Elevate your next at-home pedicure with these callus-minimizing scrubs.
Though the weather may feel otherwise, we’re currently less than three weeks away from the official first day of warmer, sunnier springtime. With rising temperatures come fewer layers, less skin dryness, and open-toed shoes. If you’ve been hibernating from your foot-care routine throughout the winter, it’s time to break out one of the best foot scrubs to polish your heels, soles, and toes for the upcoming season.
Calluses and dry feet happen, and thankfully there are quite a few products on the market to soothe these issues. However, if you’ve tried more intensive foot peels in the past to no avail (or maybe peeled too much skin off), the following feet and body scrubs will help slough away dead skin cells, cracked heels, and painful corns without causing your skin to shed like a snake for nearly a week.
Not only do these scrubs come in a variety of price points — with most of them being drugstore finds — but they also come in an array of spa-worthy aromas and nourishing formulations to target all of your skin-smoothing feet needs. These gritty scrubs do contain known physical exfoliators like pumice stone-based buffing beads, sugar, or salt crystals, but some of these picks are also infused with chemical exfoliators like salicylic acid or alpha hydroxy acids (also known as AHAs).
Now, time for a little less talking and a little more scrubbing. Below, take a gander at the very best exfoliating foot scrubs that’ll instantly provide sweet, skin-smoothing relief to your toes.
SheaMoisture Daily Hydration Creme Sugar Scrub
Malin + Goetz Peppermint Body Scrub
Rachel Nazarian, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based at Schweiger Dermatology Group in New York City, says she’s a major fan of the smoothing and moisturizing properties featured in SheaMoisture’s Daily Hydration Creme Sugar Scrub. “The sugar in this formula acts as a physical exfoliant, and the mix of coconut oil and shea butter conditions and repairs the skin barrier,” she says.
The Malin + Goetz Peppermint Body Scrub is an intensive exfoliator and callus remover that’s become another one of Dr. Nazarian’s favorite treatments for soft feet. It contains pumice granules to gently buff rough skin anywhere on the body while amino acids and glycerin work together to plump and soften.
Dove Exfoliating Body Polish with Pomegranate Seeds & Shea Butter
The Body Shop Peppermint Reviving Pumice Foot Scrub
Looking for an under-$10 scrub? Hadley King, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and a clinical instructor of dermatology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, says the Dove Exfoliating Body Polish with Pomegranate Seeds & Shea Butter is right up your alley. “This scrub gently exfoliates dead skin while supporting the skin barrier with moisturizing ingredients like shea butter and triglycerides,” she says. As its name suggests, this exfoliating scrub is also formulated with sand-sized buffing particles derived from pomegranate seeds.
If it’s been a while since you’ve had an intensive, callus-targeting pedicure, whip out The Body Shop’s Peppermint Reviving Pumice Foot Scrub, stat. This intensive formula contains skin-polishing pumice beads to physically exfoliate while peppermint oil creates a cooling, soothing feel that tired toes desire.
Soft Services Buffing Bar
Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Body Scrub
The Soft Services Buffing Bar is an Allure Best of Beauty winner that can be used just about anywhere from the neck down, but it’s especially great for polishing away unwanted flakes of dead skin on your feet. It contains magnesium oxide microcrystals to intensely buff and exfoliate your roughest parts while a soothing trifecta of shea butter, glycerin, and aloe vera soothe and replenish moisture.
Another Allure Best of Beauty winner to put on your radar is the Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Body Scrub. With a blend of heavy-hitting exfoliators like pumice beads, lactic acid, and salicylic acid, your feet will be smooth to the touch in as little as one treatment after using this impressive formula.
Tenoverten The Sole Scrub
Beauty Pie Super Tonic Peppermint Leg & Foot Scrub
For something a little less gritty, try the Tenoverten The Sole Scrub. It swaps harsher buffing beads for micro-size sugar crystals that melt onto skin as they gently slough away rougher areas of skin. As the sugar crystals exfoliate, antioxidant-rich orange peel extract brightens and seals in moisture for a silky-smooth feel.
Yes, we know a $75 foot scrub will raise eyebrows, but believe us when we say that the Beauty Pie Super Tonic Peppermint Leg & Foot Scrub is worth every penny. This luxurious scrub buffs away flaky and cracked skin with a blend of blue Persian, pink Himalayan, and Dead Sea salts, while vitamin E conditions. The results: feet and gams that are as smooth as satin.
Dr. Teal’s Exfoliate & Renew Lavender Epsom Salt Body Scrub
Lather Eucalyptus Foaming Foot Scrub
Barefoot Scientist Pure Grit Exfoliating Mineral Scrub
The dreamy Dr. Teal’s Exfoliate & Renew Lavender Epsom Salt Body Scrub smells like herbal lavender, but its aromatherapeutic benefits aren’t the only reason why we love this scrub. Like most of the brand’s products, this scrub utilizes the exfoliating benefits of Epsom salt while aloe vera, shea butter, and vitamin E moisturize skin.
Rather than roughly scrubbing at your feet like sandpaper, the Lather Eucalyptus Foaming Foot Scrub transforms from an intensive exfoliator to a gentle, sudsy formula that cushions and conditions skin. The main ingredient in this formula is pumice beads, which slough away flakes and calluses. It’s also worth noting that it features a delightfully aromatic essential oil blend of invigorating eucalyptus, herbaceous lavender, and juicy lemon.
If your motto is “the grittier, the better,” try slathering the Barefoot Scientist Pure Grit Exfoliating Mineral Scrub onto your toes, soles, and heels. This cocktail of Icelandic volcanic sand, bentonite clay, and quartz works overtime to buff away flakes, calluses, and cracks while a moisture-packed trio of aloe vera, coconut oil, and shea butter work their skin-softening wonders.