A Pin Test #15: Mouthwash & Vinegar Foot Soak

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So I have a good new supply of pins to test out. This one caught my eye as I'm big on skin beauty and care. It's called Home Remedy For Toenail Fungus by the blog Herbs and Oils Remedies and it is Pin Test #15. I don't have nail fungus problems but similar pins have recommended this more for removing dry, dead skin and softening feet. I decided to look for a sale on no name mouthwash and try this out.

Upon doing further research and a little wondering, it seemed strange that this recipe only made 1 cup of liquid. As the only commenter on the post mentioned, "How do you soak two feet in one cup of water?" Hmm, a mystery right from the get go.

I did a little more research and found another pin with a bit more information. It's good to read the comments here and get a slightly better recipe. From initial descriptions it sounded like you do this soak and the dry skin literally comes off. Upon further reading you still have to pumice or scrub your feet. It seems like soaking your feet in any sort of liquid would do that, right? I still didn't understand the magic of the mouthwash. If you'd enjoy a good laugh about this foot soak, see this pin.

So I bought the ingredients and then spent a ridiculous amount of time hunting around my house for a foot-size tub I could do this in. Finally I just resorted to doing it in my bathroom sink & I climbed up on the side of the vanity to sit. Since the original recipe didn't quite seem right I just multiplied it a few times. I think in the end I ended up using about 1 1/2 cup vinegar and mouthwash and then probably 5-6 cups of warm water.

After soaking for a few minutes I started to notice that my feet were burning a bit - stinging might be a better word. It was never unbearable or trauma-causing. I rubbed my hands on my feet to see if it was working and my feet definitely did feel softer. The liquid in the sink gradually became more cloudy which I took for another good sign that dead skin was coming off. Gosh, I have to stop myself here for a minute and apologize for how gross that sounds and how disgusting it is to me to be talking to you about my feet. Please forgive! But if I'm going to test this pin I have to give you the real scoop.

After about 10 minutes, soaking was starting to get a little uncomfortable with the burning sensation and sitting on the vanity was really starting to hurt my back. So I decided to try my pumice for a few minutes. That took off more dead skin, but in the end I didn't feel like all the dead skin just fell off my feet from this process.

Afterwards my feet were still burning for a while (okay it was a couple of hours) and I noticed that my wrist burned a bit after my hands got wet in the liquid as well. That liquid burned on every spot on my hands and feet where there was a little cut or cracked skin. Maybe next time I need to bring my amounts of mouthwash and vinegar down a bit more -- or a lot more. I did try to just do a 1:2 ratio with the water but maybe that was still too much.

After so much effort on my feet I decided I might as well make my toenails look good too so I did the nail whitening treatment I did in Pin Test #1 Shape Magazine's Whiten Toenails Tip. Big mistake of that process was when the whitening treatment, made of peroxide and baking soda got all dry and crusty on the towel under my feet. Without thinking I grabbed the towel and all the dried up peroxide/baking soda crumbs went all over the floor. Sigh...

I will say that after both processes my feet did feel and look better, but neither is a silver bullet to fabulous feet. In fact my feet felt quite dry after the soak, so I decided to try another pin, haha, the benefits of coconut oil originally posted by The Honey Bee by Andee Layne. I am envisioning that my feet will be much happier after a long soak in oil in a pair of socks.

I am pretty torn on whether to give this pin test a Yes or No. I would say if you're interested, definitely try it. But I think you could pretty much get the same results from soaking your feet in just about any gentle liquid for ten minutes and then pumice-ing your soles. I will have to keep experimenting on this one before I can make my final decision. In the meantime I have a giant bottle of no name mouthwash and a jug of vinegar to use up.