I Tried an Acid Foot Peel and It Was the Grossest and Coolest Thing

There’s been significant cult-level hype about this Japanese acid foot peeling wonder. Fair warning, this treatment is not for the faint of heart. I believe there are two kinds of people: those who are totally grossed out after seeing massive chunks of peeling dried skin, and those who find it fascinating and, dare I say, entertaining.

Needless to say I fall under the latter category.

The best way to start the new year is by letting go of things you don’t need or want in your life. And nobody needs extra dried skin. Shed those outer layers and live your best life.

Day 1 to 2: The soak and the waiting game

There are two plastic booties inside a pack of Baby Foot. Inside those booties is a magical acidic concoction that seeps into the skin and tells it to bug off. You’re supposed to secure them around your feet with the tape included in the pack. Though for me, it was better to use my own stock of Scotch tape.

Do this at night when you’re sure you have nothing to do. Don’t be dumb like me. I put them on and realized I had to go to the bathroom to do my skincare. These booties literally were not made for walking.

After an hour of soaking, make sure to rinse your feet thoroughly. Don’t use soap. And don’t use moisturizer for the next few days or it won’t work.

And then you wait.

Day 3: Oh, god it begins

I was chilling and watching Netflix in bed on the third night since my soak. To be honest, I was pretty impatient for the peeling to happen. I’d regularly poke my feet as if willing it to start shedding like the snake I truly am.

So there I was, absentmindedly scratching my big toe. Then I moved on to my heel, and then the balls of my feet. Don’t take it the wrong way, when your foot peels it doesn’t get itchy or anything. If it’s itchy or irritating, please talk to a doctor.

I peeled off an inch’s worth of skin, took a photo, and went to bed a happy girl.

Day 4: It peels like a dream

You know how in grade school, you’d put a layer of glue on your hands, wait for it to dry, and then peel it off? This was more or less the same sans Elmer’s. It was like reliving my childhood. I will remember this day as one of the happiest days of my life.

It was like a little bubble of air worked itself in between my foot and my ugly dry skin and started spreading. It was seriously the most disgusting, most amazing thing I’ve seen happen to me.

The peeling was at its most intense when I got home from work. Possibly because my skin was peeling inside my ankle socks for like, eight hours. I made the mistake of peeling off skin that wasn’t ready to come off, though.

PSA: Clean as you go. I left a really gross funeral of dried bits of all shapes and sizes on the bathroom floor. It would’ve been embarrassing to explain what this was to the people in my home.

Day 5 to 6: New year, new feet

The peeling moved to in between my toes and upwards from the sole. But it wasn’t as dramatic as the previous two days. And I didn’t really think about how there could be dried skin there. Good on that acid for being thorough.

Most of the skin by this time had peeled off and that’s when I really understood why it was called Baby Foot. Okay, sure, my feet weren’t smooth like a newborn’s butt. But they haven’t been this smooth since I was a kid. There was still a tender part on my heel that I knew still had to peel off. That’s why, I suppose, people with dry and neglected feet do this more than once.

The verdict

It works, and I’m so happy I did this. There’s a therapeutic feeling to seeing skin peel off like stickers off a sheet. At least for me. It’s also really nice to feel the under side of my feet without the rough patches. Will I use it again? Yes. But according to the instructions online, not for the next six months or so.

If you want to try something similar, Baby Foot is available at Beauty Bar.

Art by Lara Intong
Photos and videos courtesy of Belle O. Mapa

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