Tips for Treating Calluses Naturally

Calluses can be incredibly painful, and when causing lots of pain, can disrupt your day-to-day activities and even stop you being able to walk properly. Usually, calluses occur as a result of not taking care of your feet properly. Despite being an essential part of your body, feet rarely get the kind of care and attention they actually need. If you’re looking for some tips and tricks to treat calluses naturally, just keep reading.

What you need to know: calluses

The first thing you need to know about calluses is that they’re your body’s natural response to repeated pressure, or friction, on a particular area. This is often a result of improper footwear. You can also get calluses on your hands, often if you’re making use of the same tool for long periods of time. However, calluses on your hands generally aren’t so problematic. Those on your feet tend to be both painful and bothersome as they keep you from putting on shoes, walking normally, and so on.

Remember, calluses and “corns” are not the same thing. Corns are corneal lumps on the skin, containing lumps of hardened keratin as a central nucleus. These tend to hurt if you put pressure on them, and appear mainly on your toe joints and the soles of your feet. Calluses are different, being bigger and having a thick layer of dead skin on top. They appear on the side of your big toe, or under your heel. Despite their differences though, both can be treated with home remedies.

Treating calluses naturally

• Give them a gentle scrub with a pumice stone after you’ve had a bath. Ensure your skin is clean and dry when you do this. After that, cut a raw onion in half, and rub over the calluses. Finally, put a couple of drops of arnica oil on them.
• Grind up a garlic clove and mix with olive oil, then place over the callus. Cover with a cloth and leave it on overnight. This will help make your skin softer and make the callus smaller.
• Crush up 5 aspirin pills with a tablespoon of lemon juice and a tablespoon of water. Put this on the callus, wrap with a hot towel and leave for 10 minutes. The heat will assist the paste with the penetration of your skin and smooth it out. To get rid of the pumice, simply rub with a pumice stone when you remove the paste.

• Take a splash of wine vinegar and soak some leek leaves for 24 hours. Apply the soaked leaves to the callus for 20 minutes, then remove the callus using a proper tool to cut it off. Remember to disinfect with alcohol afterwards.
• Marigold petals are anti-inflammatory, so apply a pomade made with marigold petals to the callus a few times a day. This will make the texture smoother and reduce inflammation.
• Mix up an infusion of four drops of chamomile per litre of warm water. Soak your feet for ten minutes, or until the water gets cool. After this, apply a layer of Vaseline to the callus and put some cotton socks on.
• Soak some bread crumbs in apple cider vinegar for two days. Use a handkerchief to tie the breadcrumbs on to the callus using the handkerchief – do this for three nights, after soaking feet in a bowl of warm water to smooth the callus and make it easier to remove.
• Remove the pulp from a fresh fig. Place it on to the callus and secure it there before going to sleep. Remove the pulp in the morning with hot water, and then remove the dead skin with a pumice stone half an hour later.
• Wash and grin up 40 grams of spinach leaves. Attach them to the callus with a bandage and let sit for twenty minutes and then remove it. Repeat this each evening for around a week until you feel the callus beginning to smooth.
• Make a paste from grinding a handful of houseleek leaves and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Place on the callus of areas of dry skin. Allow this to dry, and then use a pumice stone to remove the callus.
• Soak your feet in warm water for ten minutes, or until the water gets cold. While your feet are still wait, mix up a tablespoon of baking soda and water and apply this like a paste to them. Remove the callus with a pumice stone.

• Peel a pineapple and attach the skin, smooth part down, to the callus. Secure this with a bandage. Leave this on overnight – you might want to wear socks for added security – and soak your foot in warm water for ten minutes in the morning. Repeat this a couple of times, for around a week, until the callus removes easily.
• Mix 1/8 a cup of oil with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, then vigorously rub on to the callus. Use a pumice stone to remove the callus, and then massage with almond oil to moisturise.
• Place a slice of lemon peel and raw tomato on to the callus, securing with a bandage in the evenings, rubbing caster oil on to the callus each day for two weeks. The juices from the lemon and tomato will soften the callus, and the oil will help moisturise the skin.
• Grind up a tablespoon of ivy and one garlic clove until you get a juice. Soak gauze in the juice, and then apply to the callus. Cover this with a cloth, and leave it overnight. Repeat this each day until the callus has softened.
• Pick a few nettle stalks and flowers and wash them. Grind up until you get a paste, and then apply to the callus. For ease, use a blender and a little bit of water to create the paste.
  If you don’t like the idea of using nettle, try marigold instead.