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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/podiatrists-foot-care-mistakes-avoid-ano_l_679a896ee4b0bc132143a10e

Yugiri from Strinova

I use in earbuds to block out excessive outside sound, when I'm feeling insecure/overstimulated. They really make me aware of how much impact each step is thudding through my body when walking on hard surfaces. I can only offset that 'thud' by going forefoot first, which is a skill in-of-itself. But on grass the thud is quite negligible.

I've never tried this with normal shoes - mainly because I no longer have any anymore - but I wonder if the cushioning offsets the thud in anyway. Considering how common knee and hip replacements are, probably not. Or is that due to the way shoes affect stride and therefore that's excessive wear-and-tear on the joints. I guess I could monitor my barefoot shoes but I imagine, what with zero drop, the effect would be the same.

Anyone else noticed this 'thud', anyone experimented with different surfaces and footwear or techniques of walking. Is it better to run everywhere or jog (or skip) - due to the forefoot thud offset?

As some of you might know from previous posts, I’m dating a barefoot girl while being a barefooter myself (starting) the problem is she has been into this lifestyle longer than me and sometimes is hard for me to keep up with her and be barefoot all the places she is. Should I just try to be like her, should I speak with her? She jokes with us never using shoes again but it’s hard for me still

After some words of encouragement from my roomie and from all of you in this sub, I managed to be barefoot in public for the first time in the student lounge. I loved feeling all the textures, from cold tiles to warm carpets. It was so incredible. I did this with my roomie, who goes barefoot there all the time. A friend from class saw me and told me what was up with my bare feet. My roomie replied before I could even think about it and said I am becoming like him. Haha, it's true though.

One of my relatives has been scammed. They’ve bought a ‘grounding mat’ which plugs into a wall socket but is apparently only connected to the ‘earth’. They claim it’s “like what you [I] do, walking around outside in bare feet”.

I explained (for at least the 3rd time to various people) that I go barefoot for various reasons, none of which relate to flat earthing and that there are plenty of genuine benefits to it without this nonsense.

My relative claims improved sleep among other benefits, and if it makes them feel better; fine. But as far as I’m concerned they’ve been scammed.

As mentioned a few people have asked if I’m grounding/(flat) earthing so it’s obviously becoming well known. However, I’d be disappointed if bare feet become more acceptable under the cloak of bullshit rather than for the real benefits.

Edit: I’m aware that ‘earthing’ and flat earth theory are different things, I just don’t want anyone to think I’m being serious or have any respect for (flat) earthing. Scam!

I believe that good preparation encourages you and helps remove anxiety. Because of that, I want to share my personal experience with you so you can be prepared for your first walk. Some points were also added based on the lecture of https://www.reddit.com/r/barefoot/ .

 Recommended preparations.

 Choosing the place where you will go.

• Use Google Maps, Street View, Open Street Maps, and your local Geoportals to find areas that may be suitable for a walk.
• Look for parks outside the city, forests with trails (usually OpenStreetMap has more forest trails added), office areas that are getting empty in the afternoon, and school campuses during spring break.
• First, go there in your daily shoes for a reconnaissance of the area.
• Check types of surfaces. For beginning look for smooth surfaces.
• Check how many people are there, especially if you don't feel comfortable confronting other people's looks and comments.
• Check the area at different hours like early morning (parks), and late evening (forest trails). Depending on time, there might be a different number of people.
• Check if it is a safe area. You don't want to meet drunk people on your way as they may be aggressive without any reason. You want to avoid broken glass or needles so avoid such areas.
• If you are going to walk when temperatures are low like in Spring, Autumn, or even Winter, first eat a nutritious and warm meal before. Your body will have calories that can be changed to heat. Dress warmly. Warm from your body will be transported with blood and keep your feet comfortable.
• For a forest walk when you are in long trousers you may consider using short Gaiters. I am using "Viking Nanga" with cut out rubber strap. They will cover your feet from the top and sides, which will reduce scratch risk and also keep them warm. Tested in January with 10C (50F) temperature.
• You may also consider using Chux BF sandals to mask your feet for the first sight of strangers.

