With the weather warming, you may be ready to break out your favorite sandals. Yet, after a long, cold winter of thick socks and boots, you may wonder how to smooth calluses and cracks quickly, affordably and effectively, i.e., without getting a pedicure or spending north of $20 on a single peeling foot mask.
Lucky for you, a 2-pack of original callus remover gel from the brand Lee is currently 20% off, according to our price trackers. Nicknamed “nail salon in a bottle” and “magic potion for calluses,” it’s a HuffPost reader fav for leaving dry, crusty or cracked feet “baby soft and pink.” Cheaper than a professional treatment and giving you far more treatments than a single-use mask, users say it’s saving their feet and their coins.
The formula “melts away tough dead skin” and keeps feet hydrated and soft, making them “summer ready” — in just a few minutes, no weeks of peeling needed.
Lee Beauty developed this callus remover with water, potassium hydroxide (a chemical compound used to break down dead skin), propylene glycol (for extra hydration) and glycerin — a common skincare ingredient that helps retain moisture and keep skin soft. This means the gel works to smooth out existing rough spots and to hydrate your feet, keeping new rough spots from forming. Fans who use the gel frequently report that their feet have “stayed super soft and callus-free,” even more so than after professional pedicures.
“It’s Day 4 and I’ve been running, working out, walking barefoot, and living life with no pain and all while enjoying super-soft feet,” one wrote. “Better than any pedicure and certainly longer lasting.”
Lee Beauty suggests soaking feet in dry water, giving them a quick dry, then applying the gel and leaving it on for 3-7 minutes (though many reviewers say they keep it on longer.) Once the gel has stayed on your feet, you can gently grate them with a rasp or pumice stone to remove the dry, dead skin. We personally love this extendable foot scrubber, which grows nearly 26 inches, saving you from bending and scrunching.
Still, be warned: Reviewers say it gets a little gross, but it’s totally worth it.
Deemed “disgusting, but undeniably effective,” this footcare treatment isn’t here to play. You need to put a little elbow grease into your callus removal, though you’ll see them come off, right in front of your eyes.
“This stuff took off like a cheddar cheese block worth of dead skin on my feet,” one wrote. “I should have recorded it. It was revolting. But holy crap my feet. SO SOFT. They don’t HURT anymore.” Another reviewer, who joked their feet had
“razorblade heels” and “cracks as deep as the Grand Canyon,” said the gel peeled layers of skin from their feet like they were boiled onions. With more joking, ”...After one more use, I’ll have feet as soft as my toddler.”
Though others call it “satisfying,” especially when they see the results and immediately get relief from painful cracks.
“Instant softness,” one wrote, calling it a “pedicure in a bottle.” With another noting, “the substance that comes off of you will make you reconsider a lot of things. But by the end you will have baby smooth feet. If you want to remove callouses, and QUICKLY, buy it.”
And, it’s a quick, one-time buy. (Until you fall in love, and re-purchase next summer.)
While most peeling foot masks are single-use, the gel callus remover gives you many, many at-home treatments, especially the 2-pack. “A little bit of the gel goes a long way,” one said. “Honestly this bottle is going to last me forever!” “I’m about to reorder a new bottle, the other bottle lasted me over a year,” another wrote.
And though the gel requires manual callus removal, fans appreciate that the process is instant — no more waiting days for the treatment to start working, soaking your feet daily, then having your feet “peel for weeks” afterward, à la most chemical peeling masks.
“If you have used the foot masks that peel, imagine getting the effect you get on day 8-10 once the peeling has completed, in 15 mins,” one said. “It even reduced my overgrown cuticles, and all I had to do was rinse and wash my feet, trim my toenails, and do a little final clean up on the cuticle.”
Reviewers love this Lee Beauty gel callus remover for soothing dry, cracked feet, on a budget. Read more 5-star reviews and grab some while it’s on sale — your feet will thank you.
