In order to do that, we'd have to go back to the stretching conversation. I put olive oil on last night and some short socks my wife had. I threw all of mine out with my running shoes about 3 years ago. I woke up about a zillion times, nightmares, sweating...finally took off the socks and fell back to sleep about 5 minutes before my alarm went off.
Half the reason I'm a barefooter is because I get 'hot foot.' I can't stand socks unless I have shoes on outside and it's below freezing. And even in the middle of winter I'll often stick my feet out from under the covers while sleeping. The other half is that I like the tactile stimulation.
As for my (evolving) routine, I massage and roll the whole leg and foot before I run, and do a little light stretching of everything--legs, back, arms ... everything. Then sometimes midway through a longer run (plus five miles), I like to find a chest-high wall or rail and stick my foot up on it and stretch out the hammies, calves, and glutes, and then I stretch the quads and massage my front lower leg a bit too. This really refreshes me, and actually seems to increase my springiness, and my pace often increases a bit afterwards too. I call it the
run-stretch-run method, adapted from Jeff Galloway's
run-walk-run method. Then once home I massage and roll my legs really good and stretch a bit more, and then the next day while doing weights I do more of the same. I also have a sprinter stick and trigger wheel in my office for occasional light massaging of the lower leg and foot during the work day.
Besides curing me of top-of-the-foot-pain and helping me run longer at a decent pace, this routine helps me stay limber, which is especially important now as the effects of aging are starting to make me creakier. It makes sense to resist this process, the same as I resist losing strength and stamina by lifting weights and running.
As for the whole
stretching is for bozos thing, well, I've concluded that stretching may not be for everyone, but
not stretching because some sloganeering chiropractor says you shouldn't, really is for bozos, especially if you know you benefit from it. Then again, complaining about this just reinforces the simple-minded marketing technique's (ironic) efficacy in drawing web traffic. My bad.
I don't know anything about lotions, oils, or butters. My heels crack once or twice a year, but I figure this is just part of being a barefooter. I bought a pumice stone, but rarely use it.