So this was your basic horror show. I ordered Grace & Stella's Dr. Pedicure from Amazon. A home pedicure kit that promises all the skin on your feet will peel off. Which sounds great until you actually witness all of the skin on your feet peeling off.
Product review. Not a sponsored post.
Skip right to how to use Dr. Pedicure.
Maybe, let's go back to the beginning of all of this. First of all, if you've been following me for any amount of time you know my feet are horrible. They are block shaped fists of meat on the end of my ankles. I have a bunion and they're calloused and for the summer months they have the added delight of also being stained with ground in chicken crap. It's probably compost, but it started as chicken crap.
I am therefore on a constant quest to do what I can to make my feet less repulsive. Not presentable because that would require a foot transplant - I just want to get them to the point that if someone sees them they only stare in horror as opposed to barfing on the spot.
I use CeraVe as a moisturizer, a pumice stone regularly (this inexpensive, archaic tool actually works by the way) and even a battery operated sanding roller which I reviewed a few years ago. I have used Shea butter, flown to Thailand to allow tiny fish to eat away at the dead skin on my feet and went to bed wearing wet socks. I'm not sure why I did that last one.
And yet I still have rough, shield your eyes, feet. All of the things I do help a little (some a lot) but if I let things slip I'm back to square one with my ankle fists.
So the home pedicure search continues. In November it led me to Amazon and Dr. Pedicure and the new Canadian company Grace and Stella.
I wasn't entirely sure what a "Dr. Pedicure" was but the packaging did say USE THIS AND YOU'LL BE SHOWING YOUR FEET OFF so I figured I was headed in the right direction.
It turns out that Dr. Pedicure is a single use skin exfoliator for your feet. The box contains 2 plastic booties filled with special, scientific gunk that you wear for an hour. Then you just remove the booties, rinse the gunk and wait for your skin to naturally peel away several days later.
(It takes a few days for the gunk to work its magic.)
There were several warnings on the box about this not be appropriate for people with thin skin (Diabetes), those who are pregnant, nursing and a few other things.
WARNINGS??? omg this was going to be fantastic!
I put the booties on immediately and the horror show began. But the good kind of horror show.
Home Pedicure with Dr. Pedicure
Day 1
- Apply the booties and secure with included red tape.
2. Sit for an hour while wearing booties.
I would advise you to put socks over your booties because they are a safety hazard of epic proportions. Slippery plastic booties filled with slippery, gooey gunk.
Just put the booties on, cover them with socks, sit back and relax. It's not as pleasant as it looks. For the next hour you will feel as though your feet are trapped in 2 cold, dirty diapers.
3. Remove the booties and wash your feet.
Day 4
It has begun. For days 2 and 3 my feet felt really dry. On the evening of Day 4 I pulled my socks off inside out and noticed they were filled with bits of Kleenex. I figured I must have accidentally washed a wad of them when I did laundry and it ended up in my socks.
Nnnnnnnnnope.
It wasn't Kleenex on the inside of my socks. It was skin.
Day 5
More peeling. More grossness. I loved it.
The remarkable thing, which I never even thought of as I was wearing the booties is it made EVERYTHING on my feet peel. The tips of my toes, the tops of my feet, my cuticles ... every-thing.
Day 6
My feet were looking so good I thought I'd really take the look over the top and paint my toenails.
I was ready for sandals. Obviously.
Day 7
At this point I was starting to think about charging admission.
You aren't supposed to pick at or peel your skin and you're only supposed to moisturize your feet a tiny bit if you really think you can't stand it anymore. You're just supposed to let the skin slough off naturally. Which it did. In my socks, in my bed, on the carpet.
Every time I pulled on a pair of socks it sounded like I was breaking open a crusty loaf of bread.
At this point I started sending out pictures because the most fun thing about getting a cut, bruise or any other injury is showing it off to people. The first picture went to Betty.
My mother went from a position of absolute horror to considering the possibility of using it as a home facial in 1.2 seconds.
Please do not use Dr. Pedicure as a home facial. I don't think they'd even recommend that in China.