“Got nasty crusty feet? This what you need. I am a former but still licensed nail tech for over 30 years, now RN for 20 years. Forget the foot peel packets. This is what you want. No waiting around for 2 weeks for peeling. This stuff does it in 10 minutes or less. Soak feet, apply, rinse, scrub with pumice or grater. Best at night then you can put ointment or Urea cream on with socks and sleep with them. Read the instructions! Repeat slowly depending on how bad it is. Works well on old feet. The feet get thick like that as we age because cell turnover slows. Be very careful with this stuff. Wear gloves and only apply where needed not all over your whole foot unless you know what you are doing. This is professional stuff. If you thought hmmmm will this remove any other dry areas or my strawberry legs? I am not going to tell you to use it for one minute max. This is a well known product in the nail industry for decades. They don’t use it in the nowadays salons because then you won’t need to go back. Get it. It’s all about $$$$. This will last you 10 years. You don’t need much.” — Melissa Gallagher
“I bought in August 2025 but just used it…amazing! So easy and didn’t leave my feet peeling for weeks like the foot masks that I tried. I have the Revlon glass foot scraper and used it with this callus remover. Worked like a charm together!” — ShopGirl1234
“I always struggle getting the skin right before my toes. It’s a hard spot to scrub, but with this stuff, I didn’t have to scrub much at all. It’s just the same as the salon, comes right off and take all the dead skin with it. I have sensitive skin and had to be careful around the sides of my feet and the upper part of my heel. I’ve kept the scraper in my shower because it’s so much easier to use than my small one. I use it every couple of days and my feet have stayed super soft and callus-free.” — Lauren
“This is literally magic in a bottle- I get very dry and cracked heels and it’s a pain to fix them but this product works like magic it’s melting off the hard skin on my heels and make it so easy to achieve a soft skin crack free heel - love it !” — Marce
Need a handy foot scraping tool to help you see the gel in action? You know we got you. Check out these on-sale options, and enjoy “summer feet” in no time.
A telescopic foot scrubber, for easy reaching (20% off)
Though we mentioned this above, we couldn't pass up showing you this ingenious, extendable foot scrubber again — especially because it's on sale for 20% off. Many reviews come from people with limited mobility (or their loved ones) who bought the scrubber to help with independence and routine hygiene. "I am no longer spongy and flexible like I used to be, but that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy keeping my feet in good shape," one wrote. "With psoriatic arthritis, I wouldn't dream of having another human touch my feet! I would be so embarrassed. But now I can file the callouses and put as much coconut oil on my feet every morning as I would like! This was a very good birthday gift."
A pair of stainless steel foot rasps (22% off)
Promising review: "I have plantar fasciitis and other ankle deformities that result in me putting pressure on the outermost parts of my feet. As a result, I’ve developed thick patches of calluses which was worsened due to me neglecting my foot care routine.
This product is a miracle and I wish I knew about it quicker. I soaked my feet for 40 mins instead of 25 because of how thick the patches were. Then I rubbed the gel on it and covered my foot with disposable foot wraps. I know instructions say to leave it on for 3-5 mins, but like I said, I have extremely thick patches so I left it on for 20 mins. Then the magic began……As I used the scrubber, the callus was just melting away from my feet. I was so amazed. After scrubbing and using the buffer to smooth it out, I wash my feet off which revealed smooth healthy skin. I’m sticking with this product and you should try it!
If you are prone to developing calluses frequently. Try using this gel 2-3x for the month, but scrub your feet 1-2 times for the week. Get yourself some disposable feet wraps, a spray bottle, and moisturize cream or lotion. Before bed every night, spray water onto your feet, rub the cream in, cover your feet with the disposable wraps, and place socks on to secure it. Doing this at least every other night ensures that your feet are hydrated and will reduce the callus buildup!" — Deborah Cobourne
A 3-sided glass file (20% off)
Another option is this handy, 3-sided glass foot file, which is currently 20% off. While the brand recommends soaking your feet first, many reviewers say they'll use it on dry feet, making it a quick, less-involved process, or on dry feet and then later on wet feet, to really get the smoothness they desire.
Promising review: "Best pedicure tool ever. I have been self conscious about my feet for years. Even though I get a pedicure every 3- 4 weeks and work on them at home (lotions, special socks, rasps, pumice, etc) I still had cracks and callouses. They would put down a newspaper to catch all of the stuff they would shave off at the salon. I was looking for a new metal rasp and came across this and read the reviews, and figured it was worth it. I am SO SO glad I did. My feet are smooth. There's no more cracks. The dead skin is GONE. I did go a little too far in one tiny spot without realizing it so be careful but if you are wondering if this will work for you- just give it a try. I did most of it dry, using water to rinse the file, and then soaked my feet and went over them again with the smoothest side to get them really soft, put some lotion on them and called it good. I wish I knew that this existed years ago!" — Rachel petznik
The Real Deal: We use deal trackers and commerce experience to sift through “fake” hike-and-drop deals and other deceptive sales tactics. Products will usually be rated at least 4 stars with a minimum 15% discount. (And when there’s an exception, we’ll tell you why.)