Homemade Foot Soaks You Can Make On The Spot

Homemade foot soaks are a great way to rejuvenate your feet at the end of a long day. They’re quick and easy to make. And they’re luxurious enough that you’ll feel as though you’ve been treated to a high end spa treatment.

It can be almost impossible to fit in the time to take care of yourself. And yet it’s so important that you do just that.

It is absolutely true that if you neglect your own self-care, you will not be able to maintain the tasks that your life requires of you each day.

Foot care is one of the most neglected personal care routines there is. And yet your feet show up every day to do their job, they definitely deserve to be pampered.

What Feet Do All Day

Your feet are comprised of 28 bones, 30 joints, and over 100 muscles, ligaments, and tendons. They work hard every day to support your balance and mobility.

Your feet have to carry a lot of weight throughout the day, and wearing shoes means subjecting them to additional pressure.

They are responsible for transporting you from place to place, for both work and pleasure. And they often support your body weight even when you are not moving. After all, they are not relieved of their duty when you’re standing still.

They can get pretty beat up, and even when they ‘cry for help’ they are often ignored. It is too easy to put together one of these simple homemade foot soaks, and give them 15-20 minutes of TLC a few evenings a week, not to do it.

And once you get into a routine that includes this simple self-care ritual, you will find that the pay off is pretty significant.

You’re feet will perform better and better as time goes on. And you may even find that sore, achy feet pretty much become a thing of the past.

Ingredients Needed For These Homemade Foot Soaks

The basic ingredients for the homemade foot soaks in this post are all the same. And you can absolutely use just those ingredients to make a really great foot soak whenever you like.

They are …

• WARM WATER – Soaking in warm water increases blood flow, which causes the muscles in your feet to relax. This relieves both joint stiffness and sore muscles.
• EPSOM SALT – Epsom salt relieves tension, pain, and inflammation. It softens skin, and acts as an exfoliant. And it kills odor by removing bacteria and some fungal infections.
• BAKING SODA – Adding baking soda to your soaks is great for dry, cracked heels because it helps to exfoliate the skin. It is also a great cleanser, and provides relief from uncomfortable itchiness that is so often associated with feet.

Additionally, I am recommending 3 different recipes for your foot pampering pleasure. They will bring the basic recipe up a few notches, both in how luxurious they make the experience feel, and in the benefits they provide for your feet.

They are …

• GINGER & LEMON – Ginger promotes circulation, reduces inflammation, and helps eliminate bacteria. Lemon is a great exfoliant, it weakens the bond between dead and new skin cells allowing the dead patches to be easily removed. It also has antibacterial and antifungal properties.
• ROSE, LIME, & COCONUT MILK – Rose has antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. Lime is a disinfectant and an exfoliant. And coconut milk has anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also an excellent moisturizer.
• LAVENDER & PINK GRAPEFRUIT – Lavender is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. And pink grapefruit boosts hydration and has anti-inflammatory properties.

Get The Most Out Of Your Homemade Foot Soaks

If you want to get the most out of your homemade foot soaks, there are a few things you can do to make that happen.

Before you prepare your soak, be sure that you have all of the supplies you’ll need on hand. You’re going to want to have a fresh, clean towel to dry your feet with after your soak. And you’re going to want to have a large towel, to set underneath the basin that you use to soak your feet in, to catch any water that may spill from it.

You may also want a timer, but I usually just wait until the water starts to cool down. And, speaking of cooling down, it is very nice to have a second foot bath of plain cold water to dip your feet in before you dry them off. It closes the pores on your skin, preparing them for the world outside the foot soak.

And, finally, you will want to either shut down all of your devices and use this time to meditate, reflect on the days events, or work on manifesting the future through visualization.

Or you may want to use this time to immerse yourself in a book, a show you’re involved in, or your favorite youtube channel.

Take Pampering Your Feet To Another Level

Preparing a homemade foot soak, immersing your feet in it, and simply allowing your feet to reap the benefits of that practice alone is a real treat.

But there are so many things that you can do that will take the foot pampering experience to a whole new level.

Here’s a few tips and tricks for you to up your foot pampering game …

For instance, each of the soak recipes in this post uses citrus as one of it’s ingredients. And the insides of the peels of that citrus can be used directly on your feet for added benefit. Rub them gently all over your feet and don’t forget to get inbetween those toes.

You can also prepare your soak without adding the epsom salt to it. Once you sit down and immerse your feet in the tub, you can lift them out one at a time and thoroughly rub them down with the salt. It’s best to use small circular motions to do this.

If you want to add the element of massage to your soak, it’s easy enough. Fill the bottom of your foot tub with marbles, place your feet on top of them, and then gently apply pressure to them with the bottom of your feet, moving your feet around in a circular motion as you do. The marbles will gently massage the bottom of your feet.

Using a pumice stone on your feet to remove any dead skin on them is necessary if you want to emerge from this time with exfoliated feet. Many of the ingredients in these soak recipes have exfoliating properties. But every one of them merely loosens the dead skin. You will need to use a pumice stone to actually remove it.

And finally, when you are finished with the soak itself, take a few moments to nourish your feet with a high quality lotion or oil. It is akin to ‘icing on a cake’.

3 Recipes For Homemade Foot Soaks

The recipes, for homemade foot soaks, in this post are designed to be made on the spot. All of the ingredients, apart from the ginger and fresh citrus, are things that you can keep on hand in your pantry.

And the ginger and citrus are easy enough to grab when you stop in the store to do your weekly grocery order.

To make the base of the soaks you will need a gallon of very warm water (bordering on hot), 1/2 cup epsom salt, and 1/4 cup baking soda.

These ingredients will be placed in a tub large enough to immerse your feet in, and stirred until they dissolve.

Then you will add the remaining ingredients, according to the formula you’ve chosen to use, to the tub and stir it all well.

FOR THE GINGER & LEMON SOAK YOU WILL NEED …

2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger and one lemon.

Add the ginger directly to the base formula, then cut the lemon in half, squeeze it into the soak, and toss the rind right into the tub as well. Stir well.

FOR THE ROSE, LIME, & COCONUT MILK SOAK YOU WILL NEED …

1/4 cup dried rose petals, one lime, and 2 cups coconut milk

Add the rose petals to the base formula, then cut the lime in half, squeeze it into the soak, and toss the rind right into the tub as well. Then pour the coconut milk in and stir it all up.

FOR THE LAVENDER & PINK GRAPEFRUIT SOAK YOU WILL NEED …

1/4 cup dried lavender flower and 1/2 pink grapefruit

Add the lavender flower to the base formula, then squeeze the grapefruit into the soak, and toss the rind right into the tub as well. Stir well.

Adding Essential Oils To Your Formula

Many, I would even say most, of the homemade foot soaks recipes on the web use essential oils in their ingredients. And essential oils make a very nice addition to a soak for sure.

A few of the oils that I have found to have great benefits for feet are tea tree, oregano, eucalyptus, and peppermint.

And when I’m adding oil for the pleasure of the scent, I tend to lean toward lavender, orange, rose, and clary sage.

There is overlap concerning beneficial properties and scent with many of the oils I’ve mentioned. But that is too much information to cover in this post.

Simply know that you can add essential oil to your soaks for both or either reason. And the suggestions I’ve made above are a great jumping off point if you are unsure where to start.

Recommended For You

Pin This Post For Later

If you try this recipe and love it, please give it 5 stars! It supports my work more than you may realize, and I appreciate that a great deal!

You can also show your support by tagging me on Facebook @sustainableslowliving and/or Instagram @slowlivingbydianegail when you post a pic of your finished soaks.