Cure Your Ugly Feet - For Cheap

I am the owner of some sad, sad feet.  I wear sandals every day in the summer, and this makes them dry, calloused, cracked, chipped -- I mean, they are just terrible.  I enjoy a good pedicure, but I have been unable to find anyone willing to really scrub off all the old, dead skin.  I have tried explaining to the nice pedicure ladies, "please keep going!" but I still don't get what I want.  Meaning, when I leave, I can always scrape a fingernail along my heel and come away with more skin that needed to be removed.  Disgusting, I know.

Then I saw this article about how to cure cracked heels and I got excited.  I am a sucker for DIY with "household items you have on hand!" and I have gamely followed just about every suggestion for around-the-house products down the rabbit hole.  I tried their solution and it did seem to be on the right track, but they left out a few key steps.  So, here is a revised "How to Cure Cracked Heels:"

What You Need:
- shaving cream or hair conditioner (I use free sample size hair conditioners, the little packets you can get in the mail ... they are impossible to open when you're actually trying to wash your hair, but they are just the right amount to treat two feet)
- listerine
- warm water
- a big bowl
- two hand towels, big enough to wrap each of them around one of your feet
- a pumice stone or a heavy duty foot scraper thing like this
- maybe some help; this whole endeavor requires some dexterity
- 30 minutes or so

Combine equal parts (like 1 cup of each) listerine and warm water in a bowl.  Soak two hand towels in the mixture.  Slather your feet with the shaving cream or hair conditioner, then wrap in the soaked hand towels and rest for half an hour.  When your time is up, use the hand towels to wipe off your feet a little and then go to town with the pumice stone.  You can also take the cuticle trimmer on a nail clipper to trim off your cuticles at this point; they should be nice and soft, too.

The article I originally read said to let your feet air dry in order to prevent fungus from growing on them.  But I am a fan of finishing up the whole thing with a heavy layer of lotion and clean socks.  I mean, my feet air out all day every day, that is kind of the problem.  You should only do this treatment once a week or less, since it removes a fair amount of skin.