Chemicals and Rock Salt Damage Feet?

jogoflap · Jan 13, 2014

Salt will not "eat your feet". Do we dissolve in the ocean? I doubt if any of the other junk they put on roads will either.

I loath salt on the roads. It hurts. And it melts the snow, turning it into cold slush and water, so I can't run in my socks (http://jogoflap.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/plasti-socks/). Let's not even get into what it does to cars and roads.

Heavy exposure to cold, salty water is hard on your skin. It dries it out. But I'd like to assure you that while references to "meat tenderizer" and "eat your feet" sound good, they have just sound bytes, with no basis in truth.

One more point: Where I live, the melting agent spread on roads in large quantities is salt. The other things used tend to be found on sidewalk, spread from bags bought in the store. I suspect it would be impractical for local governments to import large piles of anything other than regular old Sodium Chloride.

Sid · Jan 13, 2014

Road salt MSDS

barefootn · Jan 13, 2014

The gravel box feels great. Mine is a 2 X 4 wood frame 24 inches by 36 inches lined with roofing rubber. I put in about eighty pounds of pea gravel from the garden store. I put it over a carpet remnant to protect the floor.
Five or ten minutes of jogging in little laps, figure eights and side stepping lets your feet flex and keeps your skin conditioned.

JosephTree · Jan 14, 2014

Some people might benefit from another layer of protection over their gravel box when it's not in use - to keep the cats out.

Pjruns2 · Jan 14, 2014

In Cincinnati they put down beet juice on the road just hours before snow fall

JosephTree · Jan 15, 2014

Pjruns2 said:
In Cincinnati they put down beet juice on the road just hours before snow fall

I'd think sauerkraut juice would serve nicely.

Pjruns2 · Jan 15, 2014

Seriously, trucks lay down lines of it before a storm hits. Apparently lowers freezing temp. Once the snow starts, then the salt trucks come out.

Bare Lee · Jan 16, 2014

jogoflap said:
Heavy exposure to cold, salty water is hard on your skin. It dries it out. But I'd like to assure you that while references to "meat tenderizer" and "eat your feet" sound good, they have just sound bytes, with no basis in truth.

Silly literalist. The point was that salt does indeed react with skin, especially when mixed with moisture when it's cold and in higher concentrations. It dries out the skin and lowers the temperature of ice, which releases heat, causing a burning sensation. Proper meat tenderizing, of course, should be done well before cooking, so that the meat's moisture can be reabsorbed. Otherwise it will dry out the meat just like it dries out the skin. Please note further that the animal flesh will taste best if the grilling is done barefooted, literally.