Foot care before walking.

• Cut your toenails at least two days before. If any wound was created during cutting toenails, let it heal. Definitely do not go with fresh wounds, which increases the risk of infection.
• The day before the planned walk apply foot cream when going to bed.
• When you spontaneously decide for a walk because there are good conditions on that day, at least 1 hour before the walk use foot cream.
• I recommend those with 10% urea, you may need to repeat that until your skin is smooth, especially on the heel. It is much easier later to clean your feet after having it applied before.

Be safe on your trip, take a backpack and carry with you:

• Bottle of water. About 0,5l (16.9 oz) for an hour of walk.
• First aid kit (see next point).
• Foot cream in case your skin gets rough from abrasive surfaces.
• Wet wipes/baby wipes, to clean your sole if you need to apply foot cream or clean the wound.
• Emergency shoes: flip flops, slides, sandals. You may find areas where you don't want to go barefoot like public toilets, gravel, or very dirty areas.
• Tissues to wipe off your nose or sweat.
• Umbrella if you want to take a walk in the rain. That also may give you additional "looks protection" as you can hide your face.

First aid kit content:

• Disinfection spirit, or peroxide water.
• Different shapes of wound patch, band aid.
• Gauze pads.
• Bandage.
• Mosquito and tick spray.
• Mosquito bite cream or ointment.
• Tick Remover like lasso or tweezers.

Vaccinations:

• Check if the tetanus shot is current. Recommended once per 10 years but ask your local doctor.
• You may consider also vaccination with Tick-borne Encephalitis (TBE) when hiking in forests.

Let's walk.

Walking strategies from safe to brave:

• For shy beginners. Use slides or flip flops, if you don't see anyone just take shoes in hand and walk, if you spot someone just drop them and slide on.
• For those who feel society pressure and need an excuse. Broken shoe. Buy cheap flip flops and cut a little bit of the front hole where the strap is mounted so it pops out with little force. On the walk pop out a strap and take the shoes in your hand, make sure that it is clearly visible that the strap is dangling and the shoe is broken, continue barefoot as it seems you don't have any other choice. You have a visible excuse, this should already filter out 99% of commentators, and if someone asks you a direct question just say that the shoe broke and you are going home to change shoes.
• If you need to walk through unpleasant surfaces then temporarily fix your shoe and walk. You can also practice how to pop out strip with your toes so shoes can broken on request.
• Broken shoe in busy areas (airport, street etc). Go with your customized flip flops until the strap pops out, try to fix it, and walk again a few steps until it breaks again, take your shoes in hand as people around clearly see that the shoe is broken and you are unable to walk. Anyone approaching you will see that you carry on broken shoes, make sure that strap is dangling freely.
• Tourist with a broken shoe. Dress like a tourist, have a backpack with side pockets. Put broken flip flops with visible dangling stripe on the side that other people approach you (in most countries on the left side) and water on the other side. This is more comfortable than keeping shoes in your hand. People will first notice your bare feet but then should see that broken shoes are put on the side of backpack. If you will get direct questions just say that you have other shoes in the hotel in the other part of the city but that broken shoes won't keep you from sightseeing as tomorrow you are leaving.
• Flip flops imitation. One option is to use Chux BF sandals or other barefoot sandals. Search for those terms you will see pictures. The simplest option is to take black electric isolation tape and paste stripes on your skin imitating flip flop stripes. From a distance, it is hard to recognize if the person has or does not flip flops on. From a close distance, if you have already black soles it will do the trick for most people.
• Brave barefooter. You just don't care about people's reactions and walk barefoot from the beginning without having any shoes or you have emergency shoes in your backpack.

