Here's What Really Happens When You Use Exfoliating Socks

Sometimes, the most gory grooming rituals can be surprisingly...satisfying. Many of us enjoy popping a pimple, and cleaning wax out of your ears is right up there with scratching an itch, thanks to the nerve endings that are in the ear canal (per Men's Health). When you're out of Q-tips and are pimple-free, but are still craving the personal hygiene equivalent of releasing the air from bubble wrap, you might want to give exfoliating socks a try. Similarly to a foot peel, this product will remove the dead skin from your feet in large chunks that you'll probably enjoy rubbing off. As an added bonus, you'll end up with silky smooth feet when the ritual is complete.

"Sitting on my bed peeling my feet is becoming my daily ritual, so disgusting but oh so satisfying," confessed one exfoliating socks fan in Cosmopolitan. "I am a human snake, all around my house I leave trails of dry skin." The end result of using the exfoliating socks: feet that looked like they'd never been walked on. "Oh HELLO NEWBORN BABY FEET!" the experimenter exclaimed. 

So, how do exfoliating socks work?

One popular brand of exfoliating socks is Footner, and using this product is as simple as putting bare feet into the plastic socks and leaving them on for an hour. According to the Footner website, the skin on your feet will start to peel within three to five days, and the peeling process will be complete within seven to 10 days. "Use the socks 1-2 weeks before you intend to show off your feet to avoid the peeling process happening at the wrong moment!" the company advises.

This peeling process is what many fans of exfoliating socks enjoy the most. A Marie Claire fashion editor — who also admitted that she enjoys squeezing blackheads — said couldn't stop picking at the skin as it loosened from her feet. "If you imagine peeling cling film off your feet, but instead of clingfilm, it's skin, that's pretty much what it's like," she wrote. "I really didn't [realize] I had this much skin. It was gross, but in a satisfying sort of way." Like foot peels, exfoliating socks should not be worn by women who are pregnant or nursing, or people who are diabetic or have sensitive skin.