Blisters

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person
John <[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course) but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister. I was looking for information on how to toughen up the skin and
came across a few references of walkers/hikers using surgical spirits on
their feet to avoid blisters (hence my posting in this group), but no actual
instructions.

I'm assuming that you put some surgical spirit on cotton wool and dab it on
the soles of the feet rather than actually soaking the feet in a bath of the
stuff - am I correct?

Yes. Or you can just spray it on.

Quoted message said:

How often - once a day? three times a day? once every three days, or what?

And for how long - we're going away in about four weeks so do I start now,
or one week before, or one day before? We'll also be away for four weeks so
presumably will have to keep it up while we are away, but again, how often?

I haven't done it for years, but last time I did it was once a day for a
couple or three weeks (I assume the skin needs time to grow under the
'toughened' layer).

If you have wet skin, it WILL get soft and then it WILL rub off if there
is friction. It sort of depends where the blisters are, and what the
cause is. Maybe you need to do your sandals up tighter, so your feet
don't move about. Me .. I just wear socks. 8>.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
8,963 Km walked. 1,746Km PROWs surveyed. 31.7% complete.

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the wonderful person John
<[email hidden]> said

Quoted message said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course) but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister. I was looking for information on how to toughen up the skin and
came across a few references of walkers/hikers using surgical spirits on
their feet to avoid blisters (hence my posting in this group), but no
actual
instructions.

I'm assuming that you put some surgical spirit on cotton wool and dab it
on
the soles of the feet rather than actually soaking the feet in a bath of
the
stuff - am I correct?

Yes. Or you can just spray it on.

Quoted message said:

How often - once a day? three times a day? once every three days, or what?

And for how long - we're going away in about four weeks so do I start now,
or one week before, or one day before? We'll also be away for four weeks
so
presumably will have to keep it up while we are away, but again, how
often?

I haven't done it for years, but last time I did it was once a day for a
couple or three weeks (I assume the skin needs time to grow under the
'toughened' layer).

If you have wet skin, it WILL get soft and then it WILL rub off if there
is friction. It sort of depends where the blisters are, and what the cause
is. Maybe you need to do your sandals up tighter, so your feet don't move
about. Me .. I just wear socks. 8>.

Thanks for that, my friend. If it doesn't work I'll just have to suffer -
I'm afraid I just can't do the sandals and socks thing :o)

John

John said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course) but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister. I was looking for information on how to toughen up the skin

Easy: wear sandals and no socks, or go barefoot, as much as you can for
the rest of the year as well. That means your feet will be completely
used to their holiday attire and not suffer.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

In article <[email hidden]>, John <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course) but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister. I was looking for information on how to toughen up the skin and
came across a few references of walkers/hikers using surgical spirits on
their feet to avoid blisters (hence my posting in this group), but no actual
instructions.

I tried it for a while many years ago and it did toughen up the outer
layer of skin but that was all. You will get far better results by
wearing your sandals regularly before going. I know the weather isn't up
to much but that will give your feet the chance to toughen up much
better than surgical spirit will do.

--

Dominic Sexton

John said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course) but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister.

I had this problem myself when I first started walking in sandals.
The problem was that I had the straps too loose, so my foot slid over the
sole of the sandal at each step. Tightening the straps stopped this
happening, and cured the problem for me. You, like me, may normally have
the straps loose when loafing around.

Hope this is useful!
Mark
--
Mark Manning [email hidden]

"Dominic Sexton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, John <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course) but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister. I was looking for information on how to toughen up the skin and
came across a few references of walkers/hikers using surgical spirits on
their feet to avoid blisters (hence my posting in this group), but no
actual
instructions.

I tried it for a while many years ago and it did toughen up the outer
layer of skin but that was all. You will get far better results by wearing
your sandals regularly before going. I know the weather isn't up to much
but that will give your feet the chance to toughen up much better than
surgical spirit will do.

Thanks both Peter and Dominic for that suggestion. It's a good one and one
that I'll certainly take on board for future use but I'm just a bit
aprehensive that, with only four weeks to go until we set off on holiday,
I'll blister them now and not have enough time to recover, resulting in a
spoiled holiday. Would it really work in such a short space of time?

John

"Mark Manning" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course)
but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister.

I had this problem myself when I first started walking in sandals.
The problem was that I had the straps too loose, so my foot slid over the
sole of the sandal at each step. Tightening the straps stopped this
happening, and cured the problem for me. You, like me, may normally have
the straps loose when loafing around.

