I'll warn you all now, this is a somewhat nasty and scary post. I'm talking skin here, rough dead stuff and very much alive stuff too. You've all been told!
Over a week ago I read a blog post from a favourite blogger who talked about these foot exfoliating bags for your feet. Naturally I went on the hunt for them and found some in Dunnes, though you I hear you can get them from chemists, Penneys and online too. I have really rough horrible skin all over my feet (sexy, I'm well aware) so I thought these would be the perfect thing.
The basic gist is you have one pair of 'socks' in the pack. When you open it you cut the socks open and there are two sticky tags, one on each sock so you can tape them around your ankles. You sit with them on for a recommended 90 minutes (I watched a short film) and then wash your feet and dry them. Inside the socks is a gel-like substance that makes it difficult and slippery to walk in. If you use them really try to stay off your feet while you let the treatment work, I went on my arse trying to make a cuppa.
After 7 days it says that all the rough and dead skin will peel off your feet and you'll be left with shiny new soft ones. In fairness this is just what happened. I had near given up on the socks ever working by day 4 and totally forgot I had used them until day 6 when I almost keeled over in shock at the state of my soles. I honestly thought I had caught some horrible disease and my skin was peeling off as a result - whats that you say? Too much embarrassing bodies? Not at all!..
But heres the scary part. Not only did it make the rough and dead skin peel off, but parts of my fresh and very much alive skin come off as well. Its still really sore and I'll admit, it was kind of scary seeing and feeling my skin come off. I called my podiatrist friend in utter panic to see if I needed to go to the hospital as, well, I mean my skin was falling off! And after she laughed at me (I tend to call her in panic a lot 'I've pulled out a clump of hair, I'm half bald. Its ok to glue it back in, right?' or an old classic whenever I have had too much to drink 'I just wanted to pluck one hair. But now I've no eyebrows! Will sunglasses work?') she told me that there sounded like there was a mild acid in the pack and how were people allowed to sell this stuff. On a side note, a podiatrist is the kind of person you want to go to if you need rough or dead skin removed. Not scary skin eating €4 foot packs!
In the end I've to just wait until my skin grows back and not use those yokes again. I'm quite sure I'm in the minority here for dreadful things to happen from using these as they are blogged about - and I trust these bloggers totally. They are also all over the market, Amazon is selling them by the dozen (but at extortionate prices) and there is nothing online that seems to say people have had the same experience as myself. Maybe I just have very sensitive skin, but the stinging has yet to completely stop and I'm avoiding looking at the 'hole' - piece of missing skin on the bottom of my foot. It makes me slightly bias when saying I don't think I'll be picking them up again, I like having skin. Even if its a little rough!
Apart from the fresh, nerve ending filled skin coming off, the socks did make my skin very soft, but only on the soles. The rough skin on the sides of my feet and toes are still the same, which makes me wonder how well theres socks work overall. I personally don't think its value for money - especially if a doctors bill had been added to the picture!
I really hope this hasn't put anyone off trying these magic foot socks, I just wanted to share my experience and warn people too!
