Joining the fussy foot club

Sarah

All of my life, I’ve been able to wear whatever shoes I wanted and rarely had blisters or discomfort. I used to live in heels and wear them to the mall for hours on end with no problems. Now, for no apparent reason, I can’t do that anymore. I must be getting old… at age 22-ha!

Recently I’ve had several shoe disasters. Three pairs of peep-toe shoes have given me blisters where my toes “peep” out (one pair of heels and two pairs of flats). A pair of slide wedges rubbed up and down on my feet and left blisters at the edge of the shoe. My favorite heels hurt my feet if I don’t wear them with hose. Most recently, I bought a beautiful pair of 4 inch wedges from Charolle Russe on sale. They have peep toes, but I bought them half a size up and they don’t give me blisters at the openings. However, they do rub blisters on the widest part of my feet if I don’t wear them with hose. Hose spoil the coolness of wearing them with summer dresses, which is why I bought them. I’ve had so much money on shoes going down the drain lately, because almost none of them are comfortable. Basically, I live in ballet flats, because I have to wear hose with all heels now. I don’t think I’m looking for advice on this subject, just venting and hoping for consolation. I’ve officially joined the fussy foot club.

Sarah M.

17 years ago

General

13 replies

Latest reply was from Sarah

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I welcome you into our club with open arms! I hear you loud and clear.

Sorry your shoes gave you grief. Hopefully we’ll get you sorted over time. Plenty of fussy feet on this forum and I top the list.

17 years ago

Becky

Veteran

There's no shame in not wearing heels...I don't, either.

17 years ago

Anonymous

Sarah, I sympathize!
Have you had a recent pedicure that may have made your feet more tender?

Have you tried any of the various types of pads you can stick on inside your shoes? They are made to cushion certain areas or keep your feet from sliding. I use them in some slides and high heels to keep my foot higher in the shoe and toes don't smush.

Also, the shoe liners with toe open to wear with peep toes might help keep your feet happy. Nordstroms has great liners. It would be worth your time to talk to the salesperson in the accessory/hosiery department about your problem to see what they would recommend. I couldn't wear some of my flats all day if it wasn't for liners. Other department stores also carry them, but Nordies really can give you great service. Good luck and take care of those feet.

17 years ago

Tanya

Veteran

Nice to see you back here Sarah! I am the member of the club too. I find the anti-blister stick by Band Aid to be my lifesaver.

17 years ago

Lena

Active Member

I hear you, Sarah.

I'm also a recent flat convert, although not all flats fit well. I tend to have problems if the toe box is not pointed enough because my second toe and big toe are the same length. And my toes are pretty long to begin with.

I could never wear anything strappy Even in high school.

Tanya, I have a question for you about ballroom shoes: I know they are very different from regular street shoes, but I still wonder about blistering and etc. And do dancers wear hose or go bare foot? Thanks.

17 years ago

Tanya

Veteran

Hi Lena, I'd be happy to answer your question.

Most of the ballroom shoes are made of satin and supposed to be super tight when new - so that your foot can not move inside it or you risk an injury. So blisters are pretty much inevitable with new shoes ( I am yet to meet a person who did not have them), it usually takes a couple of wears to break them in - they will stretch just a little bit and conform to your foot. After that one rarely gets blisters again, but you have to protect the old ones with band aids till they heal. Leather shoes are less recommended because they stretch more and at some point are too loose for safety.

Hose is not usually worn, for the same reason- they make your foot more slippery. For competitions only, some women wear special nude dance fishnets ( these are not your regular ones, the construction is very different), mainly in Latin dances. But in general the look of bare (fake) tanned leg is preferable.

Are you looking to get into ballroom and buy some shoes? Are they for Standard or Latin ( the shoes are very different)? I'll gladly answer any further questions that you have.

17 years ago

Lena

Active Member

Thanks, Tanya!

I'm not considering trying ballroom right now (but never say never, eh?), I just like to watch it on TV (America's Ballroom Challenge on PBS and occasionally reality dancing shows). I knew somebody in high school who competed, but I didn't have a chance to ask her. Well, ok, if I'm really honest - I think I'd like to try one day, when I'm more stable jobwise.

