Home Remedies to Heal Cracked Heels

Your entire body weight falls on your feet and can render them tired and worn out. Unfortunately, a lot of people neglect the condition of their feet until they develop severe problems that affect their daily movement and comfort.

Cracked heels are one such complaint wherein fissures appear at the base of your feet due to continued pressure and friction. These cracks tend to get deeper and more painful without timely treatment.

Popular Home Remedies for Cracked Heels

Here are a few topical remedies to repair cracked heels, but keep these points in mind before you try them:

– Always clean your feet before applying any remedy.

– The best time to apply a remedy is before bedtime since it remains on your feet throughout the night as you sleep.

– For any remedy to yield desired results, it is important to use it regularly. These remedies have delivered beneficial results for many users, but are not backed by scientific research.

The popular home remedies for cracked heels are:

1. Apply honey

Honey imparts moisture to the skin and locks it in to prolong the hydrating effect. Moreover, honey has wound-healing and antiseptic properties that can help treat your dry, cracked heels.

How to use:

1. Add two tablespoons of milk into a cup of warm honey, and stir the mixture together to form a paste.
2. Cover your cracked heels with this paste and leave it on overnight.
3. Rinse it off the next day.
4. Apply this remedy every night for a month to reveal soft, repaired heels.

2. Moisturize with shea butter

Shea butter is good for deeply moisturizing the rough, broken skin of your heels, but further studies are needed to establish its efficacy. You have to stick with this remedy in the long-term for it to have its desired effect.

How to use:

Apply a small amount of shea butter all over your cracked heels, before bedtime, and allow the moisturizer to seep deep into the skin.

3. Use bananas

Bananas have been popularly used for repairing cracked heels, owing to its moisturizing effects. However, there aren’t enough scientific studies to substantiate its healing effect.

How to use:

1. Simply peel and mash two ripe bananas to a paste and apply it on your heels.
2. Let it sit for around 10 minutes and then wash your feet with lukewarm water.
3. Multiple applications will make your heels softer and smoother.

4. Exfoliate with rice flour

The tiny granules of rice flour gently scrub away the dry, flaky skin and deep-seated impurities without aggravating the fissures. Moreover, rice flour may also help impart lost minerals for healthier skin.

While this remedy has earned a lot of acclaim on internet forums and in the lay community, it lacks scientific support.

How to use:

1. Add a few drops of honey to some rice flour and mix them together to form a thick paste.
2. Apply the paste on the affected area and gently massage it to shed the dead, flaky skin.
3. Wash your feet with lukewarm water once you are done.
4. Apply a generous amount of moisturizer all over your feet.

5. Use oatmeal

Colloidal oatmeal is a natural exfoliant that exhibits antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, making it a suitable remedy for dry cracked heels.

How to use:

Colloidal oatmeal can be used as gentle scrubs as well as a soothing lotion containing colloidal oatmeal extracts.

6. Take a Listerine and vinegar foot bath

You can fix yourself a foot soak using Listerine and vinegar, both of which can help disinfect, soften and rejuvenate cracked heels.

1. Add equal parts Listerine and vinegar to double the amount of warm water in a tub or a bucket.
2. Soak your feet in the mixture for 10–15 minutes, to loosen the dead, flaky surface skin.
3. Then, gently scrub away the softened skin using a foot file, pumice stone, or sponge.

While this form of foot therapy has helped many users in treating cracked heels, there is little to no scientific evidence to verify these claims.