel tired or exhausted at the end of the day. So how can we expect to keep healthy, look amazing and feel full of energy if we can’t spare even 30 minutes of our time for self-care. This is essential! So let’s discover effective, durable and great ways for some foot and toenail care.
Cut and file your toenails regularly but don't cut them too short as that can lead to ingrown toenails. A stainless steel nail clipper is the best choice to cut your toenails and a good way to prevent ingrown nails is to cut them straight across and then carefully file the edges. If you happen to have ingrown nails then you can either soak them in warm salt water for about 15-20 minutes or place a bit of cotton under the edge of the nail for protecting the skin.
Dry your feet if dump: living in the UK most of our days are spent in the rain and keeping them dry is crucial to avoid fungal infections. If you have just arrived home and your feet are damp, take your socks off straight away, dry them softly by tapping them with a towel and put some talc on. Body or foot powder is perfect to absorb moisture, protects your skin from rubbing leaving it feeling soft and giving it a healthy look. Personally I always bring a small container filled with powder and a spare pair of socks with me just in case on my way to work it would rain and having wet or damp feet all day is not good not just for foot care but for your overall self-care. My favourite ones are Johnson's baby powder and Imperial Original leather original talcum powder as they are not just good brands but also I love their scent.
Moisturise your feet and toenails: it is important to moisturise your feet and toenails as during the day these can get dry and especially your feet can start to have cracked heels. Moisturise your feet once a day, I personally prefer to do it after showering before going to bed, and moisturise every part of your foot except in between the toes as this area should be left dry to prevent infections. In regards to your toenails you should massage them with some cuticle cream or vitamin E oil as particularly this last one is well-known to soften the cuticles, promote blood circulation, care for brittle or dry nails and help them to grow.
Don’t wear tight socks: wearing socks is a great way to keep your feet warm and protected especially during the winter but wearing too tight ones can stop blood circulation. Make sure that you also choose material such as cotton, polyester and acrylic to allow foot perspiration.
Change the shoes you wear regularly: don’t wear the same pair of shoes everyday. You should wear not only a different pair of shoes but also types so for example if you wore trainers today wear boots tomorrow. If you wear the same shoes everyday they will not have time to dry, they will smell and start to lose their shape. Like humans they need a break too!
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Clean your feet everyday: having clean feet is crucial for your foot and toenail health. Be sure to clean them properly especially in between your toes and if you had a hard day such as walking for hours or just finished a very intensive body workout soak them in water for about 10-15 minutes. That helps to relieve tension in your feet especially in your arches and heels but don’t soak them for too long as you may end up softening the calluses too much and you need those to protect your feet. As a dancer and ballet teacher I always remind myself and occasionally to my students that this is a must especially if they are on pointe (type of hard shoes worn by ballet dancers).
Keep your feet active: keeping your feet strong and supple is another good way to take care of your feet. Make sure that you don’t spend many hours sitting down or lying in bed watching television, reading etc. as this can make your feet weak and more prone to injuries. Also spending too many hours standing up can add lots of pressure on them causing inflammation of the veins. Instead having balance by doing some daily exercises to strengthen and keep them flexible will help to maintain them healthy and injury-free. Check out the post “Amazing ways on how to improve your balance and stability” for strengthening exercises for calves and feet.
Give yourself some spa time: like the rest of our body our feet and toenails also need some extra attention and care. We already mentioned the importance of soaking your feet in warm salt water, moisturising etc. But to give yourself a full spa you need to also exfoliate your feet to remove all the dead skin cells and give space for new ones leaving your skin feeling smooth and looking healthy. Also to repair damaged or brittle nails a nail strengthener should be applied every day for 14 days and then after that two-three times a week. Don’t forget that your nails also need a break from nail polish as that can dry them out and lead to discoloration(yellow-orange). Sometimes just moisturising them and not putting any nail polish on for a couple of days can keep them healthy. Lastly massage them daily with a foot lotion or massage oil can really help improve the blood circulation and release tension.
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