What causes cracked heels & dry feet?
Being one of the most common foot concerns, especially a concern that is searched more during sandal season, it is therefore unsurprising that there are a plethora of reasons as why people find themselves asking ‘why do I have dry cracked heels?’. The causes include:
- Standing for a long time, which puts stress on your feet and heels.
- Ageing. With age comes a loss of skin elasticity, suppleness and fatty padding that causes cracks to appear more.
- Being overweight, as this can increase the pressure on your feet and heels which can cause the fat pad to expand sideways. If the skin lacks flexibility it can lead to cracked heels.
- Spending too much time in water can weaken your skin’s natural protective barrier in turning causing skin to dry and crack – swimming in chlorinate pools can also further dry the skin!
- Badly fitting shoes can rub and cause pressure points which create dry, thickened skin or cracked heels.
- As free as it is to wear flip-flops the constant ‘smacking’ of the back of the flip-flop can dry out your skin and cause it to harden or crack.
- Sometimes genetics is at play and it’s simply in your make up!
How to treat dry cracked heels
As with many skin solutions, foot care is no difference – exfoliating, cleansing and moisturising is key!
The most common way to reduce the build-up of dry skin and improve cracked heels is to use a pumice stone or exfoliant and scrub! Regularly exfoliating the dead skin will stop the build-up becoming problematic. A little bit every day is much better than a mammoth session once a month!
The best time to exfoliate is during a bath, after a shower or if you have time to sit and soak your feet for 10 mins in warm water with a little product added as exfoliating on warm, softened skin makes the job easier, is less aggressive and a great foot soak is always soothing for your mental health. Three birds one pumice stone, right?
Once your feet are cleaned, exfoliated and thoroughly dried we recommend the Ameliorate Intensive Foot Treatment because, although the sole of your foot has sweat glands they aren’t home to oils glands meaning your feet do need some assistance in forming a soft, protective barrier.
Check out our guide on giving yourself the best at-home foot treatment using Ameliorate here!
Why is the Ameliorate Intensive Foot Treatment the best remedy?
Ameliorate’s Intensive Foot Treatment contains specific active ingredients and moisturises to help keep your feet in perfect condition.
Urea and Lactic Acid:
- Softens areas of thickened, hard, dry skin
- Encourage hard skin to loosen and shed dead cells
- Progressively exfoliates the top layers of skin to reveal new skin underneath
- Attract and hold moisture within the skin
In combination with a blend of Shea Butter, Glycerine and Jojoba Oil our unique LaH6 Skin Hydration Complex enhance skin’s elasticity as well as intensely moisturising ensuring that you see immediate impacts after usage.
Intensive Foot Treatment should be massaged into the feet and cuticles and left on overnight, reapply every morning if necessary and allow it to devour the hard, dead skin leaving only beautiful, soft, moisturised feet in its place.
Not only is our Intensive Foot Treatment is clinically proven, dermatologist approved and independently tested and is proven to moisturise for up to 12 hours but it also contains Farnesol, a naturally occurring organic compound that deodorises.
The Intensive Edit
Have you experienced ingrown hairs? Explore the causes of ingrown hairs and how our iconic exfoliating bodycare helps treat them, here!