Day 16
A little over 2 weeks into this experiment it seemed like the peeling was finally finished.
This is not a great picture. I get that. But you can see my foot a little bit and you can see there are still dry bits.
However they are much better than they were at the beginning of this process.
Conclusion?
Does Dr. Pedicure work to peel dead skin away in 2 weeks? Yes it does.
Does Dr. Pedicure work as well as a real pedicure? I'm on the fence on this one. It definitely gets rid of more dead skin that an aesthetician could, like in between your toes and the skin on the top of your foot. But my heels still needed a bit of smoothing after Dr. Pedicure with a pumice stone.
Is Dr. Pedicure safe? I'm not a doctor of feet or skin so I can't really answer if it's safe or not according to the packaging it is.
Main Ingredients in Dr. Pedicure
Water, Alcohol, isopropyl Alcohol, Lactic Acid, Glycolic Acid a bunch of other stuff, and then a LOT of plant based acids from fruit like oranges, apples and grapefruit.
Those seem to be the main active ingredients, but it also includes a lot of plant extracts from sage, lemons, clematis, meadowsweet, horsetail herb, chamomile and other plants and flowers. In fact it has 17 extracts in it.
The product is indeed made in China but is distributed by The Grace & Stella Company out of Vancouver and first appeared on Dragon's Den.
Get Dr. Pedicure here in Canada.
or
Get Dr. Pedicure here in the U.S.
At $17 it's cheaper than a box of barf bags.
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I've used it twice and it really does work. I wish all the skin came off at once though. I was in the shower a few days after the first time I used it and kept thinking, "What on earth is on the floor of the shower?" The water had gotten beneath the loose skin and it was like walking on balloons. The next few days were uncomfortable. Not because it hurt, there was never any pain, but the cracked skin kept catching on socks and sheets and shoes and it just felt weird and aggravating.
But what I REALLY want to know is how on earth you manage not to pick the dead skin off??? That was the best part!
OMG, I am elated to hear that another human has Fred Flintstone feet! Not sure about trying this remedy, but for me, one thing is certain: a regular (daily/nightly) routine is the answer.
Also, I have discovered that being a woman "of a certain age", with stiffness from arthritis, makes it difficult to maintain pretty feet without getting regular professional pedicures.
Karen, you have made my day with this one! I guess misery truly loves company plus you are really funny!
This "pedicure" might not be in everyone's budget but it sure worked for me.
1. Fly to Florida.
2. Get to Turner Beach (North side of Blind Pass)
3. Put on Water shoes
4. Walk/stroll for 1.5 hours to the North, go in and out of the surf looking for shells
5. Walk back and (remove the shoes if you develop blisters).
6. Go home.
About two weeks later soak for a hour in the bath. You will see about 1/8 of an inch thick skin peel away in your bathtub.
7. Use a pumice stone to remove it.
8. Paint toenails and show off your Turner pedicure to everyone. You shoes will actually feel larger.
This is my favorite option listed!! I would love to try it in the next month or two when the sun disappears from upstate N.Y. 😎
It's worth a try. ~ karen!
I thought several things reading your article.
Yikes.
Yes, well, this is the woman with the frozen yogurt tampon.
Yikes. She must sleep alone.
I hope she washes her sheets. Yikes
I also have dry cracked heels and I use a sanding block. Like the kind you use for wood working. I bought mine decades ago at the hardware store. I insert a quarter sheet of 180 grit sandpaper into the block and sand the dry skin off my feet followed by lotion. It works for me and the single sheet of sandpaper lasts for a year or more.
Yikes.
I can't believe you're saying Yikes to me when you use 180 grit sandpaper on your feet, lolol!! ~ karen
We have the same feet/ankle fists. The best thing I found to maintain soft skin is Gormel cream from Gordon laboratories. The magic is It has 20% urea in it. I know, sounds gross but it works. My physical therapist recommended it when she was treating my foot and was horrified at the cracking and callouses. Slough off the dead skin like you have and then use this cream on your feet over night...every night. It will do wonders for your ankle fists.
