From October onwards, my feet are cloaked in opaque 40-denier tights or thick socks for walking in boots in the mud, and sturdy loafers for jumping on and off grubby Tube trains. But as soon as spring’s shoe styles start to hit , my Instagram feed – and the temptation of going sockless in that Alaïa mesh ballet flat – beckons. So, too, does the realisation that five months of neglect has taken its toll.
Bastien Goncalves, the French podiatrist who tends to the feet of royalty, fashion editors and finance chieftains all over the world, says spring is a great time to reconnect with your feet. In 30 years of writing about beauty, I am yet to find a better treat for my feet than his unique brand of pedicure-meets-podiatry. “We are like bears coming out of a cave after winter,” he says. “Start by wiggling your toes up and down to improve mobility. We need to stretch. Our toes get locked and crampy, and our whole posture starts to curve forward.”
Thea Green, the founder of Nails Inc , agrees. “Bringing our feet back to life is about consistent care ,” she says. “It’s time to treat your feet like skincare rather than let them be an afterthought.”
Here are five ways to love your feet again, or jump to see the best products to get them back into shape.
1. Put your best foot forward
Sometimes the toenails you put to bed in October emerge in March looking slightly… yellow. “Most people with yellowing nails think it’s down to a fungus,” says Goncalves, “but in fact it’s often just discolouration and increased thickness from banging against hard shoes – a trauma from winter.” Try gently buffing your nails with a little pumice stone to reduce the thickness, being careful not to overdo it. Then apply oil to help the nails regain their suppleness, counteracting the rigidity and thickness that give them that unhealthy look.
“When it comes to long-term nail health, it’s really about good maintenance,” says Green. “Keeping nails and cuticles hydrated is key, and I always recommend using a nourishing cuticle oil regularly to keep the nail healthy and flexible.”
2. Pre-empt the first blister of the season
If you’ve noticed your feet are more prone to blisters than they used to be, even when wearing your oldest, softest pair of Birkenstocks, age might be the culprit. “As we get older, we lose the baby fat beneath the top layer of the skin,” says Goncalves. “It’s like a mattress of protection that depletes over time.”
There’s not much you can do about this, besides keeping a stack of Compeed blister plasters close to hand, ready for that first warm Saturday of the season. Moisturising the skin regularly to keep it as elastic as possible may also help. “Be sure to brush your feet with a firm brush before washing to remove any dry skin,” says Goncalves. “By cleaning away that dead skin first, you open up the pores. If you moisturise straight onto dry skin, most of the moisturiser is absorbed by dead skin.”
3. Take care of your calluses
A callus is hard skin that forms where too much pressure has rubbed against the foot, protecting the flesh underneath. Be patient with it – just because you’ve discovered them overnight doesn’t mean they can be removed overnight. “It took two to four months to build them, so don’t try to undo them overnight,” advises Goncalves.
At home, try using a peeling cream in the evening, followed by a gentle exfoliating scrub. Goncalves prefers a scrub to a file (with the exception of the Dr Scholl Velvet Smooth, see below, which he rates highly because it’s impossible to damage your feet with it), as it moves with the skin’s elasticity rather than rubbing away at the surface. To prevent calluses from recurring, always scrub before you moisturise your feet.
4. Heal those heels
“Cracked heels start as calluses, so you need to take preventative steps to make sure your calluses don’t develop into them,” says Goncalves. “The skin becomes thicker where it has lost its softness, and can no longer absorb the natural compression that happens when you walk.”
Try a peeling cream – look for one containing urea, as it is gentle on the skin – then sleep for two to three nights in special moisturising gel socks. “These are fantastic as they act as an occlusive, forcing the product into the skin and really helping to remove calluses while delivering hydrating ingredients.”
5. Think you have ingrown toenails?
“Most of the time, the problem we think of as ingrowing toenails is in fact the build-up of dead skin in the gap between the nail and the fleshy part of the toe,” says Goncalves. His advice? After a bath or shower, use an electric toothbrush to brush the side of the nail and dislodge the dead skin (my advice: use a separate brush head to the one you use for your teeth).
Apply oil afterwards, massaging it in, and within a week the pain should ease as the compression caused by the dead skin reduces, allowing enough space for the nail to sit comfortably. “Avoid over-clipping or pushing back your cuticles,” he advises. “If you have no cuticle, it’s like leaving a door open for germs to enter your system, so you need them. And when you overcut, you create callused skin.”
Another reason to keep moisturising.
