April, 2020
How to clean feet
In response to a member question about how to clean feet after coming in from outside (with significant dirt or stains), a number of members offered their methods…
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A) When I am at home, I have hose with a jet nozzle near the back door. If I am particularly dirty after yard work, I’ll use the jet to blast dirt off my legs and feet. If I need some soap, I keep a spray bottle with water and a little dish washing soap in it. If you google ‘silicone foot scrubber mat’, you’ll find all kinds of things that are good for putting a little soap on and scrubbing feet. I find I really don’t have to do much scrubbing. I also keep a nail brush handy.
When I am out in nature, and I come back to the car, I keep some simple supplies, including the nail brush, in the car. I recently moved up to a full wash station in the car due to Covid Madness, but I wish I had done so a lot sooner.
If you have really serious filth problems – like walking through oil, tar, or something else that just won’t scrub off, I recommend a European product that I’ve used for many years when doing shop work. It used to be called Kresto, but is now Stocko: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JLNZ20 This stuff is amazing. It is very gentle, but has ground walnut shell in it. It makes an amazing scrub and is very pleasing on hands and feet.
S.S.
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B) I go in and out from the garden many times a day. I have a coir “boot scraper” mat next to the regular doormat that I rub the bottom and sides of my feet on before going in.
If it’s a wet day and I have stuff stuck all over my feet (leaves, mud, grass, etc), I swish each foot a bit in the bucket of gray water (lightly-used dish washing water) that sits outside the door, sometimes using my hand to rub the top and sides if they still have smears of mud on them.
G.L.
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C) Coming back in, I always walk through my garage that leads into my basement. There I have a sink. What I usually do is take a plastic bucket, put a few inches of warm water in it and set it on the floor. Then I stick my feet my feet into it (one foot at a time) and sort of move my foot up and down so that any leaves, mud, or other debris just comes off into the water. When I take each foot out, it’s wet of course, but I don’t bother to dry it. I don’t even touch my feet. I then just walk (with wet feet) on the concrete floor the 20 feet or so to my steps leading up into the house, and by the time I reach the top of the steps to enter my house, my feet are already relatively dry enough to walk into the house and not leave any footprints. I have hardwood floors.
That’s my *usual* procedure. On rare occasions, I may have accidentally stepped in something that won’t easy come off by just stepping into a bucket of water. In those cases, I may lift my foot up into the basement and use a rough scrubber and water to get it off. Sometimes soap as well, but usually don’t bother with soap.
…During my nightly shower, I always use a very stiff vegetable brush on the bottoms of my feet. If there’s any residual stain there, it almost always comes off. If it doesn’t, then I know my feet are clean anyway, so I don’t worry about it.
K.S.
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D) This might not be exactly what you’re asking, but with COVID I’ve actually adopted a foot washing practice much like my hand washing practice. If I’ve been out barefoot I’ll put in a pair of socks at the door which I’ll wear to the bathtub where I’ll wash each down with soap and water for 20 seconds. My feet are WAY cleaner than the bottoms of shoes!
D.C.
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E) I have a garden hose sprayer with multiple selectable spray patterns, each of them labeled. If I turn on the water all the way and use the “JET” pattern on my feet, they get pretty clean. The velocity of water at that setting is considerably stronger than that of my bathroom shower. At velocities sufficient to clean mud from your feet, you should expect the occasional errant splash of water towards your face, especially when using this method to clean the outside edges of your feet.
B.S.
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F) Many years ago I noticed that a pile of wood chips at my parents’ cottage (I think they had purchased the chips for some mysterious agricultural purpose) did a wonderful job of cleaning even the muddiest feet.
V.S.
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G) I like to keep my feet clean too and it was challenging before I discovered a bamboo scouring solution. It’s a dough-ring (popular doughnut) shape, it is all bristles and is intended for cleaning pots and pans, but I’ve found that with just water it can pristinely clean my feet, and it works with soap too. I sometimes do some pumicing too which always makes my feet look nice, clean and smooth whilst still being tough.
I also recommend under general maintenance walks along sandy places like beaches and nice freshwater swims because it makes all skin feel lovely and soft. Saltwater swims are good to for cleansing and this all positively affects the feet too.
A.R.