painful cracks

Had a wonderful weekend in the countryside with my wife’s family. Very nice weather, warm and sunny. Spent the whole weekend barefoot. Lots of walks through mud, grass, forest, asphalt etc. Great fun, but unfortunately a bit spoiled by these painful cracks in my heels. I have since long these deep cracks, tried several remedies to get rid of them, but no success. Can’t get my feet clean, because the dirt keep staying there. Anyone here who has a good remedy?

 

Wear Shoes.

 

Use some sandpaper and scuff off any useless callous. clean and moisturize for a couple days then clean and disinfect any cracks and superglue so they don't reopen. Big cracks are sometimes because you are de hydrated. Take care of your self and your feet. then you can enjoy life even more !

 

Thanx, Rugged_Soles, your answer is of more value for a barefooter than the reply by Flight From Ashiya! But I DO take care of my feet, I regularly remove useless callous, and I use vaseline to prevent the skin of my feet getting to dry, but some of these cracks are very difficult to get rid of. What do you mean by 'moisturize'? With what product?

 

I just use the creamy white stuff it's all about the same. If my skin's moist when I put it on no greasyness it just soaks in, I don't like any scent though. Maybe you're terain dries out your skin too. I love walking in water alot and I'm sure that's a help to me. When I'm in a dry urban area the elasticity of my feet changes It's kind of cool the way your soles adapt.
Good luck man... I hate when my feet hurt that's why I hate wearing shoes! Archie

 

i got those for a time as well
my trick was after a shower i would file the cracks down from the top down, trying to get to till there is no more crack

it takes some time but the cracks get smaller and smaller and then less and less till no more

 

But wasn't that very painful? I have this big crack in my right foot heel, and sometimes it hardly can stand the pressure ull weight on it...:$

 

you need to regain elasticity so your soles and heels will flex with walking. thick callouses wont bend enough. sand them down, moisturize and lock in the moisture with some duct tape if necessary. calloused heels look really tough but don't do a lot as far as healthy barefooting goes. I mentioned before you could be dehydrated, try to drink a lot more water it's good for you.

 

What do you think people did before they had moisturizer or sandpaper? Are these cracks typical in places where people go barefoot a lot (Africa, Asia, etc), or is it something peculiar about us Westerners, maybe having to do with concrete, or wearing shoes sometimes? Seems this is the only flaw to going barefoot...

 

People who always go barefoot tend to land softly on the metatarsals (balls and toes) rather than on the heels when they run or walk. Shoe wearers who switch to going barefoot later in life may be landing too hard on their heels and cause them to crack. I've been goin barefoot for 18 years and never had cracks in my heels.