Based on how many people have said they put "such and such" on their feet at night and then put on socks I'm guessing you could put just about anything moisturizing on your feet and it would work as long as you're religious about doing it every single night. But that's just a guess. My problem is I just won't do it every night. I know that I won't, lol. I might go as long as a couple of weeks, but then I'll forget about it until my feet are barfy again. ~ karen!
Dermal Therapy Heel Care Cream -- I get the big tube at Costco because I have horribly dry skin on my feet too. If I put this on at night with a pair of socks to protect the sheets, my heel and other skin cracks heal up in a couple of nights. It's better than Vaseline for really severe problems. Pumice helps too, as you say. I avoid salon pedicures now, have had bad luck with them nicking my cuticles and slicing too much skin off my heels.
Hmmm....wonder if I can use this on my elbows! LOL. Not gonna, but I bet it would work!
Not sure if I'm as brave as you to try the product Karen, but if my feet continue to look like my Dads (I'm barefoot all the time....winter or summer...hate shoes!) I just may give it a whirl.Karen
You're feet ain't got nothing on me girl. So paint those nails and walk proudly. There are much worse things.
My feet haven't been puked on YET! LOL😅😅
If the last picture was the final result. Try Baby Feet. It literally took off all that too. My feet were nearly squeaky they were so 'baby'. Though the peeling can go on for up to 2 weeks.
Love your narration. lol
Karen,
You have a great nack for making people laugh. Holy cow in this article I was on-the-floor laughing so hard. You are a total crackup! I always know I'm going to be amused everyday when your new posts come in my mailbox. Thanks not only for the great advice but for such a wonderful sense of humor! I love it! Keep it up, it's working!
Good old Vaseline and a pair of socks over night does the dryness trick! As it's a byproduct of Petroleum, not sure how unhealthy it is but it sure works.
Several years ago Howard Stern was on the air, yammering on about a product called "Baby Foot", which, he said, was supposed to remove layers of foot skin, revealing skin as soft and new as a BABY'S FOOT. Sounds intetesting, I thought. I like having nice, soft, feet, I said to myself, and continied listening. He went on go describe what would happen. After It puts the lotion on Its feet, wraps them up in the deadly, slippery plastic, and waits the specified amount of time to let the lotion work its magic, It removes the wrapping (OK, now prepare to embrace the horror), and IT STEPS OUT OF A KIND OF "SKIN BOOTIE" OF WHAT WAS ONCE THE DRY, CALLOUSED SKIN ON ITS FEET! The newly revealed skin is soft like a baby's and no longer calloused and rough like, well, MINE. Shown below is a YouTube link where a couple of gals use said product and don't end up with a "skin bootie" but start to peel the "old" skin from their feet in what seems to be a competition to see who can peel off the biggest piece of skin from her own foot. Enjoy!
Ok, I have 2 comments...when I was pregnant with my first baby, I started bleeding and went into the hospital (4 states away from home while on a business trip). It turned out I had placenta problems and needed to stay in bed, with my feet tied to the end of the bed and up in the air. When they’d untie my feet, I’d slip into a lump at the head of the bed.
So after 4 1/2 months of this, I gave birth. Meanwhile my feet hadn’t touched ground in 4 1/2 months. The nurses had been washing them and motioning them but it never occurred to me that they would be like a baby’s feet! They were so soft and puffy and round that I had trouble standing up on them!
My foot routine now is that I take my shower every night, wash my feet and then coat them in a couple of good squirts of Codi Lotion (find it at amazon or Walmart). Then I wrap my feet into a linen sheet and tuck them into bed to soak up the Codi. In the morning my feet are soft and ready to go!
I used to have rough feet but then I found Cetaphil moisturizing cream. I use it every night before bed and every morning, and I no longer have rough feet. It's not an overnight solution; took about two weeks for the roughness to go away but now I don't have dry cracking feet. I don't have to do anything special to maintain it either. So no filing or scrubbing.
