What Hygiene Expert Mary Futher Buys at the Drugstore

I get bad calluses. It’s hard work getting rid of them. My podiatrist recommended urea cream, and he said to go high: 22 percent. I will say, my social content and my brand are natural. Urea cream is not, but there’s just no natural equivalent to that. This is also amazing for cracked heels. I put it on every single morning before I put my shoes on. (You have to put socks on after so you’re not tracking urea cream all over your house or on your sandals.) I’ve been adding a little vegetable glycerin to it as well. The bottom of your feet will feel like a baby’s bum. It is so healing.

I have super-sensitive legs. For me, when I get that burn from shaving, it’s deeper down in the derm layer, so I want a bit more protection. I find shaving foams are too light and just give glide to the razor. Moringa oil is a “dry oil,” because it has a really small molecular size, which means it penetrates deeper into the skin. It gives that protective cushion. I also mix it with glycerin. It’s a bit messy to shave with, but I will tell you, it is the nicest shave: no burning, no stinging, and zero ingrowns.

I’ve already mentioned glycerin twice, but I really am obsessed with it. You can find it for cheap, but just make sure it’s USP, meaning it’s high-purity certified. I don’t use it on its own, but I’m always mixing it into something. Never pour it directly into the bottle, because it’ll wreck the formula. Just add it in as you’re using the product. You don’t need a lot either; just a couple of drops. It’s super-powerful. Most formulators use glycerin anyway, so I’m just adding to the volume of glycerin. It can also be mixed into shower gel, especially if you have super-sensitive skin. You won’t have dry, flaky skin when you step out of the shower. I also add it to moisturizer, usually three partslotion, one part vegetable glycerin, and then just mix. It makes a nice hand cream too. I have a bottle in my shower, one on my vanity — I keep it everywhere!

I like to clarify my hair once a week, but ACV smells so bad. In theory, I could make my own dilution. It would be cheap and easy. But really, the odor is just disgusting and I prefer some formulation to mask the scent. This one is very good. It doesn’t smell at all, and it’s considered a clean brand. I think it is available at Whole Foods. I use it once a week in myshampoorotation.

I came from a color cosmetics background. I worked at YSL for years, but my favoritemascarasare still from the drugstore. It’s all about the brush, and the mass companies have mastered the brush. This one has the ugliest packaging you’ve ever seen, but I don’t care. I’ve been using this mascara for years. I like a thicker lash, so I curl my lashes first with heat, and then I use Rimmel. I just find that the shape of the mascara helps apply the product evenly, but it is a thicker lash. It’s never clumpy. And it’s very easy to remove as well.

My favorite all-time oral-hygiene hack. Here’s a factoid: 80 percent of bad breath is due to bacteria on your tongue. Most people take a toothbrush and brush the bacteria around their tongue, but it’s not advised to do that. You don’t actually remove all that bacteria. If you scrape your tongue — especially in the morning — you see that white film come right off. Dental hygienists recommend tongue scraping first, then flossing, then brushing. I personallyflossfirst, brush second, and tongue scrape last so I get any remaining residue off. Don’t buy plastic tongue scrapers either. I mean, you can sterilize it or whatever, but I just know in surgery and in factories, the most hygienic tools are stainless steel. It’s not any more expensive, and it comes in a nice little case that I use for travel.

So many people ask me on social media about what they can use if they have eczema or super-sensitive skin to wash their arms and legs. I recommend products to wash their underarms, their feet, their groin, and the “hot spots.” Your arms and legs don’t have sweat glands, or very little anyway, so I always say that you don’t need the same kind of bar soap that you need for the sweat zones. I like to use something really mild and gentle. I know everybody loves tutti-fruttibodywashesbecause they smell nice. Admittedly, I do, but my husband has eczema, and if he used that bodywash, he would be a scaly animal from using something with all that fragrance and sulfates. I always give him goat-milk soap. It’s gentle, it’s very skin-microbiome-friendly, and there’s a lot of nutrients in goat milk. Sounds super-boring and a bit hippie, but I feel like it works.

During my research as Madame Sweat, I found out that loofahs, plastic synthetic fiber back brushes — all of those body scrubbers grow bacteria easily. Especially when you leave them in the shower and they’re wet and porous. Silicone dries very quickly and doesn’t attract bacteria, so I always make sure my bath tools are made of it. My scalp brush, back brush, and body brush are all silicone. I actually even threw away all my brushes to clean my dishes and bought little silicone scouring pads from the dollar store too. Overall, it’s just so much more hygienic.

Full disclosure: I used to work for Revlon when I got out of university, and its nail category is very strong. To this day, it still is. I use this groomer to push back my cuticles. I’m not a fan of those wooden ones, because, again, they will hold bacteria. I think just invest in a good stainless-steel nail tool and you can spray alcohol on it to sterilize it and it’ll last you forever.