Natural Foot Balm for Cracked Feet: The Rose of Sharon Story

It started in a small suite inside a wellness center, a couple of years after we began making soap. We were new to the space, new to the workshop, and hungry to learn herbs, because we had big plans for butters, lotions, oils, and facial products.

We dove in headfirst. Google was nowhere near what it is today, so a lot of it was old-fashioned reading, cross-checking, and taking notes. Before long we had cataloged about fifty herbs we wanted in the new lineup, and we were learning how to infuse oils as we went. We started in the summer. By the time we felt like we knew what we were doing, winter was coming.

The thing I was hiding

That summer I developed a painful case of athlete's foot, and I kept it from my business partner and friend. Sandals made it bearable enough to hide. I saw three doctors, and each one handed me a stronger prescription than the last. The price climbed from $25 to $50 to $125 for a single medication, the most I had ever paid for medicine, and none of it worked. I used it every day. I aired my feet out, kept them clean, kept them dry, and did everything I was told.

The skin between my toes cracked, and every crack hurt. Some of them bled. I was told to keep my feet bare and rely on the medicine, so I couldn't put oils or moisturizer on them, no matter how dry they got.

I have my suspicions about how it started. Shortly before it began, I had gone to a walk-up pedicure place where they used a tool on my feet that felt like a cheese grater. I remember thinking it was rough, but they were the professionals, so I let them do their thing. My feet were raw and sensitive afterward, and I never went back. Add a gym shower to those open spots on my skin, and I think that is how it got in.

As the weather turned, I got scared. Winter meant socks and closed shoes, and I knew my feet could not handle that.

Letting my friend in

I finally told my partner what I had been dealing with, because I needed help, badly. She didn't hesitate.

"Girl, we have a whole catalog of herbs here. Let's go in there and see what we can do for you."

You've tried the medicine, she said, so now let's see what we can do. We pulled out our catalog and went looking for everything we had that was antibacterial, antifungal, and antimicrobial. After a year of living with athlete's foot, I had learned a lot about what I was up against, and I knew what I was looking for.

Neem stood out first. It looked the most promising for the bacteria and fungus, so it became the key ingredient. For the pain, we chose arnica, which had the most promise of anything on our list. For the roughness and the deep nourishment my skin needed, we chose calendula. That was our herbal suite.

The first balm

We got to work that same day. We made the infusions first, then built the texture we wanted with beeswax, and added shea butter so my feet would soften while they were being cared for. Our goal was a balm that worked on the problem and also felt good to wear.

I put it on right away. The next day, after a single application, my feet felt better for the first time in months, and they were not bleeding. By the second day, the pain was gone. Walking had become hard before that, and now it wasn't. By the third day, I couldn't find any cracking at all.

I told myself it might be a fluke.

The cleaning lady and her husband

A woman who cleaned our building was always curious about what we were up to, since we were there late most nights. One evening she asked if we had anything for feet. Her husband had been seeing a podiatrist, and he had tried every medicine they gave him. Nothing had worked, and he was looking for anything that might.

We told her what we had just made. She took some home, and when we saw her again about three days later, she told us he had seen the same result I had. She bought two jars on the spot.

That is still the pattern with Rose of Sharon. People buy two jars at a time, because nobody wants to run out.

A name we kept close for years

That balm became Rose of Sharon. We rarely talked about it in public, because we never made enough of it. My salon clients alone kept it sold out, so it stayed a quiet favorite inside our own circle.

Over the years, people found uses for it that I never planned. My family started using it for arthritis pain. So did clients of mine who were recovering from knee and hip surgeries, and others with sore wrists, shoulders, and elbows. I never created it for that. I learned it from the people who came back for another jar.

Now we have a reliable source for the ingredients, which means it is finally time to bring everyone up to speed.

What the research says about the herbs

Nobody has run a clinical trial on Rose of Sharon itself. It is a small-batch formula made in our studio, and the studies below tested each herb on its own. I still think you deserve to see them, so you can read them and decide for yourself.

Neem. In a randomized, double-blind trial, a 5% neem seed extract cream performed comparably to a clotrimazole antifungal cream on ringworm of the body and groin. In lab work, neem leaf extracts stopped the growth of every fungal sample collected from patients with skin fungal infections, and other lab studies found neem extract active against bacteria that commonly cause skin infections.

Arnica. In a randomized trial of 204 people with hand osteoarthritis, arnica gel and ibuprofen gel brought similar relief over three weeks. A six-week study of knee osteoarthritis also reported good results, though it had no placebo group. The evidence overall is mixed, and some reviews call for better trials. Arnica is for external use only, and it should be avoided during pregnancy.

Calendula. In a phase III trial of breast cancer patients receiving radiation, calendula ointment led to significantly less severe skin dermatitis than the standard comparison treatment. A more recent double-blind trial found that 1% calendula extract in an emollient cream improved skin hydration and recovery after irritation. Research on wound healing is more mixed.

This research covers the herbs and offers information for you to weigh. It makes no promise about any one jar. I see Rose of Sharon as an option to explore alongside medical care when you have access to it, and a choice worth knowing about when you don't.

Something you can wear to work

Most pain topicals smell medicated, like Bengay and products of that kind, and plenty of people don't want to walk into the office smelling like that. Rose of Sharon has a honey and vanilla warmth to it, because we add vanilla extract, and it sits gently under the herbs. Clients tell me they put it on every morning before work and never think twice about it.

Want to try a version at home?

Neem is the herb that started all of this, and you can infuse it into oil in your own kitchen with a slow cooker and a jar. I wrote out the whole method, including how to strain it and how much vitamin E to add, in our neem infusion guide.

Formulator's Notes: straight answers from 25+ years behind the bench.