Women who *don't* wear heels: Why don't you?

[Cat_Whisperer]

@BigT

I don’t see how heels offer any more support. I have never worn any (other than for a couple minutes as a kid playing dressup), but I’ve seen the insides of my sister’s, and they all look slanted and flat. And, again, I’ve watched kids training in them, and the first thing I notice is that their foot is horribly unstable.

Good point; there are some high heels that have some support, but mostly they just wreck your feet.

@Broomstick

I am fully convinced there are people out there who are “foot experts” (orthotic makers, podiatrists) who are absolutely convinced the natural foot is a disaster and no one should dare risk a single barefoot, unsupported step lest calamity ensure.

Which is not to deny there are people with real problems out there (I’m married to one, in fact) but it seems to me that a normal, healthy adult should be able to walk about without their feet being encased in little life support units, that, coincidentally, make their cheerleaders a great deal of money.

I’m all for proper footwear and appropriate protection, but the fact is I spend considerable time wandering around my home barefoot - your friend would no doubt find that even worse that flats. There are quite a few situations where, assuming a healthy foot, I don’t see a need for support and, indeed, I’ve always heard walking around barefoot part of the time (in a foot safe environment) is healthy.

My feet were fine when I was younger; as I aged, my feet aged with me, and they no longer keep my arches up on their own. I was somewhat skeptical about orthotics, but my results have been excellent; I went from only being able to walk for half an hour or so without sore feet to being able to walk for hours.

[Bloodless_Turnip]

I believe there are foot problems that are exacerbated by walking with no support at all. My step-Dad had very little natural padding left on the bottom of his feet when he reached an advanced age, he was unable to walk barefoot except on carpet.

But, orthotics aren’t meant to make damaging shoes magically damage free I don’t think.

[Silver_Tyger]

@Broomstick

I am fully convinced there are people out there who are “foot experts” (orthotic makers, podiatrists) who are absolutely convinced the natural foot is a disaster and no one should dare risk a single barefoot, unsupported step lest calamity ensure.

Which is not to deny there are people with real problems out there (I’m married to one, in fact) but it seems to me that a normal, healthy adult should be able to walk about without their feet being encased in little life support units, that, coincidentally, make their cheerleaders a great deal of money.

I’m all for proper footwear and appropriate protection, but the fact is I spend considerable time wandering around my home barefoot - your friend would no doubt find that even worse that flats. There are quite a few situations where, assuming a healthy foot, I don’t see a need for support and, indeed, I’ve always heard walking around barefoot part of the time (in a foot safe environment) is healthy.

I agree with this. As you say, there are people that can’t go barefoot for whatever reason, but there’s no reason for everyone to encase their feet all the time.

[missinformation]

Faith, I love my Crocs too…I have the black Mary Jane style…

I did not even wear heels when I got married. My gown was formal and floor length. I bought a cheap pair of tennies, had a lift put on the right sole, and decorated them with appliques that matched my gown and changed out the plain laces with pink ribbon that came off of a gift that he gave me…

[lisacurl]

While I probably would have developed bunions anyway due to familial predisposition, I am sure that spending my twenties in fashionable high heels sped the process along. Now at 44 years old, I literally cannot stand up in heels higher than about 2", and I can only tolerate low heels for relatively short periods of time.

[VOW]

When my daughter got married, EVERYONE in the bridal party (including groom and ushers) wore Converse, with their names embroidered on the shoes.

The bridesmaids donated their shoes to be tied onto the bumper of the couple’s car.

The mother of the bride (moi) wore a borrowed pair of low cut brown Converse, to coordinate with my brown pantsuit.
~VOW

[Johanna]

@Broomstick

I’m all for proper footwear and appropriate protection, but the fact is I spend considerable time wandering around my home barefoot - your friend would no doubt find that even worse that flats. There are quite a few situations where, assuming a healthy foot, I don’t see a need for support and, indeed, I’ve always heard walking around barefoot part of the time (in a foot safe environment) is healthy.

I’m a heels wearer who spends 100% of her indoors time barefoot. Always has, always will. If it gets too cold, I put on socks. Once in a while I wear sneakers.

