Dry skin is something we all deal with, but our feet need special foot creams because they get atomic levels of cracked and flaky to the point where normal lotions don’t cut it. So begins the search for the best cream for dry feet.
There’s a scientific reason your feet are likely to be the driest part of your body. Our skin produces natural oils to keep our skin hydrated and sealed off, but the bottoms of your feet are one of the few parts of your skin that don’t have oil glands. Which makes sense–can you imagine trying to walk around with oily feet? I already slip and fall for no reason.
This evolutionary tactic leaves our feet vulnerable to drying out. Dry skin itches and can crack, exposing us to infection. It’s important to keep our feet properly moisturized so they can properly perform their job.
I’ve rounded up the best foot creams for a variety of different foot issues so let’s get into it.
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2.
CND Cucumber Heel Therapy
Pros:
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Great pick for cracked heels
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Fresh cucumber fragrance
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Nourishing botanicals like chamomile, cucumber, and aloe vera
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Mild chemical peel from lactic acid
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A little goes a long way
Cons:
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Contains artificial colors
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Rather small jar
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Either love or hate cucumber melon scent
The Cucumber Heel Therapy from CND targets heels and other rough patches like elbows and knees. It’s a super concentrated cream so you only need a little bit at a time, meaning your jar can last you a long time.
The star of the show is cucumber extract which has a cooling, refreshing feel to it as well as being an anti-inflammatory.
This cream has the scent of fresh cut cucumber, that sweet, cold, melon-y smell that always reminds me of summer. If it’s important to you that all your moisturizers are dreamy to smell, then Cucumber Heel Therapy is a good choice.
Unlike some of the other botanical heavy creams, this one doesn’t contain camphor or eucalyptus so it may be more comfortable to put on severely cracked heels. Plus it doesn’t have that menthol, Vic’s fragrance.
Instead, botanicals like calming chamomile extract and cooling aloe vera hydrate and soothe irritated skin. To further moisturize, CND uses urea, vitamin B5, soybean oil, and lactic acid which is almost a very mild chemical peel to help remove built up dead skin. It soaks in quickly and isn’t greasy.
Find more CND Cucumber Heel Therapy information and reviews here.
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4.
All Purpose Salve by Ora’s Amazing Herbal
Pros:
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Deep hydration from coconut oil, beeswax, and grapeseed oil
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Antibacterial and soothing organic herbs
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All purpose
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Cruelty-free
Cons:
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A little greasy for day wear
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Not vegan (beeswax)
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Factory also processes strawberries so avoid if you have an allergy
Harnessing the power of natural herbal remedies, this salve is an all-purpose moisturizer that is tough enough to tackle cracked heels. This salve hydrates with grapeseed oil, coconut oil, beeswax, and Vitamin E. These oils are rich and emollient, meaning they are good at sealing in moisture.
The oils are infused with organic herbs like calendula, comfrey, chickweed, St. John’s wart, burdock, thyme, rosemary, tea tree, cedar, and plantain. I’m not talking about the banana shaped plantains–the plantain plant is a leafy herb that contains a slippery gel similar to aloe.
This combination of herbs soothes irritation and helps to kill the microbes that cause infection. It has a pleasant herbal scent and rich texture. For best results you’ll want to apply this at night and cover with socks.
The salves comes in a small travel size one ounce glass jar as well as a larger four ounce jar.
Find more All Purpose Salve by Ora’s Amazing Herbal information and reviews here.
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6.
Glytone Ultra Softening Heel & Elbow Cream
Pros:
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Erases calluses and hardened built up skin with chemical peel action
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Hydrating glycerin and vitamin E
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Trusted brand
Cons:
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Contains parabens, PEG’s, and mineral oils
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You have to wash it off
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Too strong for some
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Pricier than others
This is going to be the odd man out in the foot cream list. This foot cream by Glytone is targeted to the driest, thickest, most callused, and most hardened feet. I’m talking the parts of your feet that you want to pumice, grate, or shave off.
This foot cream is odd because you have to wash off–it’s a combination foot cream and chemical peel. The thick, silky cream is packed with moisturizing glycerin, vitamin E, and mineral oil, but the active ingredient is glycolic acid.
Glycolic acid is derived from sugar and breaks down dead skin so that you can remove it easily and reveal the soft, fresh skin underneath.
You apply this foot cream a couple time a week to the hardened areas of your feet and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes while it hydrates and while the glycolic acid does its job. Then you want to rinse it off. Glycolic acid is strong stuff and if you leave it on too long it can leave a kind of burn. But it’s unarguably effective against calluses and hardened, cracked heels.
That said, this isn’t for everyone. If you only have slightly rough feet seasonally and are just looking for a good cream, this isn’t for you.
Find more Glytone Ultra Softening Heel and Elbow Cream information and reviews here.
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7.