I knew a little about leather/suede soles and the tight fit, but didn't realize that satin uppers will conform to the foot. This is very interesting, thank you.

I apologize for derailing Sarah's thread. I have one more general question about dancing, I'll take it to the Who's Who thread.

17 years ago

Sihaya

Veteran

Sarah - I share the same problem and I stand sometimes for 8 hours in a day so comfortable shoes are a must. I also have slightly wider feet and so some standard shoes don't work well for me. Nordstrom will place any shoes you purchase on a shoe stretcher if you need them widened and that really helped with a recent pair I bought there. For boots, I use inserts and they do wonders and make them comfortable. And these are some stores that sell attractive and comfortable shoes: Shoe Advantage (are also online), Romax, Walking Company, and Soul Comfort. I never wear heels over 1.5" - 2" and while I do at times lust after some pretty high heeled shoes, my closet is quite well endowed thanks to these stores and my feet are happy at the end of the day.

17 years ago

Sarah

Active Member

Thank you all for the consolation and advice. At least I know me and my fussy feet are in good company here.

I’m not ready to give up my heel for good though. I love them too much. During the winter I couldn’t survive without my boots and booties, all of which have 2-3 inch heels. I don’t think the boots have ever given me blisters, but then I tend to wear them with pants and socks or a skirt and tights, so blisters aren’t an issue. My pumps are something I’m not willing to give up without a fight though, even if it means wearing hose in the summer.

Joy, no I haven’t had a pedicure recently. Actually, to be honest I’ve never had one. So that can’t be the problem. I’m not sure why, but my feet have gradually gone from totally not picky, to moderately fussy over the past couple of years. So it isn’t a sudden change really. I’ve just noticed it a lot lately because of quite a bit of wasted money on shoes that don’t work for me. No, I haven’t tried pads/petals in my shoes yet. Do you have to buy bigger shoes to wear those? They look like they could take up a lot of space in the shoes.

Lena and Tanya, I don’t mind you temporarily hijacking my thread. All the ballroom shoe talk is interesting.

All in all, I don’t have much to complain about. My foot problems aren’t nearly as bad as they could be. I don’t have bunions and I can wear very flat flats.

One thing I’ve considered is giving my new shoes a trial run. I’ve thought about wearing them around the apartment on carpet for a day before I take them out of the house. That way, if they hurt my feet in a few hours I can take them back. If they don’t, I will keep them. Dose that sound like an OK plan? I’m not sure if I’ll always have the patience/time, but in theory it sounds like it should work for me.

17 years ago

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Sarah, I think your plan for wearing the shoes around the house is really good. I always do this to make sure they will work out. Sometimes I find that I thought they were comfortable, but when I do a lot of walking on them (all day), they aren't. If I put a pad or use one of those blister things though, they're usually okay, or else I save them as 4 hour shoes. If they can't even make it 4 hours, I usually get rid of them, but that hasn't happened since I implemented the wear around the house plan. Oh, another thing--when you're at the shoe store, walk around as much as possible, and do so on the tile part of the floor. A lot of shoe stores have carpeting, and it's not the same as walking on a hard surface, which is what you will probably be doing most often if you walk outside a lot on cement. Make sense?

17 years ago

Anonymous

The liners I buy now are HUE brand. Nordstroms has them. They don't take up any room so that you would need a larger size shoe. No more than stockings. If you've tried liners in the past that have not stayed put and crept off your heel, HUE has some with sort of a spot of silicon (same stuff as on those Soma undies) that keep them in place. I discovered these thanks to this site and Angie's post on liners for closed toe slingbacks. Look under the Footwear section.

17 years ago

Lena

Active Member

Joy, thanks for the tip about HUE liners. I'll be sure to check them out when I'm at Nordies. I constantly fuss with regular liners and almost gave up wearing them.

17 years ago

Sarah

Active Member

Thanks for the tips ladies. I'll try to walk around in the shoe stores as much as possible, and the pads sound great.

17 years ago

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