If you suffer from persistently dry and cracked hands or heals, a paraffin foot treatment is the thing for you. A lot of people wonder what paraffin foot treatment is, and the answer is simple. It is a treatment of feet by dipping them into hot paraffin wax.
When you heat wax to a certain temperature, it begins to melt. You can then dip your fingers and your feet into it, to coat them with the molten wax. As you pull out from the container of molten wax, you can see the wax cooling down and taking the perfect form of the contours of your body part. It almost becomes a second layer of skin. You can continue to dip your hands and feet into the molten wax to add several coatings of the wax.
To prevent the wax from drying up completely, you have to wear thick woolen socks or mittens on your feet and hands respectively. Paraffin wax emanates a lot of heat as it cools down, and the mittens or socks you are wearing, tends to trap the heat down so that your feet remain warmer for a longer period of time. As the heat collects, it relaxes your muscles and dilates the blood vessels to bring more blood to your hands and feet. This can not only improve the texture of your skin, but also help you deal with pain associated with arthritis or fibromyalgia.
The increase in the blood circulation also improves skin tone and the functioning of the muscles in those particular areas. The heat also allows the skin’s pores to open up, so that moisture can seep into the skin, making it softer, younger and more pliable. The entire experience of a paraffin foot treatment is very relaxing and healing.
Paraffin wax is derived as a byproduct when crude oil is refined into petroleum. Being a derivative of oil, it has many soothing, relaxing and moisturizing properties. It is hypoallergenic and can be used safely even by the most allergy ridden person. Some people, before they indulge in paraffin foot treatment, also add a few drops of aromatherapy oil to the wax, to make it smell better. Paraffin wax is not toxic, and does not react with any other substances that it comes into contact with, so you can use it conveniently without worrying about the effects it may have on you.
Though most spas offer paraffin wax therapy, you can do this at home as well. If you know and understand properly about paraffin foot treatment, you can make the molten paraffin wax at home, yourself. Simply melt a few candles in a container and add a few teaspoons of mustard oil, to make a solution. Now wait as the solution cools down and solidifies. Touch it and see if it has a creamy consistency. If it doesn’t, you may have to reheat the wax and add some more mustard oil.
The resultant creamy mixture can be applied to cracked and chapped heals, feet or hands twice a day. Paraffin foot treatment is most effective when used at night, before going to sleep. Once you have applied the wax mixture to your feet, pull on some woolen socks and let it remain overnight. This helps get your feet completely moisturized.