Bliss- Foot Patrol

It feels almost silly to be writing about bare feet and prepping for sandal season while there are still huge puddles around town, and the temperatures are refusing to rise above mid-to-upper forties.

But, let's assume that bad weather isn't eternal and that eventually our feet would emerge from the depths of wellies, galoshes and boots. Are they ready for exposure?

I've mentioned in the past that I'm partial to most of Bliss foot products. I'm also very fond of L'Occitane foot cream and couldn't live without my faithful Diamancel buffer (the #11 can smooth the worst case of armadillo skin into puppy soft). But the single most effective product I've ran across is Foot Patrol from Bliss.

This cream is a mild exfoliant (it's not a scrub: You massage it into your feet and let it soak) that contains salicylic and glycolic acids (as well as several softening agents like aloe and lanolin). Using it daily has given me the softest feet I've had in years. It's different than regular foot softeners (like the Sock Salve from Bliss, the L'Occitane and every other product that work only as heavy moisturizers), because it gets rid of the old, dry skin (you still need to use a file for serious flaking and callouses, but once you're done with that, Foot Patrol keeps them at bay).

A good foot routine is to use this in the morning and softening socks with a cream at night (you can find reasonably priced drugstore brands that works just as well as the Bliss ones. Their Sock Salve is overpriced and doesn't offer anything you can't get from a Dr. Scholl product, but I do love the actual socks).

I don't like the sharp, medicinal smell. Actually, as much I'm fond of many Bliss products, I find many of them to be on the stinky side. But this cream is so good that I'm willing to tolerate it. Foot Patrol can be found at Sephora, most big department stores and online.

Photo: Vacances en Bretagne, 1956, by Gerald Bloncourt