Bag Balm by Vermont’s Original
Pros:
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Deeply hydrating lanolin and petroleum
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Antibacterial and antifungal
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Ultra-concentrated
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Can tackle cracked heels
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Great for the rest of your body
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Made in Vermont
Cons:
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Contains petroleum so can be slightly greasy
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Not vegan (lanolin)
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No lovely fragrance
While not a specialized foot cream, this is a long-trusted ointment for softening dry, painful skin anywhere. It’s gentle enough to be used on lips but concentrated enough to treat cracked heels.
Bag Balm was originally developed to be used on cow utters to protect them from getting chapped in the cold, harsh Vermont winters. But humans quickly picked up that it works just as well for dry cracked hands, elbows, knees, feet and more.
There are only four ingredients in this tin: petroleum, lanolin, 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate, and paraffin wax. Some may not be that excited by the inclusion of petroleum, but we know for a fact that it works to moisturize and keep hydration sealed into your skin.
Lanolin is a natural moisturizing oil extracted from sheep’s wool. It’s intensely hydrating as well as soothing for skin irritation.
The 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate is an antiseptic which stops the growth of both bacteria and fungi making this great for use on both infection-susceptible cracked heels and minor scratches.
Find more Bag Balm by Vermont’s Original information and reviews here.
What causes dry feet?
Dry feet has all the same causes as dry skin on the rest of your body, with a few causes specific to feet. Non-moisturizing soaps, spending time in hot water, too much sun exposure, and dry air either from heating or natural climate can cause your skin to lose too much moisture.
Ill-fitting shoes or shoes that don't allow your feet to breathe can also cause dry skin. As anyone who has lived through the resurgences of the trend of plastic jelly shoes can tell you, when your feet can't breathe, they sweat. That moisture has to come from somewhere, and it's coming from your feet's water reserves.
There are several medical conditions like eczema and psoriasis cause dry skin wherever you are affected and your feet are no exception.
Diabetes can also cause dry feet as well as make the body more susceptible to infection so it's especially important for diabetics to take good care for their feet before they get to the cracking stage.
Is it dry skin or athlete's foot?
One tricky issue is that athlete's foot can sometimes look a lot of like simple dry skin. Both this common fungal infection and dry skin can cause flaky, dry, itchy feet.
They can be hard to tell apart unless the athlete's foot has really progressed. I'm not a doctor and can't definitively say anything with authority, but the general litmus test is do you have dry skin between your toes? Because that's not normal dry skin and you want to be seen by a doctor or be looking at anti-fungal creams at the very least.
This is important here because if you have athlete's foot, moisturizers will only make your problem worse. If you've been putting even the best foot cream on your dry skin for a couple of weeks and the dryness is getting worse, you'll need to reevaluate the situation.
What causes cracked heels?
When our feet get too dry our skin loses its ability to properly stretch causing it to crack open creating fissures that are painful and can easily become infected. Most often, cracked heels happen when you combine super dry skin and either standing for a very long time or wearing sandals or clogs with open backs.
Shoes that don't have a back to them don't give any support or compression to the heel of your foot. Without that support, the pad of your heel spreads out wider than it would in sneakers for example.
This spreading causes the skin to bulge out the side, almost in a pinched position. That puts the skin on the edges of your heels under a lot of strain and when your skin is dry and in trouble already, it can open and cause a fissure.
If you don't have a medical condition that can make these a more serious problem (like diabetes) and your feet aren't infected, a good moisturizer should be enough to heal cracked heels with proper use.
When to see a doctor.
If you have the access and financial means, I say the time to see a doctor is when you start wondering if you need to see a doctor.
If it's a little more complicated than that, it's important to get medical attention when there are signs of obvious infection like puss or weeping or seriously foul odors. If you're having difficulty walking from foot pain or the dry skin has spread to the tops of your feet or your toenail--these are signs you might need something more than a quality foot cream.
Can't I just grate all the dry skin off?
Well, sort of. Pedicure machines are meant to remove calluses which are different from dry skin.
Calluses are a build up of dead skin that your body creates on purpose in response to repeated pressure or friction. Your body means to make a callus but your body doesn't ever intend to have dry foot skin.
That doesn't mean you can't use these machines and files to help rid of you the dry skin. Just be aware that there is live, feeling skin under there and it's easy to go too far especially if you have a medical condition that causes you to lose feeling in your feet.
Either way, you always want to use a good moisturizer after exfoliating.
How to get touchably soft feet.
Three things: hydrate, make use of your AHA's, and moisturize.
Hydrate. If you're not drinking enough water, all your parts are going to be dry. That moisture has to come from somewhere.
AHA's. Alpha hydroxy acids are natural acids derived from foods that are used in chemical peels. Cream for dry feet that has AHA's, and body peels in general, will help your body remove dead skin that has built up so you can deliver the moisture where you need. it.
People have been using AHA's to soften our skin since Cleopatra so there's no need to be afraid of a gentle chemical peel.
Moisturize. To make the most of your creams, apply before bed and wear cotton socks to keep your creams from rubbing off on the sheets.
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