** A Positive Step Towards Slightly Smoother Feet ** (The Body Shop File A Foot)

Member Name: izzoh

Product:	The Body Shop File A Foot
Date:	14/09/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smooths already well maintained feet, easy to use .

Disadvantages: Fairly expensive, does not get rid of hard skin .

** The Body shop **

Most people know about The Body Shop brand or have heard about it at some point in their life but in case you haven't this is a very brief run down of who they and what they do. The Body Shop is a HUGE company, it has over 2400 stores in 61 countries and they have a product range of over 1200 different products, and this is growing all the time!! The Body Shop was originally set up in 1976 by human rights activist Dame Anita Roddick. The body shop company have very strong values in terms of caring for the environment and everything in it. Hence, why all of their products are naturally sourced, not tested on animals and all fair trade. This means all people who are part of making the Body shop products, especially in developing countries, get a decent income. Thumbs up to an organisation that puts others to shame! Because of all this I feel it is beneficial to buy a lot of my beauty products from The Body Shop, but another reason I do is because their stuff is splendid!


** File A Foot **

The File a foot is really self explanatory. It is a foot file which is made to smooth down the feet's hard and rough skin. It is two sided. It has a course side which is aimed at the rough areas and the other slightly smoother side is used as an exfoliater. It advises you to use it dry and on dry skin.
Priced at £4.40 it is slightly on the expensive side for a basic foot file but what makes this no ordinary foot file is the material it is made from and I like using things that are a little bit special. This foot file is made from community trade birch wood from Russia. This means that the Body Shop has provided stable employment in an area of few opportunities and also built safe houses for homeless children. Beyond this Birch wood is renowned for imparting good energy to all those that use it. So before you go for you early morning run give yourself a little spiritual boost!

** What Is It Like To Use? **

It is so simple to use it hardly requires explaining, just smooth it from one side to the next and see what happens. It is advised not to use this wet as it stops the roughness of the file from working and it glides over the skin rather then smoothing it down. The rougher side does work to get some areas of dry skin away from the soles of the feet and I always use the softer side to just make the area a little softer. It is basic stuff really but don't expect miracles. It does make the feet look slightly more appealing and tends to just make the feet softer then actually getting rid of any hard skin. You will be much better off using a pumice stone of some kind if hard skin is your issue. The file a foot is great at maintaining already healthy and cared for feet. It is also a grand way of increasing your own little pamper session into a large pamper session!

The file itself lasts depending on how often you use it. Just like a nail file after a certain amount of use the file becomes blunt and thus this is relatively the same. You can easily tell when the file is warn down because the black sanding area turns grey and the side becomes a lot smoother and of course it stops working as effectively on the skin. I have had mine for about 4 months now using it once a week or so and it still has plenty of life left in it. However for maximum effect I would use this as often as possible to prevent the dry skin returning. The fact it is also made with wood makes it extremely easy to hold and stops your hands getting sweaty and losing your grip. You have to b quite firm in order for the file to work effectively and the wood allows your grip to do that.
Most foot products including this one advise you to use on the foot after you have been in the bath or shower because the skin is softer and it prevents you rubbing away good skin as well as the bad. But I find with this it works better on my feet when they are completely dry. I think it's because it doesn't actually get rid of the dry skin is simply makes it smoother. So if the skin is already soft it doesn't have anything to cause friction against and doesn't smooth down the skin as good as it does when the feet are slightly dry and not as soft. However this may be different for you, just try it both ways.


** Conclusion **

A simple product that is great at MAINTAINING good feet with good skin. It did smooth down my feet a little by no means an amazing product that my feet can not leave with out. It can be quite time consuming to get some decent results but a handy product to have floating around. I probably will buy something similar but look around for a cheaper price. If I added another few pound on I could get a professional pedicure from my local high street!

Summary: A simple foot file thats a little heavy on the purse strings!