Nope. I’d wager that the perfect time to risk peeling soles, is right now, when there’s a strong likelihood that your feet are tucked away beneath boots or trainers during the day and cosy socks come evening.
I made the mistake once of doing a foot peel in peak summer. A bad idea, since – as the name suggests – there’s a fair bit of peeling action that goes into giving you the sort of baby soft feet Gwyneth Paltrow would be proud of. It meant facing blistering temperatures with my hoofs holed up in converse, or sticking with sandals and shedding rogue bits of skin as I went (not a way to make friends).
Take it from me, shedding the hard crust of skin on your feet, ready for winter, is as curiously satisfying as it is revolting. It offers you the chance to sit with your feet soaking in serum and to indulge in an evening of pampering (throw in a face mask, a candle and a jumbo bag of Maltesers and you’re golden). Afterwards? Oh mumma. Expect feet smoother than McDreamy.
So what’s involved? For starters, the process usually requires padding around in plastic-bag booties filled with serum for a good hour and a half. In order to spark a chemical peel, serums usually contain exfoliating ingredients like glycolic and salicylic acid as well as nourishing ingredients like vitamin E to stave off dryness.
Next, expect nothing. The delayed reaction that most foot peels have before making a difference may kid you into thinking they’ve not worked, but it can take between a week to 10 days for the peeling to kick in.
Then? You’ll find flakes of foot left behind in your socks, bits of skin rolling off as you sleep and calluses drifting down the drain in the shower (yum). But, if you can get past that, then you my friend are on your way to some seriously soft soles.
7 tea tree oil products I use for managing acne and dandruff
I am not normally one to use “natural” or “herbal” skin-care products. I certainly don’t have anything against them, they just usually aren’t my favourites. But in my constant fight against acne and dandruff there’s one earthy ingredient I’ll basically lay down my life for: tea tree oil.
Tea tree oil is an oil harvested from the leaves of the Melaleuca alternifolia plant, which is native to Australia. The oil doesn’t have a ton of conclusively proven benefits for treating any particular skin or hair issue, but research has shown that it has both antibacterial and antifungal properties. And some studies suggest that it may actually be helpful in managing things like acne, dandruff, ringworm, and athletes’ foot. So, it’s definitely not a miracle treatment, but I’ve had some success with it and I may not be totally imagining that.
As someone with skin too sensitive to handle the go-to acne-fighting ingredient benzoyl peroxide, I consider tea tree oil a welcome replacement for managing the bacterial side of my acne. And as someone prone to dandruff and an itchy scalp, I find that it helps soothe that itchiness and reduce the redness and flakiness that comes with it. To be clear, tea tree oil isn’t the only thing I use to help tackle these concerns, but it has become a real staple in my approach to managing them.
One important thing to know is that tea tree oil can be irritating and can cause allergic reactions. So if you, like me, have sensitive skin, it’s important to do a patch test before using it for the first time.
Below, check out the tea tree oil products I swear by for healthy skin and hair.
