Want to fix cracked heels? Try these magic gel socks | Sali Hughes

Ingenious tubes of stretchy fabric lined with gummy silicone are nothing short of miracle workers

There is something uniquely thrilling about a boring-seeming, unsexily packaged product that turns out to be a true beauty miracle worker. While I very much appreciate the beauty in some objet d’art pulled from a posh clutch and used to paint a mouth at a restaurant table, it’s the prosaic problem-solvers that excite me most. My problem in this recent case was, attractively, cracked heels.

There was an extraordinarily bad salon pedicure, extremely overzealous foot-filing and some polite British restraint when a yelp of pain was in order, and, well, the upshot was a tip for the technician and bleeding heels for me (I had to walk around the house on tiptoe for two days). But, perversely, I rather enjoy the challenge of an urgent repair job. It was useful to experience a condition commonly suffered by many people with diabetes, hypothyroidism and psoriasis, and to have the opportunity to investigate some effective relief.