I’m not sure if this is just a Southern California problem or not but oftentimes, when we go to the beach, we find patches of tar in the sand that range in size from a pea to a softball. And inevitably, despite your best efforts to avoid it, you end up stepping on some and finding patches of black tar on the soles of your feet that are almost impossible to remove.
Most people don’t notice it until they pack up to leave the beach and either rinse or rub the sand off of their feet. Below is a photo of a good size patch of tar on my son’s foot and at the very top is a photo of my fingers, after I foolishly tried to scrape it off his foot.
Learn from my mistake: Don’t use your fingers to scrape beach tar off your feet. In the past, I used to use either Goop or Oil Slick, which I bought at Amazon (Full disclosure: I get a referral fee if you use my Amazon affiliate link). But when we ran out of it and I forgot to replace it, I had to get creative. Besides, unsure of exactly what’s in them, I never felt great using either of those products on my skin and never used them on my kids.
I discovered that my spray sunscreen and a tissue or wipe worked perfectly. Given the huge patch of beach tar on my son’s foot, I wanted to act quickly and not wait until we got home to remove it. So I sprayed some sunscreen on it and within seconds, the entire patch was gone. Prior to this, my wife had discovered that coconut oil worked brilliantly.
Regardless of what you use, you will definitely want to remove it before you or your kids get in the car or inside the house and stain your floors or carpets.
Have you ever had to deal with beach tar on your feet? Where? Drop a comment below and let me know. I’m curious whether this is a problem on other beaches outside of LA County.
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Here is a fun hack, I once used a product called TakeOff Adhesive Remover wipes to remove tar from my foot and my dog’s paws. Now I carry a single wipe or two in my pocket just in case.
You’re a savior! I’ve grown up in so cal my entire life and never had a tar problem until our visit to Carpinteria State Beach. I found your website and read the comments. Walked over to the Rite Aid up on Linden, purchased baby oil and baby wipes and went to town on our feet. Removed with a bit of scrubbing but the baby oil worked!
Corpus Christi Texas, we’ve been here plenty of times and never had this happen so…this time was the first, thanks for all the hacks, we’ll keep it in mind
I used to keep coconut oil packets from Trader Joe’s as a non-leaky source of oil in my beach bag, along with plastic knife (the kind you get with take-outs if you forget to say you don’t need them). They’re great for the scraping part. But I love the idea of using sunscreen. Makes it even simpler. thanks
Back in the day, after surfing at Campus Point in Santa Barbara, my friend and I would use peanut butter to get the tar off. It worked well, but after visiting yesterday I’m going to try some of these other options. Thank you!
Leaving Ventura, I always always get it here even if I watch ever single step! I’m glad I found this thread, I’m gonna try it asap!
Just got back from Santa Barbara and my feet were totally tarred black! I used a washcloth and sunflower oil and it worked like a charm!
Well, I just stepped in some today on Mission beach in San Diego. My husband grew up here and said it’s always been around. He told me to look out for it but didn’t know what to look for! Now to find some oil products. . .
This is fascinating to read from someone settled in the cold and grey heart of England (Leeds). Stumbled across this whilst listening to Joni Mitchell’s Carey. Have listened to that lovely song dozens of times but today I decided to find out what “beach tar on my feet” is all about! So very Californian…a beautiful state I had the pleasure of visiting way back in 79.
I used nail polish remover and it didn’t work much. A quick search and found this page and the sunscreen worked. The worse part is that I got into the shower before I saw it and there are spots an smears in the tub. As a last resort, I tried acetone and it lightened it a little. The 56 year old ceramic finish on the tub is worn and impossible to get well. With the tar it looks even worse.
I used to live across the street from Carpinteria State Beach in California and can state that no matter how careful you are, even when you look before you step, if you walk on the wet sand you will get tar on your feet. You can scrape off excess, but really can’t take it all off until you reach soap and hot water.
Not surprising: the area got the name “Carpinteria” from the Spanish–the carpenter’s shop–who observed tar seeping out of the ground (it still does) and the native Chumash people making their long “tomol” watercraft binding wood planks together with it.
Are used to get tar on my feet from the beach. My dad told me to use nail polish remover. It worked.