"Barefoot???!!! You'll get horrible feet!"

Hulahooper

Barefooters
Jul 18, 2014
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Horrible being the term to describe, hard, maybe dry and cracked. Or another term "flip flop feet."

Is it true? I've been accused of flip flop feet in the past and a friend once "sorted it" by using a stone and lots of cream and foot rubs etc. What are your responses to people if they say something like this?
 
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You just have to show them how beautiful your feet are turning since going barefoot.
I've being barefoot for several years now and my feet are not dry/cracked.
In fact, my friends tell me that I have cute feet.
 
Horrible being the term to describe, hard, maybe dry and cracked. Or another term "flip flop feet."

Is it true? I've been accused of flip flop feet in the past and a friend once "sorted it" by using a stone and lots of cream and foot rubs etc. What are your responses to people if they say something like this?
I'd say it is a common misconception more than anything. Most barefooters will tell you they don't end with bug callused and cracked feet. Mine are more like flexible leather surpringly soft, at least for now.
 
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Dama!
 
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If "horrible" feet can be addressed by a pumice stone and cream, then they really aren't horrible at all. This is just basic skin care. Athletes and musicians know to take care of their hands. Even animals, dogs, cats, and mice will self-groom and lick their paws.

For a list of really horrible stuff that can happen with shoes, that aren't so easily addressed, look here:
http://www.thebarefootrunners.org/index.php?posts/150218
 
I've always had extremely low arches and I *over* pronate . Of course I now have more of an arch than ever before , but that doesn't stop people from telling me that my feet got flat from barefoot activity. Most of them refuse to believe my claim, they already had decided that going barefoot caused flat feet and here I am living proof for them to observe.
A few weeks ago during Slow Roll Detroit (think over 3000 bicycles cruising in a pack through the abandoned neighborhoods and urban ruins as well as the new modern and growing city center on a Monday evening) a maybe 12 year old female with no adult supervision riding along side me yelled out "Where your shoes at sir!"
I responded that I never wear shoes, and she asked if she could see the bottoms of my feet. Easily accomplished at 5mph, she quickly blurted out "Yep, they flat" before heading to the left and pedaling on to her next rider to comment to. Great for her to have this activity to look forward to weekly, too bad she won't be open to learning anything new since she's already formed all of her beliefs.
 
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I've always had extremely low arches and I *over* pronate . Of course I now have more of an arch than ever before , but that doesn't stop people from telling me that my feet got flat from barefoot activity. Most of them refuse to believe my claim, they already had decided that going barefoot caused flat feet and here I am living proof for them to observe.
A few weeks ago during Slow Roll Detroit (think over 3000 bicycles cruising in a pack through the abandoned neighborhoods and urban ruins as well as the new modern and growing city center on a Monday evening) a maybe 12 year old female with no adult supervision riding along side me yelled out "Where your shoes at sir!"
I responded that I never wear shoes, and she asked if she could see the bottoms of my feet. Easily accomplished at 5mph, she quickly blurted out "Yep, they flat" before heading to the left and pedaling on to her next rider to comment to. Great for her to have this activity to look forward to weekly, too bad she won't be open to learning anything new since she's already formed all of her beliefs.
It is common knowledge that walking around barefoot causes flat feet. It is also common knowledge that Elvis Presley is still alive. It was common knowledge that the earth was flat and that the sun rotates around the earth.

People don't like questioning themselves, what they do, why they do it, why they have certain values or certain beliefs. It seems to shake them from their core. It's kind of ironic that the human being is one of the only species on earth to be able to question themselves and their surroundings, yet we can be so narrow-minded.
 
My feet developed an arch, which made them look better than the flat-duckie feet I used to have.

See Dama's feet? She has beautiful feet.

310.jpg
 
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My feet developed an arch, which made them look better than the flat-duckie feet I used to have.

See Dama's feet? She has beautiful feet.

310.jpg
:embarrassed:
 
No calloused, cracked feet here either, i often here the term 'let you're callouses develop' used in the bf community and never really grasped what it meant, nor wanted to.
My soles are kind of soft and leathery with maybe a slight thickening of the natural fat layer used for padding. It's just the rest of me that sucks.
 
I'm still getting hard patches on the outer edges of the balls of my feet. What am I doing wrong?
 
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I'm still getting hard patches on the outer edges of the balls of my feet. What am I doing wrong?
I don't know if you're doing anything wrong but, I will say this - Even now, almost 5 years since I made BF my default, I'd still experience what you're talking about, as well as cracks around the heel, if I didn't pumice.
 
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Some of it might have to do with foot rotation and whatnot during our strides. I have extra thickness on the inner side of my feet. According to the podiatrist I saw a few months ago, this indicated how my feet push off the ground. Not that podiatrists are the most trustworthy source...
 
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Hello my friend? how's your running going?
Not any faster, but having lots of fun doing it! We all miss you here, gonna stick around for a while?
 
Hard patches? Illustration?

It doesn't show on any photo Sid. Just areas of thicker hard skin about 1/2" diameter, about 1" back from my little toes. I think it is where I touch down when I run
.
 
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I'm still getting hard patches on the outer edges of the balls of my feet. What am I doing wrong?


Not sure if anyones doing anything wrong, but a callous is caused by friction and pressure. I would suspect those that run faster are more prone to them as they are exposed to greater forces and it's harder to maintain form at speed.
The road surfaces we run on could also be a factor.
I've got what i would call leathery skin in the places you mention, and at my age a lot more place i'd care not to mention.