Beauty and Fashion Tech

Removing Calluses with the Ped Egg

I love my Ped Egg! I seriously think that every callused foot on the planet deserves one!

When I first read about the Ped Egg at Bionic Beauty I wanted to try it. As I mentioned recently, I’m hard on my feet and the callus battle is constant for me. I have had success with various files and tools, but nothing has worked as well for me as the Ped Egg.

The Ped Egg is a little plastic egg with a foot file inside. This is not a callus razor, but is more than a sandpaper or pumice type of file. It generally is similar to a metal foot file, with a cheese grater look to it. Designed to be gentle, you can run it over your smooth skin without a scratch, but on calluses it grates and files them away, and it does so very quickly. The dead skin shavings are collected inside the egg, so there is also less mess. Fine grain file pads are also available for creating a smooth finish.

When I used the Ped Egg, I removed most of a fairly large heel callus in a matter of minutes. I had been doing some preparation using Glycolic Acid from AB Skin Care and some foot cream (read previous article), which also had softened things up a bit. I did find that if I held the egg tilted, too much that the dead skin would fall out, so to keep the skin in the egg where it belongs don’t tilt your egg too much! I finished off my feet with the file pad, added some moisturizing cream, and my feet were ready for a new pair of summer sandals!

The Ped Egg is available at PedEgg.com and other online sources, such as at Drugstore.com.

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By Carleenp Posted in Beauty Tech, Foot Care, Skin Care | 4 Comments

Kill Calluses and Soften Feet with AB Skin Care Happy Feet

I am a foot killer. I wear shoes that rub, I cram my feet into Irish dance shoes and pound them around for hours on end, and sometimes I cram them into ice skates. The result is dry heels and nasty calluses. But I have found a few fixes. One of those is AB Skin Care Happy Feet.

AB Skin Care is a line created by Dr. Craig Austin, M.D. that focuses mostly on glycolic acid products. They also have some great sunscreens (read review). Because Glycolic Acid is a great exfoliator, it works quite well at assisting in callus removal. At 20% Glycolic, AB Skin Care’s Happy Feet has a nice concentration of it. The packaging is also quite nice, with individual use wipes.

I combined Happy Feet with a bit of Lac-Hydrin Cream (read review), which also contains the exfoliator lactic acid. I rubbed an AB skin care wipe on my calluses and let it dry, then rubbed in the Lac-Hydrin. Another option, albeit more expensive, is to seal in the glycolic with a touch of Creme de la Mer. For a cheaper option, Profoot cream (read review) also works well.

This combo did a good job of softening my calluses. When I combined it with use of a Ped Egg, my calluses basically disappeared. What is a Ped Egg? Well, it is a wonderful little tool for callus removal. Watch for my review of it here tomorrow!

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Update: Read the Ped Egg review.

By Carleenp Posted in Foot Care, Skin Care | 12 Comments

Avoid High Heel Blisters! Profoot Slik Stik, Anti-Blister Stik

Profoot Care Slik Stik, Anti-Blister Stick is a fairly new product marketed as a “miracle” anti-blister stick. It generally lives up to its name!

The stick looks and feels quite a bit like a deodorant stick. Rub it on your feet where your shoes rub, and the product leaves a moisturizing barrier that helps prevent excessive rubbing and chaffing. The product goes on clear and has no scent that I could notice.

The anti-blister stick also works pretty well. I tried some on a pair of heels that I have been unable to wear for any length of time because the strap was rubbing too much. With use of the Profoot Slik Stik, I was able to actually wear the shoes. I still would not take a lengthy walk in them, but the stick allowed me to wear them to work for a day with no real problems. So it saved a pair of cute shoes that were otherwise destined for Goodwill.

Another similar product is Band-Aid Active Flex Blister Block Stick. I haven’t tried the Band-aid product, but it appears to be essentially the same thing.

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By Carleenp Posted in Foot Care, Shoes | 2 Comments

Badger Balm

A bit over a week ago, I reviewed Badger SFF 30 Sunblock. I also mentioned the Badger balms. Badger makes a wide variety of these all natural ingredient balms. I gave the foot balm a try and found it to be nicely moisturizing and great on my particularly dry heels. It contains lots of great oils, such as olive, jojoba, eucalyptus, and tea tree oils.

Another good Badger balm is the hand balm. I really liked using that when my hands felt dry from typing. This balm would also work for much drier hands than mine and would be good for those who often work with their hands.

I also tried the sleep balm, which is a relaxing balm to encourage sleep. It reminds me quite a bit of a pulse point cream that I had years back and just adored. Containing Bergamot, Ginger, Rosemary, Lavender, and Balsam Fir, the aromatic balm gives off a relaxing scent when applied on the temples and pulse points. It also can be applied under the nose or to the lips. I love the smell of this stuff! Badger’s night-night balm is a similar balm formulated for children.

All of the badger products also have an adorable badger on the packaging. For me, that is a bonus because I happen to really like badgers!

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By Carleenp Posted in Foot Care, Hand Cream, Misc., Skin Care | 2 Comments

Getting Feet Ready for Summer. A Look at Profoot, Lac-hydrin Five, Skin Actives Scientific, and Dr. Scholl’s

My feet are in pretty bad shape. Skating has been hard on them and I always had issues with calluses anyway. This year I have a bunch of cute new sandals and I am determined to get my feet looking good for summer. I started about two weeks ago with a combination of products and have had great success.I have been using a combination of moisturizers: One is Profoot Care Heel Rescue Superior Moisturizing Foot Cream. I initially got a sample of this cream in the Beauty Buyble Book and Samples and really like it. It does a good job of penetrating the very dry skin and smoothing things out. It also is quite affordable. A related product that I haven’t tried, but am interested in is the Profoot Care Heel Rescue, Intensive Overnight Foot Repair.

Right now, I generally use the Profoot in the morning. At night, I use a lactic acid product to both moisturize and help remove the calluses. My long time favorite for this is Lac-hydrin Five Moisturizing Lotion. Lac-hydrin does an excellent job when it comes to moisturizing. With a good amount of lactic acid, it also helps exfoliate very dry skin pretty well.

After I rub a good amount of Lac-hydrin into my calluses, I have been following it up with a coating of Skin Actives Scientific foot mask. Skin Actives is a great site/company for purchasing individual active ingredients and they have an active forum where information and recipes can be found. I will write more about their products in the future. I have been enjoying the foot mask and find that it adds quite a bit to my callus killing routine. It is a rather thick, and slightly oily moisturizing concoction that I find bumps up the level of softening of my dry skin. Unfortunately, Skin Actives appears to have stopped actively selling their foot mask, although anyone interested can likely find a recipe for it in their forums. A recent email newsletter from them also mentioned that it would remain available as a forum special there.

Once I have my feet pretty well gooped up, I slip on a pair of socks and leave them on until everything absorbs into my skin. Something I would love to get are the Bliss Softening Socks, but I haven’t quite been able to bring myself to splurge on them. So for now plain old socks have to do.

After all that moisture, it becomes time to exfoliate. So, during my morning shower, I have been working on the calluses with a Dr. Scholl’s Callus Reducer. It is quite comfortable to use and works very well. I was actually surprised at how little effort it takes and how quickly it gets rid of the built up dry skin.

After only two weeks I have managed to get rid of almost all of my calluses. The few tough remnants are coming along as well. My feet should be good in another week or so. I figure if this process is working for my horrible feet, it will work for anyone!

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