Are calloused, unpolished feet offensive?

[MissIntent]

I recently read a blog where blogger ranted against people who go to yoga class and don't care about their feet enough to paint their toe nails or remove their callouses. Her point was you have to care about your body to attend yoga, why not care about your feet too?

I go to yoga classes... I paint my toe nails maybe once a year and I gave up removing callouses when I realized that I just got blisters in the same places instead.

I didn't think this mattered... but now I wonder. Is anyone here offended by seeing unpolished feet? (walking around in flipflops, bear in yoga/pilates classes, etc)

[Monster104]

When I was in kickboxing I was severely offended by people who didn't adequately wash their feet...getting kicked by someone with smelly feet or grappling with them is just so nasty.

We all had callouses on our feet though.

[Mudshark]

Well, I think if your feet are overly gross, then don't wear flip flops. But in general, most people have feet that are ok in them. Even with callouses. Just be sure to get all the flaky dead skin off them, thats a little gross.

[Valgard]

If someone in a workout setting told me that my calluses offended them my first reaction would be to see whether they'd prefer my callused foot up their prissy rear end.

OK, maybe I'd be a bit more polite about it than that but that's the sentiment.

I'd agree that dirty or stinky feet would be offensive. Athlete's foot or other infection that is getting on shared exercise mats isn't appropriate.

But calluses and unpainted toenails? You don't like how my feet look? Look at something else. It's not unsanitary and they're not going to catch anything.

FWIW I run and bike a lot. I used to do a certain amount of grappling and rock climbing. I have been up close and personal with calluses, blisters (from minor owies to infected bloody messes), damaged and missing toenails, broken toes, other broken foot bones, my last g/f had bunions so bad her feet were crosseyed, etc.

That blogger sounds like the sort of person who gets offended by non-super-models wearing swimsuits or people without great bodies working out.

[BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]

Callouses? They say that person's active. That's attractive.

[NinjaChick]

I'd love to see her reaction to the feet in a martial arts studio. If it's at all a worthwhile school, the feet within will be perfectly clean, but calloused as hell and any toenail polish will be little flecks hanging on for dear life.

If your feet stink, or are not calloused but blistered and all oozy and gross, then yes, that's offensive, but non-pedicured is not the same as unhygienic.

[PopeJewish]

I'd love to see her reaction to the feet in a martial arts studio. If it's at all a worthwhile school, the feet within will be perfectly clean, but calloused as hell and any toenail polish will be little flecks hanging on for dear life.

If your feet stink, or are not calloused but blistered and all oozy and gross, then yes, that's offensive, but non-pedicured is not the same as unhygienic.

this. I can't believe someone would find non-pedicured/prissed up feet offensive. If they're gross (as others have mentioned, open sores, athletes foot, just generally stinky, anything like that) than yea, it sucks, take care of your shit, but that's far different than taking care of your foot's appearance, which I find just ridiculous.

[Baker]

I'd love to see her reaction to the feet in a martial arts studio. If it's at all a worthwhile school, the feet within will be perfectly clean, but calloused as hell and any toenail polish will be little flecks hanging on for dear life.

If your feet stink, or are not calloused but blistered and all oozy and gross, then yes, that's offensive, but non-pedicured is not the same as unhygienic.

Seconded. Or thirded. Whatever. I study karate, and my feet get scuffed up from the mats. I have a lot of calluses. I don't paint my toenails, but I do keep them(and the calluses) well trimmed.

[NinetyWt]

I take a yoga class, and ... I don't get close enough to other people's feet to inspect them for calluses. They could even bit a bit smelly and I wouldn't notice them - it's not like our mats are laid end-to-end.

How is this person even noticing?

[Eats_Crayons]

I recently read a blog where blogger ranted against people who go to yoga class and don't care about their feet enough to paint their toe nails or remove their callouses. Her point was you have to care about your body to attend yoga, why not care about your feet too?
Methinks the foot-freak needs to be reminded that "cosmetics" /= "caring". Not polishing your toenails is neglect? Puh-lease!

