Foot Soak for Sandal Season - Bath Blend of the Month

To prepare you for the sandal season, try this easy to craft foot soak with some fresh ginger and a bit of hot water. Ginger improves skin elasticity and evens skin tone, which further helps improve skin texture. Packed with antioxidants it can help restore the rough surface of feet.

Foot Soak for Pretty Feet

1 cup grated ginger
olive oil
hot water
foot basin
towel

Grate the fresh ginger. Fill the basin with hot water. Squeeze the ginger gently over the basin, then add to the water. Sprinkle in a few drops of olive oil. 

To Use: Place feet in container and cover with towel to help hold in the heat. Soak feet for 15 minutes. Towel dry feet and put on warm socks. You will be ready for sandals in no time.

Chamomile Foot Soak - Bath Blend of the month

Botanical bath and shower products inspired by the garden were not my first creations when I started Backyard Patch Herbs.  In fact I expected not to make many at all.  When I began I had Italian Dressing & Marinade, Marcy's Dill Dip, 6 herbal tea blends and one bath salt recipe and that was my entire catalog in 1997.  

Somehow that has changed and I now make a large number of Bath Products.  They are fun and simple to create.  I have formulated more recipes than I can ever put into my catalog of products so I have decided that I will share some of my favorite bath formulations each month.  Come back around the beginning of each month for another special body treatment.

One way to soothe and pamper tired, achy tootsies that rarely see the light of day in the winter is to soak them in a hot foot bath. 

Water temperature is a personal preference, but I find the hottest my feet will comfortably tolerate gives the most relief, and then you have warmed up your feet from the outside when the temps did down.

Chamomile Tea Foot Soak

You can make this with tea bags or loose tea in a tea infuser.  (I recommend BYP Nerve Soothing Tea if you have it on hand - you will get the benefits of Chamomile as well as the bacteria and fungi fighting qualities of sage and thyme with the pain reduction qualities of marjoram)

4 tea bags of 4 to 6 tsp loose tea in a tea infuser
1/8 cup dried parsley
4 drops Essential oil of choice (lemon or apple for scent, cinnamon for warming, thyme for germ fighting are all good)

Place all ingredients in a foot tub or shallow bucket and pour 1 gallon of boiling water over the ingredients.  Allow to steep in hot water for 10 minutes before slipping your feet into the water for a soak.

After a good long soak, dry your feet thoroughly and apply a moisturizing lotion before slipping on socks or slippers!