As Seen on Pinterest: Vinegar and Listerine Foot Soak


I am one of those people who stops wearing socks as soon as it hits 65 degrees out.  I'm a sandals and barefoot kind of girl.  Which means that I was really excited about the prospect of a foot soak that would allow you to rub loose skin right off of your feet and leave them smooth!  The original instructions call for 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup listerine and 1/4 cup water.  Now, I know that I have big feet, but I can't see how this would possibly be enough for anyone to soak their feet in for 30 minutes.  I doubled the batch.  It still wasn't enough.  I ended up with 1 1/2 cups listerine (thank goodness I had the cheap generic stuff) and 1 1/2 cups vinegar and 3/4 cup water.

I then soaked my feet for the full 30 minutes.  After which, they were blue.


Alright so that's not that surprising--it is, afterall, blue listerine that I was using.  So I rubbed the solution off with a towel (this is when the dead skin is supposed to just rub right off--it didn't).  Then I hustled my blue feet up to the bath tub and sprayed them off, and then scrubbed them with a nylon Ikea dish brush (yeah, not a soft brush).  The blue eventually came off, but the skin was still rough and attached to my feet.  I'd dare say it looked worse afterwards (I did take a before and after photo--but I decided no one wanted to see my rough feet and then my rough prune-y feet).

I gave this one the best possible shot....I used more listerine and vinegar (without ruining the ratio) and I actually scrubbed my feet off afterwards with a brush--and still no loose skin.  I had better luck with a Ped Egg (remember those--they actually sorta work).  I know everyone's skin is a bit different, and this might work for some folks, but I do not recommend this Pinterest DIY.

Update: A friend said she had some success with this.  She used the Alcohol Free Listerine (but the name brand kind) and followed up with a pumice stone. 

Based on other comments I've received on this post's Pinterest pin, I suspect how well this works is based an awful lot on how tough the skin is on your feet.  I have very thick foot skin.  I also wonder, aside from the disinfectant properties and the minty smell, how much the Listerine is really doing.  Has anyone tried a warm water and vinegar foot bath?

Comments

  1. I did this, but I used two cups Apple cider vinegar two cups Listerine the blue one off brand and four cups water it was kinda warm but meh lol I soaked my feet for a while while browsing pinterest then I used a pumice stone and rubbed off the gross skin then I soaked them again and rubbed even more off and one last time just for good measure. My running method may be what worked because the stone did awesome, but I rubbed until my foot was dry and crazy skin started rubbing off then I rubbed with that gross skin with my dry bare hands the crazy skin beads sorta worked like a scrub I did this each time after using the pumice stone. Then my feet were awesome, but I took it a bit farther and made a foot scrub with 1/2 cup brown sugar and 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil and 2tbs raw honey. That was also a pinterest find and it turned out too gooey, so I think it's supposed to be 3 tsp oil and 2tsp honey, but whatever it felt really good, now I have foot lotion on them in a pair of socks. They feel amazingly refreshed.

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    1. Ive done this soak with or should i say for my roomate cause his feet were bad so from what i remember the listerine was to be the original kind not the blue or green ones and it was with water as hot as you can take itskin and allow ti s u can take it for 15 mins or so then just like we all get damp prune feet when wet , wioe off any exsess skin and it came off but only the top laywr ofcourse (callused )

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  2. Try changing your recipe 2 parts water and 1 prat listerine and vinegar. It actually works!

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  3. Or just buy a batch of Baby Foot. I do a treatment spring and fall and it's very dramatic how much skin comes off. :) Takes a while, though. Just about the time you forget you've done it, the bottoms of your feet fall off.

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    1. I looked up Baby Foot and it sounds amazing...and a little scary! :)

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  4. I heard it HAS to be the Listerine brand...other ones don't work.

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    1. Generic has the same ingredients, so I'm not sure why it wouldn't work. I think what's really doing the work on this foot soak is the vinegar, but the skin on my feet is pretty tough, so it didn't work.

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  5. I'm gonna have to go with the listerine brand on this one as well as it skills be full strength 'the original(not blue)' is better to me. It got rid of any discoloration or fungus in the toenails sup as a disinfectant it is very effective. I believe the vinegar and warm water helps more with the calluses. However, I won't rule out the benefits of the listerine. It works great as I believe have thick skin. The brown sugar olive oil scrub is also effective I wrap my feet in plastic after the scrub. Have you tried the vapor rub?

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