I was in earshot once of someone who was utterly grossed out that another woman "obviously didn't take care of herself". Said woman was an athlete I know who jogs 10k every day and eats a carefully balanced organic vegetarian diet. I know no one else who is as fit as she is at her age. The problem? She chose not to shave her legs. In fact it was partially a cosmetic choice, since years of competitive cycling had left her with various nicks and road rash scars from spilling onto the pavement or crashing on trails. But in the eyes of this other woman, not shaving our legs is a sign of sloven neglect.

I suppose it the only reason you work out is to look good rather than feel good, you're motivations may be swayed by common magazine-cover conventions. Most of us don't have the time or inclination to paint our toe nails for the two hours a week that others just might see our feet. How inconsiderate of us.

[Anaglyph]

Link (http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/02/thisll-cure-that-freaky-fetish.html)

[DianaG]

I'm a pedicure fanatic myself, and I do wish that people wouldn't voluntarily walk around in sandals without taking care of their feet, but yoga actually requires bare feet, and it's a yoga class.

Personally, I don't care about polish, at all (I mean, I do on ME, but not on anyone else). And callouses happen. I've got a particularly stubborn one that I'm never able to completely get rid of. But flaky dead skin and nasty yellow and/or overgrown toenails ARE hygenic as well as cosmetic issues, IMO.

[Kalhoun]

Offensive? No. Fugly? You betchya. But lots of things are fugly. We learn to exist on the same planet with them.

[MsRobyn]

Offensive? Probably not. If there is an issue with odor, remember that most people wear shoes during the day, and if it's bothersome to the instructors, they need to furnish their clients with a place to wash their feet. If someone has a raging fungal infection, they shouldn't be allowed to be on a common mat barefoot; that's just good sanitation. So, yeah, if it's a barefoot activity, I can see where some issues can be a problem.

OTOH, most of the time, I'm not paying attention to someone's feet, so I don't care what shape they're in.

My son's taekwondo instructor takes care of her feet, but that's only because you're supposed to pay attention to them when she's demonstrating kicks and such. I don't think she polishes them, but her toenails are trimmed and I can't see very many other problems.

That being said, when it's sandal season, I am a little more mindful of the condition of my feet, only because I wear sandals so often. It's also nice to go in for a pedicure once in a while; it's one of the few really girly things I do.

Robin

[Acid Lamp]

Of course they are not offensive. Fer chrissake, feet are what are meant to carry us around all day. I expect them to be callused and unpolished. I agree that infected, or very smelly feet should be washed or cared for before attending a class, but to get all worked up about calluses and polish? sheesh. Hell, in my Kan Moko Shi Do class, my grandmaster NEVER wears shoes, (though we wear tabi boots), and his soles are not only callused, but black as asphalt to boot. If uppity punk student mentioned it to him, they'd find said feet in their nose at every opportunity guaranteed.

[zweisamkeit]

There's a difference between "callouses" and "gross feet". Some calloused feet are also gross, but not all.

My guess is that she's using "callouses" as a shorthand for "gross feet" since most gross feet do have callouses... along with dry, dead skin and even embedded dirt.

I still have an image burned into my brain from when I was waiting at my doc's office, and this guy came in in flip flops. His feet were so freaking disgusting. His heels were solid grey dead skin, super cracked (you could see red lines!) with flakes on the flipflops. Ugh, nasty nasty nasty!

[Swallowed My Cellphone]

Offensive? Probably not. If there is an issue with odor, remember that most people wear shoes during the day, and if it's bothersome to the instructors, they need to furnish their clients with a place to wash their feet. If someone has a raging fungal infection, they shouldn't be allowed to be on a common mat barefoot; that's just good sanitation. So, yeah, if it's a barefoot activity, I can see where some issues can be a problem.At my one martial arts club, there was a spray bottle of a rubbing alcohol solution so you could mist your feet and clean them off before hitting the floor of the do jang. It really helped cut down on the odor in the summer. That's when I also got into the habit of similarly misting the inside of my rock climbing shoes to help dry them out and kill the stinky nasties. If you had a fungal infection, you couldn't be barefoot at all. You also had to keep your nails trimmed (both hands and feet) for safety reasons anyway.

But callouses were a fact of nature in the sport. They were unavoidable.

My other martial arts club (I moved), required you to buy martial arts shoes. On the one hand, if you make a mistake and kick someone with a martial arts shoe, you may hurt them more. But on the other hand, the chance that you rip off a blister from floor friction or bust open a toe knuckle because you screwed up and hit something was much more likely, so that club had decided that you couldn't have bare feet. That way no one has an open wound mucking up the floors or spreading athlete's foot.