Some people that you will meet on your way (from most often to rarest):

• No reaction at all, they just pass you by. It seems that most people don't look at other feet or shoes.
• The look. The person approaching you notices that you are barefoot, gives you a quick look at your whole body and then stares confused in other direction.
• Shocked. The person is looking at you, shaking their head with surprise, may also look at you the whole time until you pass them. Don't look back or say anything just go confident in your direction.
• Kids. Those usually ask parents "Why this person is barefoot?" loud enough that you will hear that. Parents get confused and then you can hear many different answers including those that you will get ill/cold if you walk barefoot. If you have a broken shoe visible it is easier for parents to respond. Also, kids ask their parents if they can kick off shoes as "this person", in most cases they will hear "No". Some younger kids may ask you directly "Why are you barefoot?", be prepared with an easy and reasonable answer.
• Jealous. Since the person notices you then you can see on her face interest and how she follows your steps. Usually too shy to start a conversation.
• Curious. The person who stops you and asks friendly questions about why you go barefoot. Prepare yourself to tell about health benefits or your motivation. Depending on the situation you can encourage such a person to take off their shoes and walk with you, maybe she dreamed about that but never had the courage.
• Disgusted. You can clearly see on that person's face "Yack, I would never do that". Such a person will usually go away to don't see you.
• Confronters. They don't ask anything. They will tell you that you are doing wrong, will get cold, foot diseases, you are a hippie, are mentally ill, etc. If you don't know that person just go away and don't start a conversation as they are waiting for that chance to abuse you. If this is your family or friends just say that you like it and up to now never have health issues because of that. Be confident. Everyone has their own world of beliefs let them live in their beliefs don't force your opinion as this leads to an unnecessary discussion that might break relationships. This is a personal choice of each person.
• Other barefooters. If you are lucky to meet other barefooters say Hi. Ask for area recommendations, how long he/she is walking barefoot etc.

After a walk:

• Before entering the home you can use wet wipes/baby wipes to clean your feet. This is especially effective if you have applied foot cream at least 1 hour before walking.
• Wash your feet with soap, and use a soft brush if needed. If you have used foot cream and had smooth skin before a walk it should be easy to clean your soles even if they are gray or black.
• Examine your sole skin condition for small wounds, cuts, foreign objects that might penetrate your skin, ticks, etc. Disinfect wounds if needed.
• Use foot cream to keep your skin in good shape.
• If you went through difficult terrain like forest paths with stones, or gravel you may feel pain in your sole. It should pass next day.

I am open to suggestions on what should be added to this tutorial.

I like the barefoot lifestyle and will go most anywhere but how do others enter public bathrooms especially if it's not super clean?

Just came here. Any students from UT or people who also like barefoot in Austin? Really hope to know someone who also likes to walk barefoot here.

"The miracle

I walked barefoot

Not my feet got dirtier, the road got cleaner"

Written by Ákos Fodor, translated from hungarian

Love this poem!! I quoted this from someone who shared it in a comment on Robin Greenfields youtube FAQ video on "Money, health insurance, age and death" link at bottom.

Robin Greenfield just finished walking 1,600 miles from canada to LA. He is an extreme minimalist, speaker, activist and often barefoot. I have thoroughly enjoyed following his journey for over 5 years and his outlook on life and non-ownership.really inspires me. Highly recomend starting with one of his less formal "day in a life" videos.

https://youtu.be/OvL-Z0gl6ig?si=uke3hn_8csMgQMsb

Let me know if you liked it or thoughts about it!

I know about this older thread and some others, but I ran into another dumb-ass situation at a Walmart about a month ago. First ever with them, I think. Since then I'm following up hard on it, asking Wally corporate to permanently fix this problem at the national/global level.

. http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/bf/walmart-nj.html

I'll update the "results" section as more develops.

I'm a little disappointed that the PDFs at "barefootislegal"'s education section seem to have disappeared, as they theoretically had another Walmart letter available. But they don't seem particularly viable anymore anyways.

I started grounding a few years ago but I always struggled to stay consistent, especially living in a city apartment building with not many parks nearby. I had the idea to build an app to help track barefoot grounding/earthing sessions, and keep myself motivated to ground everyday.

I also implemented a sunlight tracking feature, because I'm also interested in getting enough sunlight for my circadian health

What sort of features would help you all in a grounding/earthing companion app?

