Have you ever tried a foot peeling mask? They’re an odd little plastic bootie filled with goo that you wear for a little while, and then a few days later the skin on your feet peels off. Sounds odd, and feels odd, but the result is beautiful soft feet. Our Editor Elise was our guinea pig.
FOR ANYONE CURIOUS there is a picture of a peeling heel at the end of the story – don’t scroll if you aren’t into dried skin!
5:50pm Having a work from home day. Decide that now is an appropriate time to do my Kocostar Foot Therapy.
5:51pm The instructions say ‘cut along the dotted line’ and I am ridiculously confused about what dotted line. Oh, I get it, I have to cut the two booties apart.
5:53pm Get the first one on my foot. It is cold and slimy. Struggle with the adhesive tab.
5:54pm Figure out the adhesive tab. I’m obviously a bit simple. Get second bootie on. Yep, just as gross and slimy.
5:55pm Waddle to the couch. I had been told I could walk around while wearing them, but that’s definitely not the case – it’s a slippery mix of plastic on floorboards, and sticky goo inside said plastic booties. I think I’ll be on the couch for a while
6:06pm Realise that I eventually need to wash the goo off with warm water. I am wearing leggings. How is this going to work?
6:15pm Another realisation – my legs are a bit hairy, and I need to take photos of this situation to go with the story.
6:28pm My feet feel disgusting. Is it over yet? I still have 82 minutes to go? Oh.
6:42pm Doorbell just rang. Took me over a minute to get to the door, and a minute to get back. I hope there aren’t any sort of emergencies in the next 40-something minutes.
7:01pm Did I mention that I had no polish on my toes? When I have done these foot-peeling masks in the past, they have damaged my polish. Since I had naked tootsies prior to this experiment, I quickly slicked on some clear on a couple of toes just to see what happened. Let’s be honest, if this is going to eat through the skin on your feet and cause it to shed, it’s probably not going to do great things to your pedicure.
7:20pm Alarm goes off. Slow and slippery waddle to the bathroom.
So, I managed to wash all the gunk off without having to take my pants off – in case you were concerned about the logistics, I rolled my leggings up and sat on the edge of the bathtub to wash my feet. I’m now sitting here with fluffy socks on, and my feet feel all cold and weird. It’s going to be a long few days.
Also, the clear polish I had on seemed to survive, but in hindsight I should have put on a colour instead.
Day 1
Nothing
Day 2
Nothing
Day 3
Success! As I was getting into bed I noticed what looked like a dry blister on the sole of my right foot. A quick scratch at it and a huge piece of skin peeled off my foot! Fun! The skin underneath was baby soft and super smooth and generally awesome, and I couldn’t help picking a little more.
Day 4
It’s pick city all up in here. The left foot caught up with the right, and it’s on for young and old. The peeling is moving slowly though, and coming off in little pieces, rather than big peels like last night.
Day 5
The bulk of the peeling is done and I’m now scratching at the last little corners, like under my toes and up the sides of my foot. It’s a little gross when you have a shower, but a vigorous rub with the towel while you are drying your feet seems to shift those remaining small bits. Side note: you’ll need to wash your towels.
After 5 days the peeling was more or less done, apart from the occasional little bit on the sides of my feet. Honestly, my feet have never looked better – no amount of scrubbing and buffing can ever get them looking this good. I was particularly impressed with how great my heels looked and felt. I have done these foot peeling masks in the past and had terrible experiences, but I will be repurchasing this one and doing them regularly.
A few things to consider:
1 – You’ll need to be sitting during the process – the booties aren’t really practical (or safe!) for walking around in. We suggest a movie on the couch with a cup of tea.
2- There is up to a week of shedding, so if you have a special occasion you definitely need a sufficient lead time. Your feet look great after, but the peeling process won’t be cute with your strappy sandals.
3 – Depending on your activity level, like if you go running, you may leave some skin behind in your socks.
4 – Try not to pick, as tempting as it is. Letting the skin dry up and fall off naturally means it will come off cleanly in bigger bits, rather than there being scraps of skin all over your couch and bed.
5 – You’ll want to vacuum pretty regularly during this process.
Elise tried the Kocostar Foot Therapy