But even in martial arts shoes, callouses are unavoidable.

[XJETGIRLX]

I think it's pretty grody. Then again I'm one of those people who wears makeup every day and thinks that sweat pants look sloppy in public, too.

[MsRobyn]

Swallowed My Cellphone, my son's school is all barefoot for most drills, although they require shoes for sparring and weapons training. IIRC from the manual, students are expected to have clean, dry feet when they step on the mats. For this reason, most students wear flip-flops or Crocs to enter and leave the building.

Robin

[MissIntent]

This has been interesting to read. Even if 95% of the respondents agreed with the blogger, instead of the other way around (that was a general guess, I didn't actually count them), I am unlikely to stop wearing flip flops or start sanding off my callouses. I just wanted to know if I should feel guilty about that :D

[Khadaji]

Feet are amongst the ugliest part of the body. And it doesn't matter because I'm not looking at a woman's feet when I'm looking at her.

[CaerieD]

Like Khadaji, I think feet are pretty nasty looking. Mine in particular, thanks to a lifetime of hiking and having the proportionate extremities for someone tall and muscular. I served as a guinea pig for my cousin when she was going to school to become a manicurist and got to hear all of the crap you're supposed to do to keep your feet sexy. Pampering doesn't work if you're starting with something ugly as sin.

At this point, all I do is scrape off the calluses to prevent them from cracking and bleeding as they have a tendency to do if I neglect them. I'll trim my toenails every few weeks, but otherwise I'm indifferent to their existence. My socks are changed frequently and my feet are kept clean, but no amount of nail polish is going to make these things attractive. I could spray them with glitter and walk around with a little pink bow attached to each individual toe and it'd be about as cute as plopping a turd on a wedding cake. They're feet, for God's sake.

If I was in a gym setting or a yoga class and noticed someone else's feet, then they'd have to have cartoon wavie lines of stink coming off of them because otherwise I just don't pay attention. I don't expect them to please me at all.

[Swallowed My Cellphone]

Swallowed My Cellphone, my son's school is all barefoot for most drills, although they require shoes for sparring and weapons training. IIRC from the manual, students are expected to have clean, dry feet when they step on the mats. For this reason, most students wear flip-flops or Crocs to enter and leave the building.Yeah, that's pretty much what my first club was like. Your feet had to be clean, dry, and nails trimmed. Even sparring you could be barefoot unless it was full contact, and when that was the case they also made you wear a helmet, chest protector etc. The misty bottle of the alcohol solution was mostly a perk. Coming in after riding my bike across town in the summer, I appreciated being able to clean my sweaty tootsies off.

The second club insisted on shoes. I guess it's like the Y. You have to wear gloves to use the heavy bag and martial artists must wear footwear when kicking the heavy bag. The sign says it's for health and safety reasons: if someone busts a knuckle and gets blood on the bag, the next person doesn't end up exposed to hepatitis or other ookies.

[Karyn]

Offensive? No. Fugly? You betchya. But lots of things are fugly. We learn to exist on the same planet with them.

Yep. I can avert my eyes as long as they aren't going to touch me with them or stink up my house. I was never a big fan of feet anyway and I'd prefer not to be touched by them at all.

[Maastricht]

Normal, healthy calloused feet are perfectly okay.

However, when it gets to this pont (lots of dead calloused skin) I would say that yes, a visit to the pedicure every six weeks is in order.

A lot of overweight people are no longer capable of caring for their feet properly. I know I have problems doing so, especially when I was pregnant. But I doubt you'd find them in yoga class, if flexibility it a problem.

[Maastricht]

However, when it gets to this pont (lots of dead calloused skin) Picture (http://www.myfootshop.com/images/medical/derm/heel_fissure_composite_mod.jpg) (kinda gross) of the kind of skin I mean.

[Valgard]

If you're looking for one way to keep calluses under control I started this thread over in MPSIMS:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=505657

[alice_in_wonderland]

There are callouses and there are callouses. If the blogger is in a snit about a small callous and not polished nails, no biggie.

If you're talking about dirty, nasty feet that have funk imbedded in the callouses or athletes food or some other infection? Ew. Offensive - I don't want to walk in bare feet where I'm going to be catching something from someone elses gross feet.

