Looking for how to relieve sore feet? Use essential oils and simple ingredients to make a cooling DIY foot spray to help tired legs and feet.
Folks, it doesn’t have to be summertime for you to experience dog-tired, hot, sweaty feet. Just ask anyone who routinely spends a lot of time on their feet … landscapers, brick masons, carpenters, massage therapists, sales clerks, waiters, parents of young children, runners, teachers, hairstylists, exercise instructors, nurses, etc. Their poor tootsies take a beating all year long!
Your feet are your foundation — ever think about that? They literally connect you with the earth, stabilize your being, take you from point A to point B, and enable you to jump, run, ski, bike, swim, and enjoy life, often with grace and style. It’s very difficult to get along without them. At the end of the day, after being on them for hours, your poor, fatigued, throbbing, sweaty, swollen “barking dogs” are in need of refreshment, rejuvenation, and relief! For all the support they give, regular soothing care is recommended to keep them (and you) happy! In this blog, I offer a simple, natural, soothing, aromatic solution that you can make in five minutes flat — a few minty spritzes will leave you with comfortable, cool feet so you can step lively once again!
I’m a practicing foot reflexologist, and the DIY spritzer recipe below is one that I use nearly every day in my treatments. I spray a light mist on my clients’ feet and lower legs at the end of their sessions and massage it in real good! They’re usually quite relaxed after 75 minutes of foot work, so this minty-fresh spray perks them up a bit, hydrates their skin (which is often dry), and sends them out the door with their feet feeling ultra-revived!
Bonus uses? You bet! This spray doubles as a superior room freshener — perfect for deodorizing both bathrooms and mud rooms where stinky shoes are stored. Simply spritz it into the air a few times (and into shoes too), and say goodbye to staleness and odor.
Make yourself a batch, won’t you? This recipe is also perfect for gift-giving — design a decorative custom label with directions, ingredients, and date made. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love to receive a bottle of this pleasingly fragrant spritzer.
Lini-Mint: Peppermint DIY Foot Spray Recipe
Refreshing herbal relief is a quick spray away with this super-easy-to-make foot-chillin’ formula. Combine vodka with peppermint and lavender essential oils to form a menthol liniment of moderate intensity, with a cool-to-cold energy that evaporates rapidly, removing heat along with sweat and odor, and leaving you feeling footloose and fancy-free. I recommend stashing a small bottle in your gym bag to use as a post-workout foot refresher — especially if there’s no time to shower. It’ll put some spring back in your step!
Yield: Approximately 1 cup.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unflavored vodka (use either 80- or 100-proof)
- 30 drops peppermint (Mentha piperita) essential oil
- 10 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil (optional, but blends beautifully with peppermint, and adds anti-inflammatory, muscle-relaxing properties, too)
- 1/2 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
- 8-oz dark-glass spray-top bottle
Directions
Combine the vodka, peppermint and lavender (optional) essential oils, and glycerin in your spritzer bottle, and shake vigorously to blend.
Label and store on a counter (out of the sun) or in a cool cabinet. No refrigeration is required, but chilling the formula makes it even more cooling.
For maximum freshness and potency, use within 1 year.
To apply: Shake well before each use, as the essential oils will naturally separate out and float to the top. Immediately spray on bare feet and lower legs whenever they’re feeling weary, hot, and generally uncomfortable. Give feet and legs a good rubdown. If you can convince a friend or family member to do this for you, all the better! Allow feet to air-dry before putting on socks or hosiery.
Recipe excerpted from Hands-On Healing Remedies: 150 Recipes for Herbal Balms, Salves, Oils, Liniments & Other Topical Therapies (c2012 by Stephanie Tourles). Used with permission from Storey Publishing. Stephanie Tourles is a licensed holistic aesthetician, certified aromatherapist, and gardener with training in Western and Ayurvedic herbalism. She has also written many other books, including her best-selling, Organic Body Care Recipes; Hands-On Healing Remedies; Raw Energy In a Glass; Raw Energy; Pure Skin Care; and Naturally Bug-Free.
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