Bit gross I know, but I imagine I'm not the only one on here who suffers from cracked heels. I had developed one particularly deep split on each foot which were becoming quite painful to the point where I thought I might be forced into shoes. A quick trawl of the net revealed rubbing on Vaseline as a possible fix. I have tried this and recommend it as it gives instant relief from any pain, to the point where I easily coped with several hours barefooting round London yesterday. Just thought I'd share in case anyone not aware of this.:sunny:
Keep your heel calouses filed down with a pumice stone and you will minimize the problem. The thicker your calouses are, the more likely they are to develop cracks.
I use the hemp moisturizer from The Body Shop all over my feet after I wash them. Leather requires maintainence!
I go with the vaseline trick. I just apply a good amount of vaseline at night, and try not to make it rub with your bed sheets. you want it on the cracks overnight. Heals relatively quickly, depending on the severity of the crack. my crack, around an inch long or so healed closed in 3 days.
Before I go on a hike, I coat the bottoms of my feet with Bag Balm. Believe it or not, it helps your feet grip the boulders and keeps them from drying out...especially when it is wet. Water will wash off the body's natural oils. My body doesn't produce much oil anyway, so it is especially important to keep my feet lubricated. I use Flexitol Heel Balm on my feet at night and after baths.
whenever it comes to cracked heels i always come back with my own way of dealing with a heel crack that just won't heal, provided that your feet are callous enough: sewing up the crack. my trouble is that my right heel develops a considerably thicker skin than my left one. the left heel never, ever cracks, the right has always some cracking here and there because of excessive thickness. pumicing and moisting it may help or may not... when i get a sore, walking on it will split it open at each step. in the terminal condition this can become , er, very annoying to the point that i curse God an all the Saints at each second step. so for the salvation of my soul :devil: once i tried to SEW the thick broken skin with silk and a common needle. the skin is hard to the point that i MUST wear a thimble to avoid piercing my fingers instead. so i clean he cut with some rubbing alcohol and sew it closed. pain instantly ceases. the operation is nearly painless because skin is just dead leather there and live flesh is buried deep inside the crack; after a few days the sore heals but i keep the stitches in place until the tissue discards them spontaneously. i know this may sound a little bit crazy but if someone happens to have a 'too thick' skin problem, this is an instant fix which kills the pain at once. last year as i told before i was stranded on the alps in the middle of nowhere with a small group of hippies from poland germany and switzerland, i and another polish guy were there with no shoes whatsoever , and after one week of going up and down thick wood and gravel paths i collected thorns and sores to the point that i could barely walk. i bitterly regretted of not having my heel kit with me. i wisely discarded the suggestion of having a urine foot bath (an otherwise awesome german guy was advising that but later he got a foot infection... dont believe everyone). the good thing is that feet are sturdy. they can keep you walking even in the worst conditions because after a while marching, sores stop aching. i saw documentaries about the natives in new guinea walking around with terribly swollen feet , i mean feet the size of a football, and yet they were smiling. man can tolerate way, waaaayyyy much more hard things than we think today.
it is months now that my heels are 100 % crack free. i've been festered for years by those sore gaps but now they're gone and spite of gravel paths, hot pavements and scorching sand, no new ones are appearing. this means all barefooting and no pain ! im keeping my toes crossed... unk:
