Natural Remedies For Athlete's Foot

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Kira (Saratoga, NY) on 12/23/2008
★★★★★

I don't even need to soak my feet in Apple Cider vinegar (ACV), just wet a cotton ball with ACV and run over feet.

Be careful, it can really burn raw spots!

After the ACV dries, it feels so good to massage a little coconut oil on my feet (anti-fungal and moisturizing).

I find my biggest problem is I wear socks all the time and when they get moist, the intense itching begins.

My b/f did find when he wears cheap socks (like I do) his athlete's foot is worse.

Urine

Posted by Naturo (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) on 02/08/2010
★★★★★

Urine as a cure for athlete's foot is the most economical, safe, and timely remedy known to me. I tried tea tree oil, aloe, black soap, coconut oil, Burt's foot cream, all of the former offered little to no resolve. I had a serious case of athlete's foot known as "trench foot" which was a name gained from the soldiers of many wars where moisture would collect in the boot or shoe, creating the necessary conditions for bacterial growth. My condition was so bad that the epidermis was cracking and in areas of the foot - primarily the ball of the foot, there would be lesions that would bleed. The cure is simple, apply urine (fresh and warm) to the infected area allowing it a minute or so to absorb into the skin; this is best done prior to sleep. Repeat this day after day until you see desired results. Note, although the symptoms may subside i.e. itching and cracking, the actual bacterial infection may not be gone. Thus, one should continue daily treatment for at least 1 week beyond the epidermic symptoms remediation.

Tested and true.

Salt Water

Posted by Jay (Altona, Fl) on 11/05/2008
★★★★★

Salt water cured Athletes Foot and Foot Odor

I keep a spray bottle in the bathroom filled with a mixture of salt and water. After showering I spray my feet with the saltwater and leave it on all day. By that I mean that I do not wash it off at all. This cured a case of athletes foot that was resistant to all OTC drugs I tried. I also spray the saltwater into my tennis shoes and that kills the fungus that is in the shoe.The saltwater also eliminates foot odor. I use about 1/2 (one half) cup of salt in the bottle.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Larry (Dumaguete, Philippines) on 10/08/2008
★☆☆☆☆

I had chronic athletes foot for years, i could never get rid of it. Over the counter creams such as lamisil controlled the problem but did not get rid of it. I then tried not using the creams and only apple cider vinegar instead. The result was disaster, rampant athletes foot, so this is a definite NAY, but amazingly I did find something that finally worked after many years! And it involves Cayenne pepper and salt, see my additional comment below under Cayenne.

Baker's Yeast

Posted by Francis (Montreal, Canada) on 07/25/2008
★★★★★

As a kid I use to have such a severe Athlete's Foot problem that I could not walk and my mother needed to drive me to school near by. Large bleeding wounds between toes puzzled the doctor who prescribe foot bath with baking soda but it just did not do anything. An old neighbor told my mother to find bakers yeast and mix it with water and apply a thick coat on my feet covered wit a plastic bag for the night.

After 1 week it was all gone, that was 40 years ago and never came back. I am not talking about the little dry yeast. This stuff is only available from bakeries and it comes in pound brick packed just like butter. Mix with water to have a tick goo, magic.

Nu-Stock

Posted by Jean (Franklin, WI) on 07/06/2008
★★★★★

A number of years ago, we acquired a German Shepherd with a severe case of mange, covering about 1/3 of his body. The vet's expensive prescription products hardly touched it. After a lot of study, I found a product generally used for horses to heal wounds and rashes. It's called Nu-Stock. It cleared the mange up after only 2 applications and it has never returned. His hair grew back very quickly, and although he wasn't too thrilled with the first application, he WANTED the second one very much. The itching stopped immediately.

A couple years later, my daughter had a rash that no doctor seemed able to get rid of. We tried the Nu-Stock and it cleared right up and hasn't returned.

I've had a problem with athlete's foot for years. I tried all the other remedies and it got rid of "most" of it, but there was a spot on the ball of one foot, including two toes where it just wouldn't go away. One day it occurred to me to try Nu-Stock. After just a couple of applications, the skin was back to normal, all itching gone, and it appears to be healing permanently. I think this is going to finally kill it!!!

Doing a little studying, I've found that Nu-Stock is 73% sulphur, 25% mineral oil, and 2% pine oil.

I've also discovered that there are other health products made for pets that aren't available for people. For instance, in the local Farm & Fleet, you can buy a cheap package of electrolytes for your pet's water. 16 oz. of DMSO was only $5. And there were other things as well, most of them in the section for horses! Isn't it amazing that you can buy products for your pets, cheaply, and you can't get prescription products that work for yourself???

EC: Yes, agreed! Years ago we bought a 5 lb container of glucosamine at a tack shop in Burbank, CA for about $45 to give to our dog for his arthritis. The tack shop also sold chondroitin in large containers too.

Nu-Stock

Posted by Teresa (Dallas, Tx) on 03/06/2024
★★★★★

BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS

I tried it on my different parts of my neck and it was so strong it dried those parts of my neck it left my skin very wrinkly. I was afraid I'd damaged my skin. I did try it on some areas of my feet and only two areas seem like I have to be more aggressive with the treatment whichever it is I decide to do. Nustock is great so far on the feet but not on tender skin areas it cracks and dries up the skin really bad. Also it does have a high sulfur content and I read somewhere on here on the ringworm thread that a homeopath mentioned not to take sulfur (internally as pellets) because one could end up with high levels of sulfur. I'm not sure how much sulfur our bodies absorb from the cream. So I'll just say try at your own risk. I did develop dark spots on my arm and chest but I'm unsure if sulfur had anything to do with it.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Teresa (Minnesota, USA) on 05/01/2008
★★★★★

Yes, ACV does cure dundruff but do you know it can cure athlete foot too... Just put acv on your affected foot 2x a day, do not rinse- let it dry.. yes it will sting but it will cure the athlete foot.you will see improvement on the first try by 2nd to 3rd day it will all be gone.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by Doris (Santa Ana, CA USA) on 04/28/2008
★★★★★

Equal parts hydrogen peroxide and water in foot-bath bowl. Set feet in, and gently scrub with sponge. Good time to do it is after shower or bath and before bed. For worst cases, cotton swab damply all over affected foot skin. Immediately cleaned, no more co$$$tly stores remedies in very tiny tubes and bottles. Then, keep clean your barefoot walking or standing areas (shower, tub, etc). The immediate clean look and clean feel will be dramatic.

White Vinegar

Posted by Kathleen (San Antonio, Tx) on 02/06/2008
★★★★★

Apple Cider Vinegar is wonderful to clean out my German Shepherd's ears, when his ears are bothering him. He will shake his head, and I just put an apple cider and water solution on a cotton ball, and clean out his ears, and in ten minutes he stops fussing and lays down and finally can rest. My husband takes white vinegar and soaks his feet in it, and no more athelets foot! It is wonderful for killing any kind of fungus or bacterial infections. Thanks so much for the advice!

Coconut Oil

Posted by Klaus-Christian (Osaka, Japan) on 05/03/2007
★★★★★

Coconut oil cured my 20! years long athlete's foot problem plus a lot of epidermic fungus, [j-itch, behind the ears, chin] constipation and digestive problems. 3 times a teaspoonful per os and external. see: health-science-spirit.com/candida.html

White Vinegar

Posted by Barbara (Wellington, New Zealand) on 09/26/2011
★★★★★

I started getting athletes foot years ago, just a bit between my pinky toe and the next toe. I ignored it and now it's spread inbetween all my toes on both feet. I just started soaking in white vinegar (undiluted, no water added). Found a container that fit both feet, added white vinegar just to cover my toes and sat for 30 minutes. I already see improvement after only 1 soak! Am planning on doing once a day for a week and maybe once a week thereafter.

Cayenne

Posted by Beamslider (Sf, Ca) on 06/03/2012
★★★★★

Used it two days in a row between toes and the Cayenne has made drastic improvements. Seems to work.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Jeff (Mnassas, VA)
★★★★★

Soak each foot in at least a 50/50 water/acv solution for 2 to 3 days, for 30 minutes each and you will rid your feet of any fungus/ athlete's foot and soften and exfoliate your skin to boot.

Ketoderm, Black Walnut Oil

Posted by Catherine (Tahiti)
★★★★★

I tried doctors prescription of ketoderm, ciclopiroxolamine, econazole and numerous other things. I also tried the ACV and garlic oil rubbed on the skin. Lime rubbed on skin and left for 20 minutes. Also vera gel, colloidal silver, black walnut oil and iodine. I believe that the ketoderm works but my problem is that from all the drying products my skin would look worse so the aloe vera gel counteracted that and I've used the black walnut oil three times and it is working rapidly. I used the paragone liquid that I use to kill internal parasites on my skin topically. It has red clover and some other stuff in it but works great. I've been to three doctors and have had this for 3 months. It does go away with convectional medicine but will return the minute you stop treatment. I looked for every type of holistic cure and I think the problem with some like ACV is that they would make little wounds on my skin that would burn when I applied it. the doctors prescribed medicine did the same. I also eat raw garlic and drink a little bit of ACV each day. I also take noni which is a tahitian drink they sell at Costco. I stopped eating cheese and cut down on starch. I was using coconut oil last week but it didn't seem to do anything.

Multiple Remedies

Posted by Dena L. (New Orleans, Louisiana ) on 06/04/2022
★★★★☆

My feet had a fungus. I sprayed my shoes with Lysol spray and washed my feet with peppermint castle soap which is by opengate. It's similar to Dr. Bonner soap. I took baths in hydrogen peroxide and soak my feet in it daily. I applied tea tree oil daily. I noticed my feet nails got lighter and my feet felt better. You have to do this daily and constantly to see results. Spray all your shoes to avoid reinfection.

Vicks

Posted by Old Hippie Chick (Florida) on 04/29/2020
★★★★★

I had a mildly painful, annoying athlete's foot problem on a couple of my toes. First I tried Terabine Antifungal. It did not work. Then I tried Apple Cider Vinegar. It burned. Perhaps it killed some fungus; I do not know. Then I tried Vicks Vapo Rub (generic substitute). ChaChing! The improvement was rapid and my skin healed beautifully. I would recommend slathering it for a week or so (twice a day). Also wear sandals if you can to give your foot air.

Panoxyl 5 Cream

Posted by Joe (Nairobi) on 12/19/2017
★★★★★

Re: Treating Athlete's Foot

I remember I once used Panoxyl 5 cream when way back in the 90s. I haven't gotten it nowadays. Worked perfect. Caution! It will bleach your bed linen so sleep with socks.. share of it works for you.

Garlic

Posted by Green (Canada) on 12/06/2013
★★★★★

Hi There, I ha Athletes foot for 2 months until I discovered garlic. Tried ACV and drugstore foot sprays & powders to no avail. I finally made a paste by crushing and mushing up garlic cloves, adding s little olive, and mushing some more to make a nice paste. I rub it into my feet well 2-3 times a day and put clean socks over top each day. I make up enough for one or two days at a time --usually 2 to 3 medium/large garlic cloves per day. I rub it in well to all areas of my foot. This method is finally working; after 3 days, it is so much better. Good luck.