UKC

What's best, when I let my feet get too hard, on the heels especially, they crack and get very sore, if I sand them down and apply flexitol they feel as though they won't cope with long hard walks, anybody any thoughts ?

In reply to davtay:

Vaseline. Helps to soften hard feet, increases friction so prevents blisters, esp good if feet/socks get wet. Happy feet.

In reply to Snoweider:

Cheers, I will give that a try.

In reply to davtay:

Soft feet are better. I am barefoot in the dojo kicking bags and running about four times a week so my feet get thick cracked skin on the heels if I don't trim them down. I have found that soft feet are much more resistant to the constant pounding than hard feet, and I don't want a repeat of the rather unpleasant cut I inflicted on someone with a heel crack once. I find that regular grating with one of those pedicure cheese-grater things and a daily application of cheap olive oil works better than flexitol for a fraction of the price. It makes your socks stink though.

In reply to davtay:

My experience is that hard but supple feet are better. I always get blisters if I have soft feet before going on a long walk, but after a few days on the trail my feet begin to harden up nicely and I'm not troubled with blisters again. After about 100 miles on the CWT my soles were like shoe leather!

If there's a chance of getting feet wet regularly then I use Gehwol Extra every morning, but otherwise I don't bother.

(Note that the above refers to using trail shoes. If I'm wearing boot then I'll always get blisters regardless.)

In reply to davtay:

Same problem here. Cracks fissures and dry hard skin. While I sand my skin with a fine 'cheesegrater' pad - resulting soft feet don't seem to be a problem - my real weapon is Boots Intensive Foot Softener as recommended to me by a consultant podiatrist. The magic ingredient is deeply penetrating Urea. And the price is reasonable. Other urea products can be costly. However, you have to keep at it...twice a year approach isn't effective. Probably a man thing.

In reply to Only a hill:

I'm really not trying to be a smart erse here but if you are experiencing blisters, even with wet socks on, then your boots (and maybe socks too) are the problem - not your feet. You sound like me 20 years ago when I thought I was a size 9. In fact I was and still am a 9.3/4. Threw all undersized boots out and never looked back. No more black and missing toe nails. My Nepal Extremes are as comfortable as carpet slippers!

In reply to gilliesp:

I sand them quite often and use flexitol balm but its very expensive, I also had a fungal problem with dry flakey skin all over the bottom of my feet due to them getting wet all the time, I've cured that now after a trip to the doctor and they feel a lot better. Like you say though its seems to be an ongoing regime, I do a lot of walking and they get very hard again quite quickly, I will try the boots stuff.
Cheers

In reply to gilliesp:

Believe me, I've tried a lot of different boots and several different sizes. The fact remains: when I wear boots -- any boots -- I get blisters, but when I wear trail shoes I don't.