@Aspidistra

I find it interesting that nearly the top reason at the moment in Johanna’s “women who DO wear heels” poll is “to make me look taller”.

I’m 5"10. I’ll pass on that thanks.

I’m 5’10" too. In my bare feet. I love heels—Height is there to be enjoyed. Although getting taller obviously isn’t one of my reasons for wearing heels, I’m good with it.

[Nava]

I don’t always wear completely-flat or rockinghorse shoes, but I also don’t wear super high heels.

For starters, I’m a size 3 (in the US, I generally shop for shoes in the kiddie section): until shoemakers started coupling stilettos with platforms, there was no such thing as high heels in my size. I also happen to have equilibrium problems and supinate, so narrow heels in any height are out.

I do wear boots with riding heels, dressy shoes with square heels and espadrilles with thick heels.

[Biggirl]

I’ve got dropped metatarsals. When I was young and very stupid I wanted to wear heels, plus the deep callouses were very painful even without heels. A podiatrist told me that dropped metatarsals were easy to treat surgically.

He broke the bone and reset it higher. I was supposed to get the other foot done when the first foot healed. Only, it didn’t heal and I ended up in the emergency room. Nothing intrinsic in the surgery did it, it got infected.

The hospital doc asked me why I had such a stupid surgery. In a few years the metatarsal next to the repaired one would drop and if I fixed that one, the next one would drop. . …

I never got to wear pretty, pretty shoes.

[monstro]

@Silver_Tyger

I agree with this. As you say, there are people that can’t go barefoot for whatever reason, but there’s no reason for everyone to encase their feet all the time.

Not all the time. It would be weird to take a shower with shoes on.

But I do try to wear house slippers as much as possible when I’m indoors. Before I did this, I was guaranteed to stub my toe at least once a week. My big toe on my right foot turned black because of all the trauma, and while it didn’t stop me from wearing sandals, I didn’t really enjoy all the stares and laughter. Now my toes are normal-looking and I don’t have to deal with “ouwies” all the time.

[salinqmind]

When I worked in the office, we all wore, oddly, the same shoes as if part of a uniform - black pumps, rounded pointy toe, 2" heels. I still have a pair in the back of the closet but they HURT like the dickens if I put them on now. So if I do put them on, it will have to be for a formal dressy occasion where I wear them into the building, have a seat, and wear them back out to the car. Otherwise, I have a vast collection of cute flats to pick and choose from.

[Small_Hen]

@VOW

When my daughter got married, EVERYONE in the bridal party (including groom and ushers) wore Converse, with their names embroidered on the shoes.

The bridesmaids donated their shoes to be tied onto the bumper of the couple’s car.

The mother of the bride (moi) wore a borrowed pair of low cut brown Converse, to coordinate with my brown pantsuit.
~VOW

This is pure awesome.

I have to wear heels as a bridesmaid in September, and with any luck, it will be the only time I’m forced into them next year. Ow ow ow! I hate heels, and I feel ridiculous wearing them. The tiny stepped, femmy walk required to balance in them makes me feel like I’m putting on some kind of fake “sexy walk” that isn’t me, and I don’t like it.

[Nava]

@Small_Hen

This is pure awesome.

I have to wear heels as a bridesmaid in September, and with any luck, it will be the only time I’m forced into them next year. Ow ow ow! I hate heels, and I feel ridiculous wearing them. The tiny stepped, femmy walk required to balance in them makes me feel like I’m putting on some kind of fake “sexy walk” that isn’t me, and I don’t like it.

Advice from my aunt who likes her heels thank you much and who finds women who wear shoes they don’t know how to walk in very, very irritating (“you’re supposed to strut, not slide on your toes and almost-fall on your stupid nose!”):

It’s still heel-first, and with enough practice you should be able to walk with a normal stride and not mincing steps. Buy the shoes in advance and wear them around the house, remembering to step heel-first.

Worked for me the one time I’ve worn narrow heels; I still didn’t feel as comfy in them as in something with a solid heel, but at least I wasn’t sliding on my toes like half the women at that wedding.

