Hi I'm Kat. I'm new to barefooting and have a few questions. My first question is, do your floors at home get very dirty? I live in a house with white carpets everywhere and I doubt my roommates would be pleased if I messed them up with my dirty feet. I'm also not too keen on having to wash my feet every time I come home. The next question is about the cold. I live in Canada and it gets really cold here in the winter and the ground gets covered in a thick layer of ice and snow. How cold can it typically get before your feet freeze? Do you think that only going barefoot for half the year would prevent my feet from getting tough enough? I really want to be able to walk over almosr any surface comfortably. I will probably have a lot more questions, but I'll just start with those. Any input would be helpful!
Welcome, Kat. Good to know someone else is thinking like this. I find no issues with making the carpets dirty, surprisingly. There again, my carpets are quite dark. The worst problem is hoovering up bits of grass etc that I sometimes bring in if I've been in the garden. I bath daily but don't worry about washing my feet every time I come in; that would drive me nuts! Re the cold, just use common sense. I imagine frostbite isn't much fun! I enjoy a barefoot walk in the snow, but don't go too far...not worth taking any risks!
Thank you Charlie! Bits of grass don't sound too bad since we have dogs that sometimes do that anyways. And thanks for the advice about the snow. Do your first few barefoot snow walks hurt at all? I find long contact with snow or ice painful, but I imagine if you are moving it isn't as bad.
Barefoot walks in the snow don't feel too bad, but barefoot walks on ice or cold concrete are very hard to do for more than a few seconds. Just be carefull of slipping in the snow.... smooth feet don't provide very good traction!
it only takes a few weeks in the spring to toughen them back up. and it's not like you need to wear shoes every moment of the winter, just when you're outside in the cold.
Does everybody in your house wash their shoes every time they come in from outdoors? There's no difference.
yeah, i do it whenever i live somewhere that has white carpets. when i have brown carpets i'm a lot more lax.
No, no dirty floors at my place. When I get back inside, I always wipe my feet well against a door carpet, and also use a small hand brush against my soles for any big stuff. If something just wont come off using the dry methods, a quick wash with a hand shower will take care of it. I also vacuum my floors once a week anyway, so no dirt problem. Regarding the cold, your worst enemy by far will not be snow, but frigid water. If you encounter liquid water during the winter, don't step in it with a bare foot. It will drain your body heat in seconds, and your feet will freeze faster. You'll be wanting a sort of dry weather for winter barefooting. Also, you cannot maintain snow barefooting indefinitely, extended exposure will make your feet susceptible to frost bites. My own safety rule in general is: No colder than -10 Celcius (14 Fahrenheit), and no longer than 10 minutes. But as a beginner you'll probably want to play even safer than that. Snowfooting is a unique experience, but not worth bodily damage. If you lose your feet to frost bites, you will not barefoot ever again after that. Something to remember. Use your head, and keep winter boots available for just in case. There's no shame in it. Practice your barefooting and build thicker soles, it will help to reduce the impact from cold as well, when there's more tissue to absorb it. It's what I did, and 5 Celcius (41 Fahrenheit) is now a very comfortable barefooting weather for me.
I don't get the cold weather thing. That doesn't sound like any fun. When it gets below 50F, I'm done with doing it outside, except for checking my mailbox at the end of the driveway.
^ that's the point where it seems to stop being about comfort and convenience and becomes about making a statement. except, that statement seems to be something along the lines of "i don't care what you say, i'll get frostbite if i want to!"
Thanks for all the input guys! I'll let you know how my snow walks go when winter hits.☺ I think I'll stay away from temperatures below -10 like you said M_Ranko. I don'the want to risk frostbite.
You do that. Forgot to mention yesterday that windchill is also a factor worth noting. Cold wind will also drop the temperature of any exposed body parts pretty rapidly, so pay attention to wind as well. Generally speaking, listen to your feet. If they say they don't want it anymore, you better listen. We feel pain for a reason.
My house is a shoe-free zone. I have light carpet in some rooms. I wash my feet at the hose by the door each time I come in. If you don't have a hose nearby you can easily keep a box of baby wipes near the door. Simply grab a wipe and do a quick clean up before you go in.
I've been a little surprised how little I tend to track in when I'm barefoot. I think we're more aware of what's stuck to the bottom of our feet than when it's stuck to the bottom of footwear. On the way to the door, I find myself rubbing my feet across the grass, then the concrete to loose debris from them. Then there are two door mats. One as I enter the door to the back (mud) room & another just before I enter the kitchen. If my feet are really dirty or covered with grass clippings, I head for the garden hose before heading to the door.
yeah, plus shoes usually have grooves in the bottom that can hold a lot more dirt than a smooth foot can.