Hope this is useful!
Mark

Very useful (up to a point) so thanks very much for that Mark. You are quite
correct in saying that I normally have the straps a bit on the loose side
but unfortunately, I'm a bit of a strange beast in that my sandals don't
seem to be the correct shape for my feet - or vice versa :o)

Tightening the straps to the proper point where my foot doesn't slide
slightly means that the strap on my instep is too tight and it rubs there
instead, hence the reason in looking for a "chemical" or medical way of
toughening the skin. I wish I'd asked this question six months ago so that I
could have used Peter or Dominic's method.

John

John said:

Very useful (up to a point) so thanks very much for that Mark. You are quite
correct in saying that I normally have the straps a bit on the loose side
but unfortunately, I'm a bit of a strange beast in that my sandals don't
seem to be the correct shape for my feet - or vice versa :o)

Try some alternatives and see if you can find some that fit better. For
example, I wear Tevas, my wife wears Merrels. Nither of us really gets
on with the other's preferred flavour, me finding the Ms too narrow and
Roos finding the Tevas too wide. Different sandals are different
shapes, and suit different feet better/worse.

HTH, Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

In article <[email hidden]>, John <[email hidden]>
writes

Quoted message said:

"Mark Manning" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course)
but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister.

I had this problem myself when I first started walking in sandals.
The problem was that I had the straps too loose, so my foot slid over the
sole of the sandal at each step. Tightening the straps stopped this
happening, and cured the problem for me. You, like me, may normally have
the straps loose when loafing around.

Hope this is useful!
Mark

Very useful (up to a point) so thanks very much for that Mark. You are quite
correct in saying that I normally have the straps a bit on the loose side
but unfortunately, I'm a bit of a strange beast in that my sandals don't
seem to be the correct shape for my feet - or vice versa :o)

Perhaps you need a different model of sandal with better strapping
options. Some decent ones can be had quite cheaply these days - I got a
great pair of Merrells on special offer for £20 last year from
Decathlon.

If you are stuck with them you could still benefit from wearing them
before going away. I wouldn't recommend wearing them all time as you may
blister like you said. However you should be able to wear them for a few
hours a day and hopefully actually walk around in them a reasonable
amount. That way your feet will be stressed and grow thicker skin where
needed. It is a tall order to be perfect for your holiday in just four
weeks but I still think it is the way to go.

When actually away you would probably be best to alternate wearing you
sandals with some other footwear - even the humble flip-flops if they
will be OK for what you intend to get up to. That way the sandals stress
the feet for a while then they get to recover (or be stressed in other
places!) while wearing the other pair. If you don't overdo it in the
sandals you will probably get away with it.

--

Dominic Sexton

Potassium Permanganate, in the distant days of my youth, was said to be
useful for hardening the feet - only, slight, side-effect being that it
darkens them somewhat. I suppose that, today, to attempt to buy a supply
of such a chemical will bring the anti-terrorist boys round at 0430hrs.
"The safety of the public is paramount!"

Richard

Quoted message said:

Potassium Permanganate, in the distant days of my youth, was said to be
useful for hardening the feet - only, slight, side-effect being that it
darkens them somewhat. I suppose that, today, to attempt to buy a supply
of such a chemical will bring the anti-terrorist boys round at 0430hrs.
"The safety of the public is paramount!"

I soaked my feet in that stuff for half an hour every other day for
about a week. didn't get a single blister on a 3 month hike so it might
have worked. took about half of that time for the feet to return to
normal colour. and it stains everything it get in touch with. got it at
Boots or some pharmacy I think.

/ot

In message <[email hidden]>, John <[email hidden]>
writes

Quoted message said:

"Dominic Sexton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, John <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

When I go on holiday I tend to wear sandals (without socks, of course) but
after just a couple of days the skin on the soles of my feet starts to
blister. I was looking for information on how to toughen up the skin and
came across a few references of walkers/hikers using surgical spirits on
their feet to avoid blisters (hence my posting in this group), but no
actual
instructions.

I tried it for a while many years ago and it did toughen up the outer
layer of skin but that was all. You will get far better results by wearing
your sandals regularly before going. I know the weather isn't up to much
but that will give your feet the chance to toughen up much better than
surgical spirit will do.

Thanks both Peter and Dominic for that suggestion. It's a good one and one
that I'll certainly take on board for future use but I'm just a bit
aprehensive that, with only four weeks to go until we set off on holiday,
I'll blister them now and not have enough time to recover, resulting in a
spoiled holiday. Would it really work in such a short space of time?

John

If your holiday means so much to you change your footwear plans
--
Bill Grey