The skin on the heel is the thickest on the body, and it has no oil glands at all. It depends on sweat for moisture. When it dries out it stiffens, and with each step the fat pad under the heel spreads sideways and pulls on skin that can no longer stretch. The skin splits. Cracks begin as shallow lines in the hard outer layer and can deepen into living skin, where they hurt and bleed.
Everyday causes
Dry air is the first, which is why heels are worst in winter and in air-conditioned rooms.
Footwear is the second. Open-backed sandals and chappals let the heel pad spread with nothing to hold it, and walking barefoot on hard floors adds pressure and dries the skin further. Both are close to universal in Indian homes.
Long hours standing, extra body weight, hot water and harsh soap all contribute. So does age, since skin holds less water as it gets older.
Causes that are medical
Diabetes reduces sweating in the feet and slows repair, and a crack can become an ulcer. Anyone with diabetes should show cracked heels to a doctor and not manage them at home.
An underactive thyroid dries the skin all over, heels included.
Eczema and psoriasis both thicken and split the skin of the soles.
A fungal infection of the foot can look exactly like dry skin: fine white scaling across the sole and around the heel, often worse on one foot, sometimes with itching between the toes. Moisturiser does not clear it.
What helps
Soften, then reduce. Soak the feet in lukewarm water for about ten minutes, then use a pumice stone or foot file gently on the thickened skin. Twice a week is enough. The aim is to thin the callus gradually.
Use a heel cream with urea. Urea draws water into hard skin and, at the strengths used in foot creams, also loosens the thickened layer. Lactic acid and salicylic acid do similar work. This is the step ordinary lotion cannot replace.
Seal it at night. After the cream, cover the heels with petroleum jelly and put on cotton socks. Hard skin softens far faster under a sealed layer.
Moisturise after every bath, while the feet are still slightly damp.
Change the footwear. A closed, cushioned heel holds the pad in place and takes the tension off the skin.
Nightly care for a few weeks closes most cracks. They return if the routine stops completely, so keep a lighter version going.
What to avoid
Do not cut hard skin with a blade or scissors. It is easy to go too deep, and thick skin grows back thicker after injury.
Filing hard every day has the same effect. The skin reads it as friction and builds more callus.
Avoid acid foot peels and lemon mixtures on heels that are already split. They sting, and they slow the repair.
When to see a doctor
Go if you have diabetes or poor circulation. Go if a crack is deep, bleeding, or shows redness, swelling, warmth or pus. Go if a few weeks of steady care have changed nothing, or if there is scaling across the sole or between the toes, which suggests fungus.
Where the Cham range fits
The Brightening Body Lotion is a daily body moisturiser with glycerin, ceramide NP and shea butter. It is fine for keeping feet from drying out once the heels are sound.
It contains no urea and it is not a heel balm. Heels that have already split need the thicker products described above first. Cream and lotion compared explains why a lotion's higher water content suits large areas of normal skin better than a callus.