If you want to try it out, it's called Ground Sync (IOS app store)

Fellow barefooters… have you noticed your toes spread out since you’ve been going barefoot? Maybe some shoes don’t fit right anymore as well?

Mine have but more on my left foot than my right. I’ve been reading and apparently we all have a ‘leading’ foot. Mine is my left foot. For example if I could skateboard (I can’t btw), I would be ‘regular’ as I would naturally put my left foot towards the front of the board. The other way around is ‘goofy’ (apparently). I wonder if this has something to do with the different toe spread?

The reason for the topic is that I just recently learned that Spirit Airlines has banned barefoot passengers. They've been making changes to their dress code, and it seems as though bare feet are in the same category of things they are banning for being "too offensive", such as see-through clothing and "lewd tattoos".

So I was walking barefoot at my usual spot when I ran into some passersby. I am sure they were puzzled, but when I greeted them, they returned the favor and we both went on our way. It was nice. It was like I could dispel the awkwardness in the air by saying hi.

One elderly man asked me if it didn't hurt to walk on the gravel barefoot (I was walking on a path made of loose, small, and sharp gravel). I told him it did, but it also felt good. And that was that! I still don't have the confidence to do it in front of a group of people yet, but every time I do it it feels amazing.

I live on the 8th floor. Taking the elevator down to the first floor to grab my mail from the mailbox.

Elevator stops on the 7th floor. A lady, a Boomer about my age, steps in and smiles. Then she says “oh, you’re barefoot.”

Me: “I’m always barefoot.” Her: “Oh really? I like to go barefoot, too.”

A bit more chitchat about how it is too cold presently in Northeast Florida to go outside barefoot but that will change soon and we can go outside barefoot again.

A possible barefoot walking partner in the making.

Have some of you ever been shy to walk barefoot or even just expose your feet in sandals around people you know (friends, family, etc)? If so, how did you work though it?

Hi there I'm Jacob. While I'm from Virginia, I'm in my freshmen at the University of Miami. I'm also autistic and therefore I have very sensorial experiences, that's why I almost always wear shoes and socks. However, my current roomie is also autistic and have are becoming really good friends. He, unlike me, has been going barefoot since day 1. A few days ago he asked why I always wear socks and explained that going barefoot is very sensorial to me, but he said that's why he loves it being autistic. He invited me to try and I think I'm starting to love this.

I know, this post is not about being barefoot, but about comparing how dogs are "barepaws" at all time without issue. I find that impressive.

I'm used of my dog running on all terrain in the wood, but what impresses me the most is, like today where I live, when it is -20°C and she can go for hours without getting cold.

I'd love to do the same!

This is not my normal post for updates or questions but I NEED your help. Going to the point I’m rn in a Coffe date with a girl, everything was going “normal” but she started mentioning barefoot lifestyle for 3 to 4 times now, asking me if I’m ok with it and that kind of stuff. Because it’s a first date I decided to wear sneakers. She was wearing Birkenstocks, and rn she left the table to order something( Starbucks) and she’s currently barefoot. What do I do?? Do I mention I’m starting with barefooting, do I just take off my shoes. How is it been for you encountering other barefooters. I DONT WANT TO MAKE IT WEIRD.

I don't know when or how this happened but I'm afraid to walk barefoot around the house, even when i'm just getting out of the shower or in the morning when i wake up. I just don't want my family seeing my feet. Although i like being barefoot at home, sometimes when i'm home alone i take my socks off and it feels nice, but when i hear their car arriving i put them on quickly. We are barely barefoot around the house, just socks and sometimes shoes. When i’m over at a friends house they aren’t barefoot much, so i find it weird to just pull of my socks. Do more people have the same problem as me and do you know how to overcome this. Thank you.

My boyfriend and I have been wearing matching anklets for a while since we expose our feet a lot. My brother has recently catched the trend, and got 3 anklets, for him and his two best friends.

