You’ve just arrived home from a hard day at the office. One of the first things you do when you walk through your front door is to wash your hands and your face…hoping to shake off the grimy aura that surrounds most Mumbaikars who’ve spent an hour (or more) battling the city’s traffic, pollution and humidity that clings to your body like a second skin.

There is one part of the anatomy, however, that is often neglected, yet is exposed to a myriad of germs and filth picked off the streets. The part is your feet. Under the current climatic conditions, many Mumbaikars prefer to don open footwear when they leave their homes.

This style of footwear, although more comfortable, offers your feet no protection from external dangers like bacteria and dirt. What’s more, with the amount of walking done by most commuting Mumbaikars, calluses and verrucas also pose problems. But Mumbai’s spas and beauticians have an answer to your foot woes, and that’s the foots spa…or foot therapy.

There is now a wide variety of options when it comes to pampering your puppies. Massages vary from the traditional to cocoa, butter, Aloe Vera, wine, hot/cold stone massages and so on.

The Wine and Roses Pedicure is a recent addition to the list of foot-care treatment available in the city. After the feet are washed and dried, they are soaked in warm water, sprinkled with rose petals. After a while, your feet are given a special scrub and massaged with wine and rose petals. The pedicure is a specialty of the Nail Spa at Andheri (W).

Bringing the exotic Thai spa experience into India is the Aroma Thai located at Bandra. Among their pleasurable foot-care treatments is the typical Sawadee session. This begins with a beautician escorting you to a plush massage chair and soaking your feet in warm water. Working her hands around each foot using the specially carved wooden massage stick, and gently scrubbing your legs with jasmine, lavender or lemon grass oil, specially brought in from Thailand, she puts the shine back in your feet. One could also try the Arokaya Massage - a traditional herbal compress massage.

Another luxury awaits you in Bandra. The Biguine Bio Pedicure is a one-hour relaxing and moisturising treatment for your feet. This is a completely organic and natural method. The procedure uses a special Biguine Bio Scrub and Masque.

A new technique called My Foot Reflexology has also made its entry to the city. It offers a new technique called Reflexology, ‘My Foot Signature Foot Rejuvenation’. Started at the Atria Mall, Worli, the treatment includes massaging the entire leg with a mint cream, from knee to sole. The massage, in fact, stimulates pressure points. This helps in relaxation and treating diseases like insomnia. Another de-stressor to be found here is the Hot Stone Foot Therapy, which uses volcanic stones for deep tissue healing.

Today, there’s no excuse to neglect your feet, and maybe getting them pampered will help relax your stressed soul as well.