Foot care has picked up plenty of gadgets in recent years, electric callus removers, foot peels, spa devices with rechargeable batteries. The pumice stone, a literal piece of volcanic rock, is still doing the job better than most of them.
The reason comes down to how callused skin actually forms and needs to be removed. Callus is dead, hardened skin, built up in layers as a response to repeated friction or pressure. It needs to be worn away gradually, not stripped in one aggressive pass, which is exactly what a natural pumice stone's porous, slightly abrasive surface is built to do. Electric tools can move faster, but faster isn't always better here; they're easier to overuse, and over-buffing skin creates the same problem as over-buffing nails, thinner, more irritated skin that calluses back up faster as a protective response.
A pumice stone also has a built-in feedback loop that electric tools don't: you can feel resistance changing as you work, which makes it much harder to accidentally overdo it. That tactile feedback is a real advantage for a task where “too much” causes actual skin damage, not just wasted time.
The other underrated advantage: pumice stones work wet, ideally on skin that's been softened in warm water for a few minutes first, which means the whole process doubles as a genuinely relaxing few minutes rather than a quick buzz with a device before getting dressed. Simple, low-tech, and still the benchmark the fancier tools are usually being compared against.
Shop pumice stones and foot care tools in our bath essentials collection.