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Don’t Be Scared of the Heels

Tuesday October 11, 2005 

I am a pretty practical guy. I used to think, “I am grateful that I am not a woman for two reasons: 1.) I don’t have to have babies, 2.) I don’t have to wear high heels.” The concept of high heels had always seemed ridiculous to me: women enduring a great deal of pain and a lack of mobility to make a fashion statment. However, in doing a little research, I have found that pain and awkwardness do not always have to be a part of the high heel experience; these things can be alieviated simply by knowing how to walk in your shoes correctly.

1.) Practice:
- Just try standing in the shoes.
- Then try walking slowly in the shoes with a small stride (keeping your legs close together).
- Practice on firm ground (wood or tile is much easier than carpet as long as it is not slippery).
- Try turning, shifting side to side and other various movements.
- Practice at a faster pace on the firm ground and then try the same progression on different surfaces.
- Walking in heels just takes practice (like anything worthwhile).

2.) Work your way up slowly:
- Start with a short heel and increase the height over time. The reason why many women get turned off of heels is because they get burnt out by a heel that is much too tall for them.
- Start with a wider heel and decrease the thickness over time. A wider heel is much easier to walk on, initially.
- Start with a shoe that has a rounded toe; shoes with pointed toes will be much less comfortable and harder to walk in, as they will constrict your toes.
-Don’t start out with heels that are flimsy or lack support.

3.) Use good judgement-
- When going down stairs, use the rail.
- Don’t walk on soft ground: mud, sand, gravel.
- Dancing fast in heels can be dangerous and dancing without any shoes on can be just as dangerous.
- If you are planning on wearing tall, slender heels acclimate yourself to that type of shoe days or weeks before the event by gradually working your way up to that size heel; hopping into stilettos without conditioning yourself could end up ruining your evening.

Personally, I will probably never walk in high heels (as I am a man); if I were a woman, I probably would. However, I hope this article will help women who would have otherwise given up on heels. Most women probably already know the information given in this post, and I am just ingnorant; however, if there are any women who missed the informational talk with their mother about “how to wear high heels”, this might be a good resource.

Click here to see the article on which this post is based.

Filed Under High Heels

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