Warm weather shoes call for foot work, care
When the weather calls for sandals and open-toed shoes, it may not be a pretty sight. Statistically, eight out of every 10 adults have calluses and corns.
Corns are thickened lumps on the outer layer of skin and occur over bony areas such as toe joints. They are most recognizable by a small, painful raised bump with a hard center.
Calluses are a larger and usually painless thickening of skin caused by pressure or irritation on the heels or balls of feet. Calluses can become painful when they become so dry and cracked that the area becomes sore to the touch.
For women, the typical cause of corns and calluses is from the shoes they wear. High heels, narrow toes, tight fits and strange shapes (that don't match the proportions of the foot) are foot disasters in the making.
It's really useless to try and treat corns and calluses until you remove the source of the problem. Once you do that, you can use good old-fashioned corn and callus pads to reduce pressure on irritated areas in your new, well-fitting shoes.
Many women try to peel or rub the area with a pumice stone but irritation and pressure will only make things look better temporarily, and may worsen the problem in the long run.
It is also a big no-no to try to slice away offending areas with a razor or use scissors or clippers to cut them off. That's a sure way to cause injury or infection.
Try exfoliating with a concentrated beta hydroxy acid product for warts. Soak feet in warm water and then apply a 5 or 10 percent salicylic acid cream. If signs of infection develop, see your doctor.
Skin not prone to acclimating to daily products
Worried about your skin adapting to your skin-care products? Well, forget that oldwives tale and keep using your favor-ites.
Skin does not adapt to skincare products of any kind. There is no source of information con-firming this anywhere.
Perhaps the confusion is due to the fact that bacteria found in skin the bacteria that cause pimples can adapt to the use of topically applied disinfectants. (Bacteria can also adapt to oral antibiotics.)
The bacteria do mutate and change, building up a resistance to the disinfectant, thus requiring a different disinfectant to do the same job. But skin does not adapt or change in this manner; if it did, the skin would also change appearance, texture and structure.
Because hair is dead, it is incapable of adapting which is something only living organisms do. For both the scalp and the skin, changing products frequently can be problematic because of the increased risk of an irritating or sensitizing reaction as new ingredients are introduced to the skin.
New razor removes danger from shaving head
Losing your hair and not hap-py with the fringe look it often creates? Want to shave those stray hairs but loosing the cour-age each time you pick up the razor?
There's a new gizmo called a HeadBlade that could solve all hair-shaving dilemmas because, after all, it was designed specifically for shaving heads.
It doesn't look much like a ra-zor more like a cross between a toy car and a dung beetle. But according to its designer, a self-described "chrome dome" by the name of Todd Greene from Santa Monica, Calif., it gets the job done easily and safely.
Instead of a handle, the HeadBlade has a three-finger control pod (rather like a computer mouse) with a hook that wraps around your middle finger. Instead of dragging it across your scalp, as you would a razor, you sweep the scalp with a gliding motion, as if you were running your fingers through your hair. The blade pivots to accommodate the head's shape.
The HeadBlade, which costs $15, takes standard Gillette Atra or Schick Ultrex replacement blades. It can be ordered by calling toll-free 1-877-427-2067.
Compiled from staff reports
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