Summer is approaching. Are your feet ready? Chances are, your feet need a little help to look great in a pair of sandals or flip flops. Wearing socks and shoes all winter often leads to dry feet and rough, cracked, and calloused heels.
The good news is it’s easy to bring a little life back into your feet and get your heels back to baby-smooth in no time. And, you don’t have to buy any expensive creams or toxic ingredients to do it.
The secret to smooth feet is healthy oils and a way to trap them against your skin overnight. By doing this, callouses and dry feet will be moisturized and look great.
Coconut Oil Foot Wrap: Supplies & Preparation
In order to make your feet smooth, you’ll need a few basic supplies. You probably have these in your house already.
You will need:
- Coconut oil
- Plastic wrap
- A pair of thick socks
You could also use other oils (such as lard) in place of coconut oil, though coconut oil is what I recommend. Coconut butter works well, too.
I DO NOT recommend using petroleum jelly. I ignorantly suggested using this in the past. Since then, I have learned just how bad petroleum jelly can be.
Petroleum has been found to increase your risk of cancer. On top of that, it’s just plain bad for your skin because it doesn’t allow it to “breathe”.
Links to why you should avoid petroleum products:
- Say No to Petroleum Products
- Petroleum and Mineral Oil: Bad News for Your Skin
- Petroleum Jelly Side Effects
- Coconut Oil Outperforms Dangerous Petroleum Body Care Products
Plan to do this foot wrap right before bed; Trust me, you don’t want to try walking around the house once you get your feet all wrapped up and ready to go.
The easiest way to do it is to gather all of your supplies in your bedroom and prepare your foot wrap as soon as you crawl into bed at night.
Coconut Foot Wrap Instructions
If you have a natural moisturizer that you like, rub it into your feet first.
Next, coat your feet with coconut oil (or whatever oil you are using.)
Wrap your feet in the plastic wrap and then put socks on. The plastic wrap ensures that the oil fully absorbs into your skin and not into the socks. That’s it. You’re done. You’ll be amazed at the improvement in your feet the next morning.
Depending on how bad your heels and feet are, it could take a couple of nights to get your feet ready for showing off. When your feet get worn out from being exposed to the elements this summer, just do it again; It’s simple and it’s cheap.
If you have very thick callouses on your feet, you may also want to do a foot soak and use a callous remover or pumice stone to reduce the callous beforehand. These work like a file (think a nail file, except it’s for your heals and not your nails.)
Enjoy your summer with beautiful feet!
Vanessa integrates EMDR, sandtray, and attachment-focused approaches in her work and is completing credentials toward Registered Play Therapist and EMDRIA certification. With a background as a certified birth doula and a passion for making healing accessible, she writes and teaches on the intersection of trauma, neurodevelopment, and story-based therapy.
So simple, yet so smart! I was always missing the plastic wrap step. I will definitely give it a whirl! Thanks for sharing Vanessa!
Let me know how it works for you!
my problem with this is the plastic wrap!! If you wrap your feet & intend to leave it on overnight, your feet can’t breathe through the plastic!!
Tesser, you don’t wrap them tightly. Just enough to keep the oils on. If you are still worried, they sell “moisture socks” in stores. I can’t vouch for how well they work but it could be an option.
LOL Do you think I could do this all over??
I don’t have any plastic wrap in the house, but I made need to get some just to try this out. I love coconut oil and it seems to have endless uses (as I am learning). I also realize that I will need to buy in larger amounts as I am almost out of coconut oil but keep reading about new ways to use it.
I have used plastic shopping bags.