It has come to pass that my meticulously maintained morning coffee and croissant habit has been severely interrupted by my having to haul my ass to a pilates class at the crack of dawn these days. This is because I am a long-time sufferer of every postural problem ending in “-sis“, such as lordosis and scoliosis, and the pain was starting to hit new limits, making daily life pretty much intolerable. Also I was starting to look like a middle-aged female Pisa.

Much of the exercises are posture correction, starting from the feet. Now, I’m not big on toe-exposure, so I was not at all prepared for a situation where the instructor started assembling my bare toes into a some kind of toe-separating -gizmo whose purpose is not entirely clear to me yet. I was supposed to flex, point and curl, but the only thing on my mind was “why the hell did I not apply cuticle oil last night?”

To add to the urgent below-the-knees situation, the temperature in Brussels is beyond tropical. I don’t do heat well, my feet even less so. There is no glamorous circumlocution to this: summer means sweaty and swollen feet. The shoes I wear in the summer are overall about 1-1,5 sizes larger than my regular shoes. Free tip: don’t try to force your feet into your regular shoes in the summer heat.

I know of people (mainly Hollywood celebrities) who inject botox in their soles to stop feet from perspiring, but it feels very extreme. Also I want my toes to be able to express themselves fully. For closed shoes talcum powders work quite well, for open shoes the situations obviously not. The best powders come from pharmacies and are those designated for this purpose. Don’t be fooled by the rose-scented boudoir-deals that come with pink, satiny puffs.

Moisturising might seem to go counter the idea of keeping dry, cool feet, but is the only way to have presentable feet that won’t scare people away. I am extremely lazy with going to pedicures, so it’s a constant drag to remember to do the rasping and filing and oiling. Whether you go or not, regular maintenance is key.

Herewith some rather unglamorous produce that I use, or should use regularly:

Weleda Arnica sport shower gel

GEHWOL  Talcum Powder (It is not a coincidence that the Top 2 -products are German. Sometimes one wants more efficiency, less sex-kitten.)

Tata Harper Soothing Muscle Gel. Anything that cools.

LXMI Pure Nilotica Melt. It is 100% organic, cold-pressed Vitellaria Nilotica fruit butter. I have no idea what that is, but it is harvested at the source of the Nile River (I’m actually not making this up), smells divine and gives unparalleled, deep hydration.

Kure nail polishes, according to mood. Not in the picture: Kure cuticle oil, which is great.