Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Dry cracked heels?

What is a man to do with dried cracked heels?

I get it, but usually just live with it, but on occasion I do grab a product called "Udderly smooth hand cream" it was originally used for cattle, but now it is in drugstores for us humans.
Seems to help.

Oh Man, you got to get "Flexitol" Heel Balm. Made in Austrailia, it's available at all major US retailers. WalMart, Walgreens. Rite-Aid, and on and on. You'll be amazed at how fast this stuff works. Just an awesome product. Thank me later.

Heel Balm!

Without it my feet turn into hooves in the winter, crack and bleed.

Two or three days of rubbing in plenty of Heel Balm makes them look like feet again.

No modern chemical wonder ingredients and not much of the other common ingredients, it is largely urea. I don't know why that works but it does.


If the dry, cracked skin is really bad and thick, start with a soak in Johnson's Foot Soap (which is getting hard to find) or the generic Walgreens substitute. That will make a good part of the dried dead skin get soft and soap-like and you can rub a lot of it off or scrape it off with your fingernails. But be sure to use the Heel Balm immediately after drying your feet or the hard dead skin will come back with a vengeance.

If you're not bleeding, Dremel that chit with the sander. Or get the foot file.

No joke, Dremel works fine just don't apply too much pressure or sand soft/supple skin- if pulls pretty good. My heels and bunions hurt for a day or two as they 'grow' a new protective layer but don't scratch me or anyone else for quite a while.

I've never had cracked heels that were bleeding so follow others' advice if that's the case.

I put a little Carmex on them morning and night for a day or two.

Noting better.

Get your doctor / podiatrist to prescribe 40% Urea cream. Blows the doors off any over the counter lotion / salve / cream. I've tried too many to count over the years. It'll keep your callouses soft period.

Couple it with a high quality callous file to remove the excess dead skin and you'll be good to go.

Beaudreux's butt paste works well for me!

The best there is.

Before you put any grease on your feet, you need to exfoliate them.

Drywall screens work really, really well. On your hands too, when you get rough callouses.

Once that's done, you can add whatever grease you want.

I have not seen a can of Bag Balm in 40 years. But I can still smell it. Dad had a can of it on the shelf out in the barn. He used it on the cattle , dog ,himself and us.

This. It's the only product that works.

Till I read into this, I thought perhaps Obama had quit drinking?

Tried them all. Either didn''t work or were greasy and had an odd odor to 'em.

My Dermatologist recommended Ammonium Lactate 12% solution. Over the counter. Easy application. Takes about 5-7 days to work, then apply with every bath.

Just about any quality hand lotion will work if applied daily after a shower or bath, I use Corel Intensive Healing,but others work too

Another vote for "Bag Balm" One tin lasts a long time.

Also works well on the Dog's belly when it gets scratched up.

Good chance Vaseline ointment would work fine also. Along with a good baby diaper rash product. Desitin, A&D ointment.

A&D ointment has been the absolute best and fastest acting at easing the pain and healing 'gaulding' and jock rash of anything I've ever tried.

O'Keeffe's Healthy Feet is the one we use when 'grease' doesn't do it.

Diabeti Derm works great. First time, every time. No smell.

When we're rafting on extended trips, feet and hands get beat up. Moms' Stuff is the best thing I've found for cracking feet and hands.

This thing works much, much better than I thought it would:

Pedi-Expert

all of the salve and balms work but have your thyroid checked . persistent cracking is a symptom of hypo thyroid. btdt.

Fer phuuckx sake ya nasty bastid !!! ....take a hot shower or bath.

While yer in there and after all the normal washing use a wood rasp to grind that schidt off yer heels/feet.

Once all that dry, toughened skin is gone use some Bag Balm or similar to keep the skin moistened.

You could rub some pusssy butter on them

bag balm. comes in a green can. stinks like schit and is greasy as gear grease but it does the trick. smear that stuff on and wear a pair of socks over it for a couple of evenings and you'll be fine.

Stinks? The hell you say!

It'll heal heels!

First, glue the crack shut with super glue. Somebody makes such a glue for humans that you can ask for and buy in a drug store but it seems the same to me. Gluing the crack closed reduces pain way down. You will probably need to glue it several times until it heals. Ditto for cracks in fingers, corner of thumb, etc.

Second, use the Udderly smooth stuff from the first post or one of the other products to make the skin more pliable and healthy enough not to crack.

Smooth side of hoof rasp, or a sharp wood rasp...

Does a standard issue pedicure take care of a such a thing?

I think so, from what little I've read about pedicures. It was on this forum or another one some guy got a pedicure for some reason years ago and liked the results, but not handing over his man card.

I heard REAL men just use a 4" orbital grinder, grind the hell out of your feet, then slap on some used axle grease - and it makes your socks slip on easier. All that other stuff mentioned is for the wimmen folk!

Corn Huskers Lotion. Doesn't smell and no greasy residue. It says it's for hands but can be used on the feet too.

Amazon Reviews with keyword "feet".

Interesting to see what you lot do, most of us here simply soak our feet in white vinegar for 30 minutes or so each day for a week, take the time to scratch all that thick skin off whilst you are at it as it comes off easy with your nails.

Then forget all about it 'til next year.


But...you can grease it up if you want.

Cracked heels, sore feet, dog piss stains on the lawn............What's this place turning into?
A retirement home?...................LOL

Yes, only old fellas have the time to be on here, all the young fellas are out hunting.

ooops, sorry, expected a photo of the Clintonistas...... carry on.

Doctor suggested that I spend the night with my feet and a scoop of crisco in plastic bags and tape them closed.

Cookie always leaves the heels in the wrapper. I usually toast them and add peanut butter and jelly.

Further explanation of my super glue recommendation: I have thyroid trouble, plus aging skin that is less flexible. For the past few years I've had increasing cracks in my heels and corners of fingers, especially in dry cold, such as when hunting whitetail in the Canadian Rockies in November. Very painful. Lots of experience here with cracked skin on heels.

I now carry a small tube of super glue in my shaving kit and use it at the first sign of a crack in skin.

Prevention is the best way to go but I forget to sand down thick skin and apply Udderly Smooth etc. and don't like to put any such stuff on anyway-- till I get a crack. Then the priority is to fix the damage and pain with glue and start restorative treatments by sanding it down and softening.

Glue the sides of the crack together if possible, but if not, a glue coating over the raw spot reduces pain greatly and allows easier use of the hand or foot. With a flap of skin, glue it down.