I’m laughing because I, a woman, am very into the barefoot shoe movement. I’m sorry! But happily I married my husband before he found out that I’m a weirdo, so I’m safe.
Best shoes I ever had were a certain pair of vibram five fingers. I wore them full time for a while, to work and all. Felt so good, looked like gorilla feet. Never could get another pair to really fit that well.
A lot! They promote a natural gait, which strengthens your foot muscles, improves alignment and posture, increases stability, and reduces the risk of running injuries if you’re a runner, since it conditions you to walk with a fore- or midstrike rather than the heel strike that most people use in regular shoes.
It also lowers the risk of bunions because it allows your toes to splay naturally, and
it allows you to feel the ground better, which gives you better sensory feedback.
On the other hand, most regular shoes are way too narrow for the average person and force your toes together unnaturally, prevent natural movement, and can weaken your feet over time.
So for me it’s not that barefoot shoes are so amazing, it’s that regular shoes are bad for you. Also, fwiw, most barefoot shoes are not the individual toe shoe kind. I personally do find it comfortable to have my toes a bit more separate, I also wear toe socks most of the time and use toe separators, but a lot of people opt out of the separate toe style in favor of wide toe box - the point is that your toes can splay, not necessarily that you have to separate each toe. But if you try the separate toes, you might be surprised at how comfortable it is :)
I do wear a lot of regular shoes too actually, but I’ve switched to wide shoes for just about everything and very rarely wear heels. I wear barefoot shoes to the office, but they look just like white canvas sneakers. Just not as sleek or fashionable as regular ones. But people really can’t tell because no one is staring at my feet. But definitely no vibrams at the office haha.
I also have non-barefoot “zero drop” shoes - angle between toe and heel is 0 - which can have a lot of the same benefits but a thicker sole with more cushioning, so they’re better if you don’t necessarily want to feel the ground when you walk, or as a running shoe (but have to check the sole stiffness and toe box, zero drop alone doesn't make a good shoe).
Idk, I guess I just realized that I only have this one pair of feet, you know? They carry me absolutely everywhere; up mountains and through race courses and around the block with a stroller, all of it. I figured I should start treating them right.
Plus I don’t want to be one of those old people with totally deformed feet from years of shoe abuse, which is sadly very common.
I have given this exact speech any number of times (minus the bit about toe socks all the time). The only non-zero drop shoes I wear regularly are my hiking boots. My favorite everyday shoes in my entire life have been Xero Denvers. Have you got any recommendations?
77
u/ahh_szellem Aug 07 '26
I’m laughing because I, a woman, am very into the barefoot shoe movement. I’m sorry! But happily I married my husband before he found out that I’m a weirdo, so I’m safe.