While my brother and one of his friends now go barefoot or in flip flips everywhere, his other friend was very shy to ditch his shoes, but he really loved the anklet. My brother told him that anklets and socks don't go together and if he wanted that he should try at least to wear sandals. Today he visited home wearing slides and no socks. My brother gave him the anklet and welcomed him to the club. His friend then removed his slides and started to walk barefoot around the house. I told him he finally became one of us and he told me "yeah shoes are dumb, I feel so comfy".

So, here’s my story. Picture this: it’s a lazy Sunday morning, and I’m padding around my flat barefoot, as usual. I’ve just poured myself a coffee, still half-asleep, when I realize I left the balcony door open overnight. No big deal, right?

As I shuffle over to close it, I step on something... cold. And wet. And... moving?!

Cue immediate panic. My brain fires off a thousand possibilities in a second: slug? Mouse? God forbid, a spider the size of my face? Nope. I look down, and there it is—a frog. A living, breathing frog. In my flat. Just chilling under my foot like it owns the place.

Now, I don’t live near a pond or a river. I’m in a second-floor apartment in a perfectly normal European city. How did a frog even get here? Did it take the elevator? Did it have plans to rent my spare room?

The worst part? The frog didn’t even flinch when I stepped on it. It just sat there, like, “Oh, hey, what’s up?” Meanwhile, I’m hopping around on one foot, spilling coffee everywhere, trying not to lose my mind.

Eventually, I managed to escort it out onto the balcony using an empty cereal box (I’m not proud of this level of unpreparedness). It stared at me for a good five seconds, judging me, before hopping off into oblivion.

Moral of the story: always close your balcony door. Your barefoot mornings will thank you. Now your turn—what’s the weirdest thing you’ve stepped on? Let’s hear it!

So today in 8 degrees Celsius I went for a barefoot walk in a local park. Left house barefoot. Drove to park and walked around on asphalt, concrete, gravel/earth mix, got to a really gravelly bit and walked the muddy verge, then wood chip paths and then back on to asphalt. Then wooden decking like material for the boardwalk and finally asphalt and soft grass back to the van. I was worried if I’d be able to manage it but it was great and I had a sense of achievement when I got back to the van. So I drove to Costa Coffee and went in barefoot, ordered a coffee and sat down. This was probably the biggest mistake. After about 2 hours reading manga and looking at social media I decided to go home. So I stood up and immediately noticed 2 problem. First my feet had sort of dried out and my leg and ankle joints were killing me. The joys of being 50 I guess. So I went home. I want to be barefoot as much as possible but my body isn’t so easily convinced.

Addendum It turned out that the thing that aggravated me the most but didn’t notice until this morning was the cut or blister on the second toe from the left on my left foot. It was what caused the annoyance. No blister formed on the balls of my feet so I get to go again!

I use a walking pad during my 8.5 hour workday now, so I went from being sedentary to walking 10k-20k steps a day. I have been doing this for two months.

I've developed what I believe to be a morton's neuroma in my left foot, and a weird recurring heat rash on my right foot (idk if it's athlete's foot or what). I think the morton's neuroma is because my toes are crowded, and the heat rash is because my sweat has nowhere to evaporate.

I think I'm going to start walking barefoot. Of course when googling, it says it's too hard of a surface and it's dangerous. Anyone have experience using walking pad barefoot? I don't want to create more foot issues, but it seems to me all of the issues I've developed are a result of shoes.

Went for a couple walks in 30 F weather after my feet were completely adapted to barefoot, stood in the snow briefly several times

feet swelled up, got red and tender for a few weeks, looked and felt damaged for months and months,, Took a couple years after that to feel normal

I'd like to hear experiences of bare footing in cold weather

So I did went 100% barefoot today to college, the only ones to tell me something about it were a few friends and other than that, it was normal. In my college there is a study and “chill” hub, that is a place where you can rest, read or whatever and I saw several people barefoot there. The floor on that area is carpet so I believe that’s why some people do it. Didn’t see anyone else barefoot in other areas.

Today it’s my first day back to college. I’ll try to be barefoot. What advices can you give me ?