What do I think about exfoliating socks?
I’ve always had pretty soft feet, so some escort girls asked me how I didn’t get dry, cracked heels, especially in the summer. Well, I don’t know! I can’t tell if I exfoliate or spread cream on them every night. It’s the most forgotten part of my body. She doesn’t blame me since she has never given me a hard time (unlike the skin on my face, for example).
That’s why 5 or 6 years ago, when I discovered “exfoliating socks” in my Christmas gifts, I was a bit taken aback… I didn’t need to look for the “culprit”; I quickly realized that it was my mum who slipped the funny thing into my gift sock; she is always ahead of trends in France; she often lets me discover something in preview (she orders a lot on Asian sites, beauty addict as she is!).
So I looked at her oddly and asked her for an explanation for this fun gift.
According to her, it was a real little miracle! Thanks to these socks, she would have regained her “20-year-old” feet, and she even had my father do them, who would have lost “1 kilo of useless skin”. Anyway, the colours have been announced. When I got home, I stuffed said “socks” in the back of the closet. I was not ready to say goodbye to 1 kilo of the epidermis. 2 or 3 years later, I received the same socks from Monoprix, translated into French this time (they had them imported to France, Monop was among the first brands to introduce this trend here). Once again, the socks ended up at the bottom of my closet. They scared me.
A year ago, it was Tony Molly’s turn and his exfoliating socks to put my beauty nefs to the test.
On the one hand, I wanted to test them (since the time I discovered the principle). On the other, seeing my feet go to shreds sent chills down my spine. The escort girls from the Escort Agency told me not to worry about it!
And it was SVR that finally convinced me! They recently sent me the Xérial Peel, their take on peeling socks. I then said there I no longer had the possibility of backing down: the brand is French, it respects the regulations, and its tests are severe (the case of a chemical burn was far from my imagination).
Does a chemical burn? Well, yes, because that is precisely the principle of peeling! A controlled “burn” produces, as a consequence, a loss of several layers of the epidermis, thus revealing a “new skin”. It’s precisely the same principle as a facial peeling at a dermatologist.
SVR dosed its peeling solution at 15%. It is known that in France, the maximum dose is 10% for the face. Beyond that, it is only for professional use. It’s just to give you an idea of the intensity of the dosage (again, we’re talking about the feet, this 15% should be put into perspective given the thickness of the skin on this part of our body).
What is the difference between the SVR “socks”? What convinced me to try them were the following arguments:
- Selective impregnation technique that only targets rough areas (the skin on the fingers is fragile, and I had no desire to lose it in the process.
- Tissue hydration: is always a plus!
CHAPTER 1: LAYING
It’s pretty simple. You have to cut the socks on the line indicated. They are made of plastic and contain a gel in which you dip your toes. They must then be closed with an adhesive provided in the pack. Leave for an hour, then rinse with lukewarm water. I dreaded the burning sensations a lot (a bit like with facial peels), but then not at all! I felt nothing!
On the other hand, I was afraid of “knocking off” my feet too much, so I only left 45 minutes instead of 60. I would point out that I had no effect immediately after application and rinsing. It’s as if you had done nothing. The results come much later!
CHAPTER 2: WAITING
We are told on the packaging that you must wait 3 to 4 days before seeing the effects. I confess that I believed that having posed for 45 minutes instead of an hour made the thing ineffective. In any case, during all the week which followed the pose of these magic socks, I hadn’t seen anything nasty on my feet.
CHAPTER 3: THE SHOCK
When I got home on Friday evening (I did the laying of the socks on Sunday evening), I felt something was wrong with my feet. It was hot, I was in little open shoes, and I felt like stuff that went “splash splash splash” like you had left or something thin peeling off your feet with every new step.
CHAPTER 4: THE LIFE OF A SNAKE
From Friday, five days after laying the socks, it was off for four days of crazy peeling! But when I tell you “madness”, I’m not minimizing. I was losing shreds of skin!
Besides the unsightly effect (let’s say that putting the shoes open was just impossible), I put pieces of skin everywhere: in the bed, on the parquet floor, on the tiles! I had to wear slippers in the 30-degree heat. Otherwise, it was impossible to walk around the apartment without having a vacuum cleaner stuck to my hands. I specified that I did not feel pain but discomfort (itching, tingling). I didn’t try to pull the skin and exfoliate it, letting it fade naturally. Three days later, my feet were in much better condition.
MY OPINION
Although I had very soft and pretty smooth feet, I did notice an improvement in the skin quality on my heels (less dry, more delicate and more peaceful). It’s pretty minimal and walking with the shoes open for a few days afterwards. It hardened up quickly (regular, the skin is thicker here to withstand the pressure and the environment). I think this kind of foot peel is helpful for those who have actual “problems” (pronounced roughness) in the heels. It can help to remove this very hardened part of the skin.
If, on the other hand, your feet are in relatively good condition, I don’t think it’s worth going through this kind of experience. For one week, you can’t walk barefoot (just after application, even when the skin isn’t peeling yet, you have to avoid exposure to the sun, so you have to wear closed shoes), and then it’s still quite hard on the skin.