How To Get Your Feet Soft

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It's that time of year when your feet, suddenly unsheathed from boots, socks, or slippers, are prime for inspection. If what you see is far from sandal-ready, you are not alone. Calluses and dry skin can build up over winter, leaving feet looking crinkly and weathered, especially if it's been a while since your last pedicure. If you are willing to devote a week or so to an intensive at-home foot peel, there is no better solution.

Foot peels are typically single-use and involve wearing a pair of acid-solution-soaked booties for an hour. The acids—usually glycolic, lactic, and/or salicylic—get to work dissolving dead skin, but the real fun begins a few days post bootie session. On or around day three, your skin will begin to peel—in small patches at first, then in sheets. It is not pretty, in fact it is downright unsettling, yet it is also extremely satisfying. Best practice is to just let it happen—hands off!—though a daily soak might help things along. At the end of the process, your feet will be butter-soft and baby-smooth. This year, especially, there's something almost symbolic about shedding old skin. Here, the best five peels to get you feeling footloose and fancy free in no time.

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The O.G.

Original Exfoliant Foot Peel

Probably the first product you think of when you hear "foot peel," remembering the time someone told you their skin was shedding thanks to something called Baby Foot, and you said, "What?!" Baby Foot is a solid classic: Powered by a potent blend of lactic and glycolic acid that prompts peeling to begin about three to four days after use (be warned, it can continue for up to two weeks), the experience will delight and disgust you in equal measure. And yes, your feet will be as soft as a newborn's.

Best For Customizing

PoshPeel™ PediCure (1 count)

PoshPeel's point of difference—and a clever one, at that—is that it is customizable, so you can calibrate how much Activating Essence you wish to use depending on whether you need a light or more intense skin-slough.

Most Moisturizing

Barefoot Scientist Reboot Revitalizing Foot Peel

If you suffer some sensitivity, or worry that your skin will become too dried out from one of the more aggressive peels, this is the product for you. Hyaluronic acid and other moisturizing ingredients keep skin feeling soft even while it begins to shed, a process that kicks in about a week after use.

Best Natural Peel

Earth Therapeutics Soft & Smooth Gentle Peeling Foot Mask - 2 Pairs

This peel gets the job done with an alpha-hydroxy acid complex, but it is also infused with soothing organic botanicals such as rosehip, aloe vera, and chamomile, as well as antibacterial tea tree oil, which has the added benefit of acting as a deodorizer.

Best For Calluses

TONYMOLY Foot Peeling Shoes

Could there be a more delightful name than Peeling Shoes? This K Beauty option tackles the toughened keratin that can get especially thick on heels and toes, while softening the whole foot. Just slip on the booties, hang out for between one and two hours, and watch the skin begin to peel away starting about four days later.

April Long Beauty Director April Long writes about beauty, wellness, and luxury skincare for Town & Country.

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