One of the most frequent foot problem is cracked heels. This can be experienced by both men and women, and those who start to aging find themselves more prone to the problem. Although there are various remedies for cracked heels, paraffin waxing is one of the most popular. Foot treatments including cracked heel treatment can be found in beauty salons and spas, and is not impossible to be done at home.

Does paraffin wax help cracked heels?

You might have ever heard about some of the most effective remedies for cracked heels, such as warm saline water bath combined with either mouthwash or baking soda. Many people find this remedy is easy to do, very helpful, and affordable. Now, how effective is paraffin wax for cracked heels? In fact, paraffin wax is a recommended treatment you can use for over-dried skin, since it works effectively in restoring its moisture and softness from beneath the skin.

How paraffin wax improves cracked heels?

Similar to paraffin waxing for softening hands and palms, paraffin waxing for cracked feet is done by dipping the heels into the previously-melted paraffin wax. There are some ways that this treatment improves your cracked heels that is actually resulted from excessive moisture loss.

• Paraffin waxing, which is done by coating your cracked heels with several layers of melted wax will trap longer heat compared to those done with only a layer of wax. This trapped heat will promote blood circulation, which is important for softening the skin. The thicker the layers are, the longer this trapped heat will stay, so that resulted moisture will also be increased. Since cracked heels is common with aging—which means moisture loss is a significant trigger—improve skin moisture is essential to promote faster healing.
• Dipping cracked heels into previously-melted paraffin wax will help taking off dead skin, which form heel cracks. The heat resulted from paraffin waxing will soften and thus, loosen the hanging skin attached to the heel. Since the wax hardens eventually, it will take the dirt and dead skin with it once removed from the skin. Getting rid of hardened dead skin is helpful for cracked heel healing, as this will promote faster new skin cell growth.

Using paraffin wax for cracked heels

• Melt paraffin blocks with double pots, crockpot, or a paraffin bath. If you are not using a store-bought paraffin bath kit, it is important to measure the temperature using a thermometer. This is essential to prevent the risk of skin burn and blistering if the temperature is too high.
• Dip your cracked heels into the melted wax. You do not need to dip the whole foot if you do not want to. Only focus in dipping your affected heels. Wait for the first layer to harden completely before dipping the heel again. Dip the cracked heels several times to get thicker layers of the wax. This will be important for improving blood circulation to the site, which is important for cell regeneration.
• Cover the dipped feet with plastic bag or towel to trap heat longer.
• Once the melted wax has hardened completely, remove the wax from your skin. If you have some left wax on the skin, apply petroleum jelly to wipe it off.
• Repeat the treatment twice or three times a week, and make sure you are using new wax blocks for every treatment.

Tips and Cautions

Despite its effectiveness in retaining skin moisture and thus, improving drying out skin, paraffin waxing is not advised if you have heel cracks that have developed into open wound. Excessive heat from paraffin waxing can possibly worsen the wound, causing bleeding, and lead to infection, as it promotes more blood into the wound site.

Some easy tips on healing cracked heels are:

• Combine paraffin waxing with exfoliating and warm water bathing. You can add some amount of mouthwash or baking soda to the warm water for maximized effect.
• Apply some deep-impact moisturizer every night before sleeping and cover the feet with socks. This will be helpful in promoting skin cell regeneration, which will promote faster dead skin removal and whole skin healing.