All being well, you should, by now, be experiencing a life that partly resembles the old one. You will finally be interacting with humans you don’t live with, shopping for non-essentials in person, perhaps sitting down to eat food you didn’t cook on chairs you didn’t buy outside cafes that made it through. So it is with some regret that I remind you that your newly public feet require immediate attention.
Lockdown feet that have scarcely been over the front step are likely neglected, and it doesn’t take at all long for dead skin to become hard, heels to crack and cuticles to snaggle. Transforming them is a worthwhile and inexpensive job. A foot file worked regularly and heartily across the heels and soles is peerless in removing hard, calloused, built-up skin that is uncomfortable and unsightly.
The granular foot scrub creams that are a perfectly pleasant step in a professional pedicure are, in purely practical terms, useless. Similarly, the many expensive electrical foot gadgets and motorised files I’ve been sent over the years have all ultimately worn down, and even in their prime, not one shifts as much debris as a sandpaper-covered paddle and plenty of welly. Try a Jessica Pedicure Foot File (£3.45) on bone-dry feet for maximum effect. (I use a metal, grater-style file, but not everyone knows when to stop.)
As well as weekly filing, I use a pumice stone (£2) in the bath, simply because it’s much easier to navigate one around the top of the toes without scraping off one’s polish (easily done with a file), and it gives a neat finish that rejuvenates a tired-looking pedi. When dried off, I trim the slightly softened thick skin on either side of the nail with Elegant Touch Cuticle Nippers. At £7.99, they may seem extravagant, but are so specifically satisfying in uncovering soft, babylike skin that they quickly become irreplaceable (I’m constantly shooing my teenagers away from them).
Finally, I slather my feet in O’Keeffe’s Healthy Feet Exfoliating Moisturising Foot Cream (£7.12 for 85ml), which looks and smells unremarkable, but works a charm in softening, smoothing and repairing what’s left. Crucially, I find it doesn’t lift dye from sandals to dirty my feet. If you can’t bear the slippery feeling of freshly creamed toes on leather, just apply at night and pull on some cotton socks for bed. Have a wonderful time in the wild.