Hmmm- I have coated my feet in Vaseline, wrapped them in plastic wrap, put on socks, went to bed and the next morning my feet absorbed the goo and I had soft feet. The dead skin just rolled off. This worked for me but I must say Karen, your case of "good grief! " feet might be a bit of a challenge. Maybe one day you can figure out how to get good looking knees! I sure could use some ideas😁 You're a hoot. Enjoy your humor.
I see your email come through as I am doing homework for my Master Gardener program. I had been looking at pictures of scale, gall, and how to prune trees and then see your feet. YIKES! You poor thing! That looks painful! Especially if the skin catches on socks, stockings, bed sheets, etc. They do look better in the end, but I am not sure the end is worth the means.
BTW, quickly get O'Keeffe's Healthy Feet in the blue round jar thing (not in the tube). That stuff is great and will work wonders if you use it daily. (And no, I don't work for them or own stock in their company). Really helps to keep my toe nails from splitting due to dryness and keeps my heals from cracking.
Thanks for that product tip Debbie, in the past few years one of my big toes has decided to split sometimes vertically, sometimes horizontally. Just when I think I've got it under control it splits. I've tried rubbing vitamin e, eucerin cream, bio oil, even olive oil, hydrating polish, nail strengthener polish, non-acetone remover, but it all seems temporary. I only paint my toenails in the summer but I've even stopped doing that figuring the polish and subsequent remover contributes to the problem. Nothing is helping so I am going to try O'Keefe's!
Yes, try O'Keefe's. I use their working hands (because my hands are so dry from being in water cleaning houses all day) and I love that product. I probably should be using the foot stuff too!
It didn't hurt at all, it was just gross to put socks on with all that dry skin. All the scratching and catching as I pulled them on. bleh. ~ karen!
Kudos to you, Karen, for bringing this topic up. It ain't pretty but it's important.
From one Master Gardener in Training to another, Debbie, O'Keefe's is the way to go. I started using it about 3 years ago and got the Handsome-Man-Unit onto it too.
About three or four years ago, while fumbling for change with my uber chapped hands that had ceased being able to grip anything, I dropped coins into the O'Keefe's display at Home Hardware. I asked the ladies at counter if that stuff really works. They said it's all they ever use and showed me hands that should have been a mess but weren't. I then asked what if it doesn't work on me or I don't like it. They said bring it back and we'll give you your money back. No questions asked. Promise. Now we have little green pucks all over the house and in our vehicles.
When my ankles started cracking and bleeding from boot chafing I went and got the blue one for feet. Again, the best I have ever used.
That said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Keep those feet exfoliated once you get the worst of it off and keep it off. As we age this becomes more and more important.
My pedicurist says to put the plug in the drain every time you shower to get any dried skin softened and then scrape with a dull blade or the edge of a spoon (you don't want to cut yourself) and then, when drying, rub like mad with a rough towel or washcloth. Heels, tips of toes, between the toes, cuticles - everything - till completely dry and no more loose skin comes off. Every single time. Then, rub in a small amount of O'Keefe's.
See The Meticulous Manicurist on YouTube for examples of why you don't want to let chapped feet get the better of you. Ugh!!
The owner of my salon sells something like this and everyone talks about their baby feet! The nail techs won’t let me try it because I “...already have baby feet.” They say it is because I always wear shoes - always. Except when I shower. I have had so many surgeries, I can no longer walk barefooted except on carpet, which I don’t really have in my house - only two area rugs. They swear by it. (You could do it again just on your heels, if you saved any of the acidy gunky stuff.) Isn't science wonderful!?
Aren’t feet wonderful - no matter how they look!
Patty, how many? Let’s compare...I’m up to 3 on the Rt,2 on the Lt. and now I have floppy toes and a space that make my footprint look like I have a webbed foot!🤪
this product looks like something Dr. Pimple Popper (Sandra Lee) would like. I wonder what she would think about it?
OMG... You made me laugh out loud. Not sure I’ll try this but it seems to work. Your mom is a hoot.
You are brave; for me that's way too much skin to lose without the involvement of a plastic surgeon and some anesthesia! Which is why we love you, of course! 😁