For me, autumn-proofing my skin focuses on the driest parts of my body: feet, elbows and knees. 

There’s no need to buy fancy and expensive products to treat these areas, according to Sarah Callard, author of The Little Green Book of Beauty: 250 Tips for an Eco Lifestyle. 

“For dry skin, use olive oil, organic if possible,” she writes. “It has excellent moisturizing properties and has been traditionally used as an intensive conditioning and moisturizing treatment for areas prone to dry skin.” 

Callard recommends applying it at bedtime so you can wake up with smoother skin. 

Also by Sarah Callard 

• The Little Green Book of the Home: 250 Tips for an Eco Lifestyle
• Green Living: A Practical Guide to Eating, Gardening, Energy Saving and Housekeeping for a Healthy Planet

If I fail to exfoliate at least three times a week, my feet start to look scary, with flaky skin and callus buildup. If I postpone my foot-care regimen, the skin on my heels may actually crack—a painful, not to mention unsightly, condition podiatrists call “heel fissures.”

If you have the same problem, you don’t need to resort to harsh chemicals that are anathema to organic living. In Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living, Annie Berthold-Bond offers some kitchen-sink cures.

To soften dry skin, soak your feet in a footbath filled with 1 gallon of warm water mixed with your choice of the following:

• 1–2 cups buttermilk
• 1–2 cups organic apple cider vinegar
• 1–2 cups lemon juice

Each of these ingredients is rich in alpha-hydroxy acids, notes Berthold-Bond, a leading authority on environmentally safe alternatives. They help remove dead skin cells.

After you’ve soaked, discard the footbath contents and use a pumice stone to exfoliate. Concentrate on extra-dry areas like heels. As Berthold-Bond writes, “Pumice stone is excellent for exfoliating because it is soft and abrasive; it has been used to rub off dead skin for centuries.”

Finally, apply your favorite heavy-duty organic moisturizer—preferably one that contains shea butter.
Repeat this procedure as often as necessary, and your feet will become much healthier—and happier.

Be sure to check out our previously published do-it-yourself spa recipes:

• Don’t Sweat It! Foot Spa
• Very Vanilla Pumice Stone
• Bedtime Piña Colada Callus Treatment
• Luxurious Lemon Shoe Deodorizer
• Rosemary’s Apple Crisp Body Scrub
• Lemon-Brown Sugar Body Scrub
• Breakfast Spread
• Citrus Facial
• Banana Moon Facial
• Rose Potion Facial