One of 2014's Most Searched DIY Products: Listerine Foot Bath

Yahoo Makers
Updated
differe varieties of listerine mouthwash
differe varieties of listerine mouthwash

Photo: Listerine

If you think “Listerine footbath soak” sounds both appalling and oddly intriguing, you’re not alone. The weird home spa treatment is one of the top 10 most-searched DIY projects on Yahoo for 2014.

It’s been steadily builiding as a trend on Pinterest, and the collective rave reports its gotten suggest it can cure even the most calloused and cracked feet in a single soak.

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Photo: via Pinterest

Here’s the recipe:

Listerine & Vinegar Foot Soak

  • 1 cup Listerine (or any antiseptic mouthwash)

  • 1 cup Vinegar (white or apple cider)

  • 2 cups warm water

After an hour-long soak in the tingling mixture, feet are certainly softer and prepped for a solid pumice stone sloughing session – but how much of this has to do with the ingredients of Listerine and how much is just soaking feet in water for a long time?  Besides emerging with a temporary case of cartoonish blue feet (don’t worry, this fades!) what does the Listerine actually do other than providing a “tingling” effect?

We consulted our web doctor friends at WebMd to see what all the hubbub is about. Podiatrist Eric Reynolds, DPM of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C. confirms that Listerine’s benzoic acid encourages sloughing and the ethanol kills bacteria, fungi, and germs that can lead to athlete’s foot.

Peppermint oil has been a longtime foot soak go-to for soothing and reviving tired puppies. But if we can get that tingly feeling and cleaner feet with something we often already have stocked in our medicine cabinet…then we are all about this DIY beauty/health regime!

There is word that if you wrap shaving cream covered feet in a warm towel for the soak, your will feet will emerge from the soak extra soft, tingly and refreshed. Another hint making it’s way through the web is doubling and tripling the recipe for extra bing, bang, boom!

Now you’ve tapped into your medicine cabinet, why stop at Listerine? For overnight softening and bacteria busting, poke around your shelves for Vicks VapoRub ointment. Massage a generous amount well into your now delightfully softened feet, cover in white sport socks, and the battle of bacteria and calloused feet will continue throughout the night. Your socks will be blue in the morning, but that’s what laundry detergent is for.