This daily-use stick is for people of all ages, and diabetics rarely considered as part of the general foot care market, to gradually exfoliate and soften feet- plus apparently leash one writer’s burgeoning corns and calluses.
Barenaked Feet
I’ll do just about anything for another woman—even sacrifice my vanity and pride to show my naked dogs on the internet.
I’m only speculating, maybe promoting, that Dr. Yolanda Ragland’s “Fix Your Feet” brand’s Soften Our Sole Stick had a visible cosmetic and healing effect on my feet in one week’s time. I am no doctor who can recommend SOS for corns or advanced calluses. The “Queen of Toes” herself does not. Ragland formulated it for daily maintenance and aesthetic support, not crises.
Yet for it seemingly preventing the crises, it will be in rotation of my most recommended products and certainly stocking stuffers at the holidays. I love that it is safe for diabetics, whose circulation issues preclude risky chemicals and cutting formulas. Ragland is a doctor who knew to consider how every body can get in on the action here. And the healthy 3.35 oz amount of product for less than 30 bucks is near charity since so very little is necessary to use for huge results.
(Read the recent BNNYC interview with Dr. Ragland for her medical and businesswoman wisdoms.)
I was only expecting to add this to my arsenal for at-home spa days. Or to give my go-to Vaseline a break from sealing in whatever lotion I have in reach at night. I collect beauty products so I can spot good ones quickly. I knew SOS was good after first use. With its propylene glycol base, it is not greasy or oily at all. I slid off ballet flats after a long day I’d started with it, a swipe on my feet right out of the shower as directed, to see I didn’t walk my feet into desert conditions.
But I have a little corn on the index toe of my left foot. My pinky toe of the same foot is prone to callus and probable fungus. Its initial pain drove me to my doctor seeking a biopsy. After a fun and tickly examination to extinguish that fear, I scheduled to remove the pinky toenail to just start over. And it was summer, open toe season. Not cool.
Nearing pinky toenail removal day, I got cold feet, pun intended. I was relieved when Chicago’s Lake Michigan cool waters led the ugly pileup of dead skin and I-don’t-know-what to suddenly peel like a banana after my summer spent at its beach a lot. No Lidocaine, downtime or recovery necessary. Still, the callus threatens a comeback if I fall off on zinc-based foot powder and filing.
I did not turn to SOS as a fix for either problem. I just like soft, massaged, loose and nimble feet. However, spot treatment is among SOS’s suggested uses. Well, those only two troublesome spots—which swing between unnoticeable to sore and visible—diminished in appearance and numbed in pain.
Gentle Exfoliation for the Feet
If this is this good to be true, I should not need another product to exfoliate my feet and keep calluses at bay for the rest of my life… until bunions or hammertoes maybe drive me to Dr. Ragland for podiatric surgery she specializes in.
Her mantra, chant, brand slogan, etc… is: Providing medically necessary surgery with a cosmetic result. This energy and intention rolled into her wish for all people, even those without problems, to feel good on their feet.
I like exfoliating socks with the creamy leftover solution to rub in after an hour or so of wear. But I must block out time for the process. What’s the point to pretty feet if I break my neck or ankle trying to move and walk with plastic socks on, a slippery liquid inside them to help?
I am not a mani/pedi woman outside of seasonal summer then winter touchups we really do need professionals for. They have the tools, know-how and focus that it’s too hard to replicate on our own. After that, I keep up soft feet and hands, bare or nude healthy nails.
I type like classical and jazz pianists play. The slightest pressure to tip and adjust my fingers this or that way for a lengthy nail or polish I can’t chip is not worth losing thoughts and words. So I do short nails with a little shine. If the pedicurist is in-house or close to my cabin on the cruise ship, sign me up. To go out and make time for one, I cannot. My pileup of buffers, cuticle removers, magical files, etc… is immense to always tend to nails.
Low-maintenance folks like me get forgotten as still needing to maintain healthy, attractive nails, hands and feet. Then there are those, many with congenital or injury or age-related issues like diabetes, whose mobility issues keep them home, away from spas. They can’t twist and bend to pedicure themselves. Well, the doctor is in and coming to the rescue in a tube.
This should be a staple in elder care facilities across the nation to give seniors their pride and baby feet back despite few places they can go out to anymore.
A Rare New Fave
It’s hard to market to women (or anyone) after 40. By then, we have all our favorites and staples. We rarely add more. New faves have to knock our socks off to get there and this does- literally.
One day, I chose not to wear sneaks and socks even without time for my weekly foot touch-up. SOS’s silky sheen on my feet minimized their imperfections, so I was all good.
I am also at the age of concern for my hands aging. I plan to use SOS, sparingly for the thinner skin on palms and hands, to see what happens there.
The standard Soften Our Sole Stick is $29.99 exclusively at FixYourFeet.com. The travel size, a super cute chapstick tube, is half that at $14.99. Either one makes a great present and stocking stuffer for anyone. Neither will take up much space in a medicine cabinet, sink counter or bathroom shelf. Before you need irritating and risky peels to take over where pumice stones end, I am not sure you’ll find a better routine product to prevent that.
