No more ouch!

During the school semesters I wear heels everyday.  When I'm not teaching I wear flip-flops or go barefoot.  So, it takes a little while to get back into heel wearing, even for me.  As most of us know, new shoes can hurt.  They need to be broken in and sometimes they always hurt or rub in one certain place--won't stop us from wearing them (at least not me) but it does slow us down.

I've discovered two things that help with wearing heels--either starting or getting back into them.  First are these things called foot petals.  They are amazing!  I found them in the back of a magazine years ago but now they have taken off and you can get them anywhere (or some version of them.)  They have them for various places on your shoes but the ones I swear by go in the bottom of your shoe where the ball of your foot rests.

I have never tried the long skinny ones only the original ones that are flower shaped (hence the name.)  These little guys fit almost all types of shoes and come in every color so you don't even notice they are there.  I've even cut a slit in them and used them with thong-type heels.
















I wore a pink dress (oh it's picture in the photos) for New Year's Eve and a pair of silver BCBG heels. I put a pair of silver foot petals in my shoes and I literally danced all night because the balls of my feet weren't dying with these little cushions.
One of the main reasons heels are hard to wear is the pressure that is put on the ball of your foot and/or on your toes.  These really do help with this.  When you see the celebs wearing mile high shoes everywhere and practically running in them it's because they are buying expensive shoes that are well balanced.  (Cheaper shoes that most of us can afford are not so well balanced, hence the pain.)  Next time you are some where hoity, try on some Jimmy Choo, Prada, D&G or Christian Louboutin and you will be amazed at how comfy they really are.  There is a reason (sometimes) why they cost so much.  But, no matter what Carrie says on Sex in the City, I have yet to find a pair of Manolo's you can actually walk in.  Mine are so high and spindly I practically need a cane!  (Some time I'll do a whole deal on designer shoes and why I save my dollars to buy them. And I'll tell you the story of Brian having to escort me to the bathroom because my shoes were so tall I kept stumbling!)


Another winner and feet saver is Baid-Aid blister preventer stuff.  This was made for running or sports or something but it works fantastically!  I got it for some tennis shoes once and have been using it for heels ever since.  You know how those super cute shoes rub a blister on your heel, or they feel like they are amputating your pinky toe.  Just slather this stuff all over and problem solved!  There are other brands but I like the Band-Aid stuff best.  It seems to last longer than the others and not be too sticky.


Along these lines are also the Band-Aid blister bandages for when you already got the blister.  My friend Shannon showed these to me and they work great too.  They are clear so they don't seem so obvious with strappy shoes and they stay on  pretty good.  There are also roundy ones that are for fingers or toes but I use them for the sides of my foot.



Target has a pretty good brand of these as well. But whatever brand you go with do not try to reapply them once they come off, it won't work.  They will stick to your shoe, the floor and everything else but not your foot!






I met some girlfriends for lunch the other day and decided to put on some heels to get my feet (& calves) back in shape for walking across campus.  I had the foot petals in (most of my shoes have them) but I neglected the pre-blister rub and now I have to use the post-blister band aid for a couple days... you'd think I'd learn!