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Baby Foot’s exfoliation foot peel is a TikTok sensation – but does it work?

Hailed for unveiling softer soles, we tried the cult-status socks for ourselves

Helen Wilson-Beevers
Monday 21 February 2022 10:45 EST
Lactic and salicylic acid trigger a flaking process that left our tootsies feeling smooth and less cracked
Lactic and salicylic acid trigger a flaking process that left our tootsies feeling smooth and less cracked (iStock/The Independent)

Japanese-born brand Baby Foot first launched the original foot peel mask back in 1997, as a seemingly revolutionary treatment to slough off dead skin cells and improve cracked heels.

Now, 25 years later the socks have racked up over 180 million views on TikTok and are rapidly reaching cult product status. The gripping, yet slightly gross videos take a deep dive into the foot peeling process, as users shed skin and unveil smooth soles.

The foot peel socks involve soaking the skin with a liquid made of chemical exfoliants alpha hydroxy acids and beta hydroxy acids. These work by speeding up skin cell turnover, and causing older layers to shed.

As the solution absorbs and takes effect, the peeling begins, and can continue for three weeks. Once the process is complete, feet should be soft and smooth, hence the “baby foot” name. It all depends on the skin’s condition, and how much roughness is there already.

The skin on our soles is much thicker than anywhere else and can be notoriously difficult to improve, so a solution without any scrubbing or filing seems straightforward. But do these social media famous foot treatment socks really work? We wanted to look past the hypnotising hype and find out for ourselves.

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How we tested

We reviewed the foot peel socks over several weeks, testing both the initial treatment experience and subsequent exfoliation results. While considering the price point and overall smoothing effectiveness on our tester’s dry, rough heels and soles, we explored fit, fragrance, and aesthetic too.

Baby Foot exfoliation foot peel

Baby Foot exfoliation foot peel  indybest.jpg

Buy now £14.99, Amazon.co.uk

Rating: 8/10

  • Treatment length: 60 minutes

Design

The single application foot mask socks are suitable for shoe sizes 4-12 and arrive presented in a silver foil sachet, which is sealed within an outer cardboard box. As a patch test is recommended 48 hours before use, the combined packaging made for mess-free storage in between. The sachet rips opens easily so we didn’t need scissors, and because the socks come as a separate pair there was no cutting required either.

As instructed, we bathed our feet before use, to maximise the potential foot peeling effects. The transparent plastic booties have an inside layer holding their treatment liquid, and an outer one covered in red Baby Foot branding. There are little stickers included on a separate sheet to seal the boots in place, and we tried wearing them both with and without that fastening, because they kept popping open.

By closing the booties, less of the aroma from the chemical exfoliant alpha and beta hydroxy acid ingredients escaped, but we also liked the looser fit on our ankle minus any stickers. You can’t really walk around in them anyway, as they are slippery.

Read more: 10 best body oils that will leave skin luxuriously soft

We could detect the lavender fragrance notes and after a few minutes that did lighten the other overpoweringly scented ingredients. From first putting the sock on, we felt a slightly tingly feeling, and this continued throughout the entire recommended 60-minute treatment time. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, and just made our tester assume the exfoliating ingredients were working.

The socks are designed to exfoliate and moisturise at the same time, with glycolic acid and citric acid in there for sloughing away dead skin. Meanwhile lactic acid and salicylic acid apparently create the eventual flaking process. The formula also felt refreshingly cooling, on the soles of our feet especially.

Effectiveness

After watching Netflix with the socks on for an hour, we stepped out of them and washed our feet with soap and water. While we couldn’t see any peeling at first, there was definite skin softness from the inclusion of moisturising ingredients like camomile, and the aforementioned-tingling lingered.

Read more: 5 best collagen supplements to rejuvenate your skin and nails

Eagerly anticipating any kind of skin change, our tester noticed patches start to peel away three days later. This happened soon after soaking in the bath, and we could feel the layers of skin roll off from our heel. More skin began shedding steadily over the next few days and the process became both addictively satisfying and a bit disgusting all in one. We’d probably pass on getting our feet out in public at this stage.

As the skin peeled off, the effect spread to the soles and under our toes too, and we noticed it mostly at night. Our tester found the entire peeling process appeared complete two weeks post treatment, but this timescale would depend on the degree of rough or hardened skin you have.

At this point, all the excess skin had disappeared, revealing shiny smoothness from that fresh foot layer. Our previously cracked heels looked much more even as well, and this is something that usually bothers us a lot during sandal season. Coming in at under £15, we’d say this is an extremely reasonable price point for the ease of use and visible success.

The verdict: Baby Foot exfoliation foot peel

We were suitably impressed by the effectiveness of Baby Foot exfoliation foot peel, which revealed the smoothness of a fresh skin layer a fortnight after use. Our tester noticed the biggest difference on the soles and heels, but this will vary from person to person depending on skin condition. The socks required minimum effort to see noticeable results, all with at-home treatment convenience too.

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For more TLC for your tootsies, have a read of our best foot peels round-up

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