[overlyverbose]

If someone in a workout setting told me that my calluses offended them my first reaction would be to see whether they'd prefer my callused foot up their prissy rear end.

OK, maybe I'd be a bit more polite about it than that but that's the sentiment.

I'd agree that dirty or stinky feet would be offensive. Athlete's foot or other infection that is getting on shared exercise mats isn't appropriate.

But calluses and unpainted toenails? You don't like how my feet look? Look at something else. It's not unsanitary and they're not going to catch anything.


This is exactly how I feel. As long as my feet don't stink and the toenails are trimmed and fungus-free, why do you care what they look like?

Besides - I like my calluses because they protect my feet to some degree while I run. It may sound gross, but every time I get rid of them, my feet blister more easily and they hurt a little when I run until they've built up again.

[Freudian Slit]

Normal, healthy calloused feet are perfectly okay.

However, when it gets to this pont (lots of dead calloused skin) I would say that yes, a visit to the pedicure every six weeks is in order.

A lot of overweight people are no longer capable of caring for their feet properly. I know I have problems doing so, especially when I was pregnant. But I doubt you'd find them in yoga class, if flexibility it a problem.

Do people have to put in effort to care for their feet? I don't do anything, other than cutting my toenails and washing them in the shower. And putting on polish occasionally. No pedicures, nothing, and they look fine. Even great. I run, but I wear comfortable shoes. Pretty much all the time, even when I'm not running, actually.

[zweisamkeit]

Do people have to put in effort to care for their feet? I don't do anything, other than cutting my toenails and washing them in the shower. And putting on polish occasionally. No pedicures, nothing, and they look fine. Even great. I run, but I wear comfortable shoes. Pretty much all the time, even when I'm not running, actually.

If you have funky-shaped feet so that standard shoes don't fit you quite right, you can get callouses (ask me how I know!) from wearing them. If you have dry skin all over, that makes the skin on your feet look ugly, too, and so on.

[badbadrubberpiggy]

Do people have to put in effort to care for their feet? I don't do anything, other than cutting my toenails and washing them in the shower. And putting on polish occasionally. No pedicures, nothing, and they look fine. Even great. I run, but I wear comfortable shoes. Pretty much all the time, even when I'm not running, actually.

Depends on the person. I don't do much to mine, either, and mine look good. I keep them polished because I like it. I don't tend to build up callouses or any other foot nasties at all. And I do run, and take martial arts, it's just how my feet are.

Some people are more prone to cracked skin and bunions and all that, though. I imagine they have to do a lot more to them if they want to keep them looking & feeling nice.

As for the OP, I agree with everyone who said as long as they're clean, I don't care how they look.

[Risha]

After reading Valgard's thread last night, I actually did google "callus and running", and eventually reached this (http://vonhof.typepad.com/photos/the_best_of_bad_feet/index.html) (warning: extremely grody). Normal callused feet are fine, though.

FWIW, all the results from my googling agree that it's best for runners to remove calluses. You can get blisters under the callus that are very painful and hard to heal.

[Valgard]

After reading Valgard's thread last night, I actually did google "callus and running", and eventually reached this (http://vonhof.typepad.com/photos/the_best_of_bad_feet/index.html) (warning: extremely grody). Normal callused feet are fine, though.

FWIW, all the results from my googling agree that it's best for runners to remove calluses. You can get blisters under the callus that are very painful and hard to heal.

Holy Smokey Robinson. Those are some doozies all right, although I suspect you're looking at the feet of people who staggered through the Western States Endurance Race, not a few jogs around the track.

Note to others - if you don't want to see the bottom of somebody's foot peeling off, don't click on that link.

[Gestalt]

Do people have to put in effort to care for their feet? I don't do anything, other than cutting my toenails and washing them in the shower. And putting on polish occasionally. No pedicures, nothing, and they look fine. Even great. I run, but I wear comfortable shoes. Pretty much all the time, even when I'm not running, actually.

I have really horrible eczema on my feet and yes, in the summer, I have to put in tons of work for them to look presentable naked . . . and even then they will often look like the calloused foot picture linked above. Wearing closed-toed shoes in the summer is a drag, but I might have to do that if that's my only option.