Peppermint and Rosemary Foot Soak

Ahhhh… the oft overlooked foot bath! Taking 15-20 minutes just to sit and soak your feet is such a delicious luxury that is so easy and inexpensive to do, one wonders why it’s not on the weekly agenda.

I’m a massage therapist and a couple of years ago, I got tired of trying to get my clients to relax for their appointment. I sat down and had myself a good think over this and decided it was silly to expect people to come straight in from their crazy, busy lives and instantly be able to relax. I thought maybe a better way to deal with this was to offer them a way to unwind for a few minutes before their massage actually began. Thus began the foot soak and wash before every appointment.

I have a pretty fancy television (thanks to my husband’s job at Best Buy) and we take our TV and movie viewing experience pretty seriously, so our little movie room is completely painted black with black carpet and the windows are all blocked off. We have mood lighting around the ceiling, and it is one of the quietest rooms in the house. I found that YouTube has these amazing videos of sea life in the coral reeves, so I started doing the foot soaks in this room. I put on soothing spa music, put on one of the under-the-sea videos, and just let my clients soak their feet for a few minutes before their appointment. My regulars have learned that if they come in early for their appointment, they can have an even longer soak.

Once they have soaked away their troubles for a few minutes, I come in, wash their feet and rub them with a little bit of orange, dry them off, and then into the massage room we go. Now, they are like putty in my hands!

And it’s so easy to do! I just went to the store and bought a few plastic dish tubs that were big enough to put 2 feet in. I am a soap maker, so I just use a bit of shaved soap for the wash, and a slice of orange to help remove any excess soap (plus it just looks fancy and adds to the ambience). A couple of towels to dry the feet and it’s all set.

When I do this for my clients, it needs to be fairly quick. I mean, it’s lovely to have a little foot soak, but let’s face it, they are really there for the massage. When I do this for myself, it is a little bit bigger production. I like to take at least 15 minutes where I can sit and either stare at the lovely fishies on the screen or spend some time reading something just for fun. I also like to use an herbal salt soak to up the relaxation factor. Below is the recipe for one of my favorites, Peppermint and Rosemary Foot Soak. It will keep for a really long time in a canning jar, so I make a pretty good-sized batch, so I always have it on-hand. You can purchase the dried herbs from my online herb shop here.

The soaking liquid can be as simple or fancy as you like, however. Here are some of my favorite ingredients.

• Milk
• Dried lavender or other herbs
• Coconut oil
• Essential oils
• Sea salt
• Epsom salt
• Baking soda

Any combination of the above is lovely. For this particular recipe, I use dried rosemary and peppermint, Epsom salt, and baking soda. I mix everything up in a pint canning jar and label it, so I don’t forget what it is. It looks so pretty in the jar! You can also make extra and put cute labels on them to give as gifts.

For an herbal foot soak, you are basically making a tea for your feet so the herbs will need to steep for a few minutes before they are ready. I like to use a small teapot with a strainer for this. You can also use a cloth bag or any loose-leaf tea strainer. I find that if the herbs are just floating around in the foot bath, they tend to stick to my feet, and I have to sit there and pick them all off.

I put about 2-3 spoonfuls of my herbal salt soak into the strainer of the teapot, pour boiling water over it, and let it steep for at least 10 minutes. While it’s steeping, I get everything ready. I will make myself a cup of tea to drink and maybe get a snack. I put a towel on the floor in case any water spills and get a hand towel to dry my feet off after I’ve soaked. I also like to have some foot cream to moisturize my feet after.

When you are all set and your foot tea has steeped, fill a foot bath with warm to hot water. I find that if I can put my hand in the water and it feels good, it will probably feel good on my feet too. Please be very careful not to burn yourself!

Place the foot bath on the towel on the floor in front of the chair you will be sitting in and then add the foot tea. Stick just a toe in the water to make sure it’s a good temperature. If it’s good, put both feet in, sit back, and relax. This is self-care. Let the chair take all your weight and maybe do a body scan to release any tension that might be lurking. Be mindful of the warm water on your feet and how amazing it feels. Feel good about yourself and that you carved out this time to do something purely for yourself. You deserve this for no other reason than that you are a human being. You don’t need to justify that you deserve this because you work hard, you take care of your family, you cleaned your house, or any other reason. You just deserve this period. If your house is a complete disaster and you blew off work, you still deserve this! Ok, I’m done preaching. Go soak your feet.