Feet Care Dallas TX

Natural Radiance—Pamper and Polish Your Feet

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By Linda Martin

Leonardo da Vinci called human feet “a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.” And so they are, but they also work their bunions off. With every step we take, 19 muscles, 26 bones, and 33 joints in each foot absorb a pounding. And we take 9,000 steps a day on average, during which our feet endure a cumulative force of up to several hundred tons. That’s probably why their 250,000 sweat glands often work overtime.

“Pay attention to your feet,” warns Dr. Alan Dattner, MD, a holistic dermatologist at Olive Leaf Wholeness Center in New York City. “As you walk you rock your entire weight across the foot. At some point it all may be borne on a square inch at the first metatarsal joint.” And that makes proper foot support a necessity.

Quality shoes—with good arches and good ventilation—provide the best chance for healthy feet. But too many fashionistas choose shoes for their aesthetics, not their function. If you count yourself in that category, you’ll need to take extra care of your feet.

In the tub. To maintain your works of art, give them special attention. While you shower, use a gentle body wash, and every other day treat your feet to a gentle exfoliating scrub with something like Avalon Exfoliating Enzyme Scrub, which contains lavender, licorice root, white tea, and arnica. After bathing, dry your feet thoroughly, particularly the areas between your toes to prevent athlete’s foot—a scourge of summer. If you’re prone to that foot fungus, Dattner suggests giving your feet a once-over with a hair dryer.

Here’s the rub. Despite their seeming resilience, feet need moisturizing just like the rest of the body. To keep them soft, particularly the heels, which can easily get dry and crack, follow up each bath with lotion. Take a load off (so the lotion penetrates your feet and not the carpet) and rub in a moisturizer like Weleda Skin Food. At bedtime, go heavy-duty with EO Body Oil with rose geranium and citrus, and put on socks. By morning your feet will feel velvety soft and smell nice, too.

Give ’em a scrub. Treat your feet to a serious exfoliation several times a week. Products containing micronized bamboo, sea salt, or coffee bean are great exfoliators, according to Barbara Close, the founder and president of Naturopathica, a spa in East Hampton, New York, that has its own line of holistic skin products. Aubrey Organics Neat Feet Foot Scrub contains walnut shells to smooth away tough skin, and Aveda Foot Relief does double duty—it contains fruit acids to gently exfoliate and jojoba oil to moisturize. Another possibility: Use a wet pumice stone to remove rough skin.

Home spa treatment. Each week, do a full-out treatment. Begin by soaking your feet in warm water scented with essential oil (add tea tree oil as a natural fungus fighter). After 10 minutes, apply lotion and gently massage the top of each foot before using firmer pressure on the soles, heels, and balls of your feet.

Close also recommends foot mas...

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