| Simple
and Easy Ways to Care for your Feet |
By:
Michael Fortomas |
|
Too
many women are inclined to forget that they have feet
until something happens to call their attention to
them. A beautifully formed foot is as charming to the
eye as a beautifully shaped hand. Every woman should
have a knowledge of the practical facts which make for
her physical beauty. It is to supply these facts that
this little article has been written.
Shoes have much to do with preserving or distorting
the natural foot outline, and in this connection
several practical facts should be remembered. First,
that every woman\'s shoe should be broad enough to let
her toes rest flatly and naturally on the sole.
Second, that a low heel throws the weight of the body
on the instep. If you feel that broken arches are a
slight penalty to pay for tottering about with the
silly helplessness of a footbound Chinese woman of the
old type, by all means wear highheeled shoes.
If you will have \"French\" heels — and to
the average man a woman looks ridiculous in them,
though politeness bid him disguise his feelings —
there is nothing more to be said. Do not wear old
shoes about the house. They will make your feet
shapeless. The dyes in cheap stockings often run. If
you have a slight skin abrasion or a cut, you may get
blood poisoning. Hence pay more for your stockings
(silk, lisle or silk and wool) rather than risk
infection.
FOOT MANICURING
Always cut your toenails straight across, using a nail
clip, or nail scissors. Ingrown nails always result
from cutting away the corners of the nail which
support its forward part. If you smooth the nail edges
with emery, a good deal of darning will be saved.
FOOT AILMENTS
Calluses.—Calluses very often develop on the sole of
the foot. They also form on the toes, where they turn
into hard corns, or between the toes, where they
become soft ones, and are capable of causing severe
pain. Like bunions, flat feet and fallen arches,
calluses and corns are a logical result of the wearing
of tight or ill fitting shoes.
Good corn plasters give relief. There are also good
acid solutions for corns, but they must be
applied to the hard skin of the corn only. It is best,
however, to have a good chiropodist remove
corns, since he is able to take out their core. The
\"vascular\" corn (made up of small blood
vessels), which is less common, should always be taken
out by a chiropodist.
Bunions.—Bunions are beyond proper home treatment.
They are produced by pressure on the big toe, causing
inflammation of the second toe joint. A preliminary
callus turns into enlargement of the joint, and, in
many cases, motives much suffering, and inability to
wear a shoe. If the shoe pressure which causes the
bunion be removed, the callus will disappear, but not
necessarily the bunion. When bunions are long standing
it is not always possible to cure them permanently. A
bunion should at once be referred to a chiropodist.
Ingrowing Nails.—Their origin has already been
mentioned. Treatment should consist in bathing
in hot water, then raising the injured portion of the
nail, and inserting pieces of lint or absorbent cotton
as an artificial support. Then scrape the nail
longitudinally. The lint or cotton support must be
renewed from time to time, until the nail has reverted
to normal. If a proud flesh condition has developed it
will be best to go at once to the chiropodist, instead
of attempting a cure yourself.
Flat and Fallen Arches.—Both these foot troubles are
beyond any home treatment. Fallen arches, once they
have definitely dropped, cannot be completely cured.
Both diseases, in most cases,
result from improper footwear, high heels, and shoes
wrongly balanced, and each and every case
usually needs individual treatment.
Chilblains.—Chilblains, one of the most common of
foot disorders, can usually be cured at home. It comes
from cold or frost, and does not start in feet which
have a good blood circulation. Soaking the feet in hot
water, rubbing and massaging with warm spirits of
rosemary and turpentine, and exercise are the
remedies. Exercise, especially, restores the
circulation, and alleviates the redness, the burning
feeling and the intolerable itching which are the
signs of the ailment.
FOOT PERSPIRATION AND PERSPIRATION IN GENERAL
Foot Perspiration.—Perspiration we associate more
directly and more perceptibly with the feet
than any other part of the body. There is a reason.
There are more perspiration glands in the feet than
anywhere else on the body, save in the palms of the
hands. Daily bathing, night and morning, is the best
preventive of excessive foot perspiration. It is well,
when you are thus troubled, to add a little alum to
the water (it should be warm), and after drying to
powder the feet with boracic powder. Or, if you
prefer, use a soothing lotion for \"feet that are
weary\" and perspiring, made up of equal parts of
alcohol and witch hazel. Hot water, however, is a
sovereign specific for all sweaty feet.
Perspiration in General.—We are perspiring all the
time. Our perspiration glands are constantly
throwing off the waste matter of the body, and bathing
serves the double purpose of keeping the
pores open so that this matter may be discharged, and
removing it in order that no disagreeable odors result
from its presence. The soles of the feet, the armpits,
at times the forehead, chest, and neck are
perspiration centers.
Perspiration is usually not excessive when a woman is
in good general health, or when it is not
a result of violent exercise or unusual temperature
conditions. But when it is habitual and unchecked it
robs a young woman or girl of all that charm of
daintiness and appeal which is her right and
privilege. There is no odor more immediately and more
resentfully noticed than that of dried perspiration.
It clings not only to the body, but to the clothes.
Perfumes and scented powders do not hide it, and it
always awakens disgust.
Frequent bathing, frequent change of undergarments and
stockings, and a free use of talcum powder or \"odorono\"
are all indicated. Never imagine that the use of
talcum instead of soap and
water will do away with this unhappy scent. After
washing, always and invariably after washing, is
powder to be used. The poet has coined the phrase
\"honest sweat.\" But there is no such thing
as \"honest sweat\" in feminine beauty\'s
bright lexicon of charm. Perspiration, especially at
evening affairs, dances, etc., steals away that
natural freshness and fragrance of aura which should
surround woman. |
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