If a genie popped out of a bottle and granted us one totally vain, non-world-saving wish (hey, we’re not monsters—we’d definitely wish for world peace and cures for every type of cancer), it'd probably be for the smoothest, freshest, softest skin usually reserved only for newborn babies.
And though genies have yet to come down and give us what we want, a product called Baby Foot is basically acting as a stand-in magic maker by promising to literally peel your skin away to reveal new, fresh, young skin. Yes, we’re serious.
It sounds painful and scary, but we assure you it’s totally safe, and only partially scary, if you’re not cool with seeing your skin peel for days on end. Baby Foot, which originally hails from Japan, is a chemical exfoliator that peels off layers and layers of calloused, rough skin from your feet, leaving behind only shockingly smooth skin. The sock-like booties are filled with fruit extracts (including lemon, grapefruit, and orange), that work to deeply exfoliate—on a cellular level, not on a painful, sandpaper-rubbing-you-raw plane—the upper layers of your skin over the course of a few weeks.
Here’s how it works: After taking a shower to soften your skin, slip your feet into the booties, tape them in place (tape is included), wait one hour, then wash your feet off with soap and water. After a few days—for us, it was around day four—your feet will start to peel, with long strips of skin painlessly sloughing off on their own (or by your own shameless and addicting picking every single night) for the next two weeks.
Yes, it’s kind of gross in a fascinating, can’t-look-away way, but after a few weeks, your feet will feel softer than a baby wrapped in cashmere. And after a winter of heavy boots and dry skin, we’re all about losing our sheets of dead skin and pretending it’s almost sandal weather. Thankfully, one pack is pretty affordable at $19, and the results last for months, so you can have smooth, happy feet for, well, the rest of your life, if you want it. And look at that—you didn’t even have to use your genie wish on it.