[Equipoise]

@Rushgeekgirl

I have never been a shoe person and the idea of wearing heels just really never occurred to me.

That’s me too. I’ve never worn heels and they’re as alien to me as an astronaut’s space suit and a diving suit. Wearing a space suit or a diving suit is something I never think about. Same with high heels (and makeup). They just don’t enter my sphere of consciousness. Ever. Not even enough to be able to choose from the list of reasons. I chose “Other.”

[Renie]

I worked in a shoe dept for years and saw the mangled and damaged feet of older women who say they wore heels all their life. No thanks…though t took me a few years to wise up. Add in the fact that I tend to hang out at the river, at camp or in the stadium stands at my kids sporting events and that makes it so not fun to be in heels. Actually, bare feet are my shoes of choice…if I must…a pair of open-toed sandals w/o straps that I can slip off when I want to.

[Mama_Zappa]

I have size 12-wide feet and there’s not much selection of any kind of attractive shoes. I’m tall (5’11"). And my current job allows me to wear jeans and sneakers; if I were working at a client where business casual or even full businesswear was required, the wardrobe has changed enough in the past 20+ years that I could wear slacks (prior to my son’s birth in the 90s, it was nearly unheard-of for women to wear even dressy slacks with jackets to the office. We all wore skirt suits or rarely dresses). With slacks, I can get away with sensible lower-heel shoes.

I also don’t have the greatest feet, and high heels would cause / aggravate some problems there.

But the main reason I won’t wear them regularly, and my few pairs of dressier shoes / sandals all have heels of maybe 1.5 inches: I am horribly, DANGEROUSLY klutzy… to the point of having injured myself pretty significantly due to tripping over my own feet. Any kind of heel, even a wider one, increases the chances of that to an unacceptable level.

[ZipperJJ]

They hurt my feet. On Halloween I wore like 1" heels and about 3 hours in to the night I had my shoes off, feet writhing in pain.

I’m also too tall. And too fat. If I put on heels I would look like a drag queen, and not a sexy drag queen. A drag queen that all of the drag queens would sneer at and say “honey, you’re doing it wrong.”

I think heels are pretty and envy women who can and do wear them. They’re just not for me.

[Taomist]

I can’t even WEAR heeled shoes that aren’t boots. I walk RIGHT out of them, and if you think it’s a joke, it’s not. I have very wide, short feet, so by the time I can wedge my duckfeet into pumps, the heels area doesn’t even touch the side of the shoe.

Boots are another thing, and I love them. If I were working tech, I would definitely find dressy pants and wear pant boots, though; anyone expecting a woman to act the ‘lady’ by dressing in heels and a skirt had better be chauvinistic enough to do the physical work for her. :dubious:

[aruvqan]

I put other.

Currently, I have pseudogout in my feet. Tiny crunchy calcium crystals grinding away at the cartillage in all the tiny little joints in my feet. I wear custom orthotics in a specific new balance sneeker. I have a list of shoes that my orthotics will fit in, off that list I have the sneekers, a pair of clogs and a pair of black leather mary janes. I couldn’t wear heels to save my life.

Back before I got pseudogout, I had issues because of breaking my back, and heels of any sort and time of any great amount had me in agony.

Back before that, high fashion heels and punk didn’t quite go together, and I worked as a machinist, and wore either steel toe boots or steel toe sneakers.

[Broomstick]

@Taomist

I can’t even WEAR heeled shoes that aren’t boots. I walk RIGHT out of them, and if you think it’s a joke, it’s not. I have very wide, short feet, so by the time I can wedge my duckfeet into pumps, the heels area doesn’t even touch the side of the shoe.

You aren’t alone - in the past three months I’ve modified a half dozen heels for customers with the exact same problem. Some shoes are styled so that we can put a strap across the instep and have it look nice. Sometimes we can’t.

Not that I want to push anyone into heels, but if anyone wearing heels has that problem they might want to ask a shoe repair place (if you can find one) if adding an instep strap is possible.