Hardcore Barefooters?

Are there any hardcore barefooters that go barefoot 24/7 and don't even own any shoes here? If so, I have some questions for you. When and why did you start going barefoot? How did you feel when you got rid of all your shoes? And finally, would you recommend becoming a barefooter?

 

I live barefoot 24/7 but it's not by choice. My left foot was crushed in Sep 2011 and I've been unable to wear shoes ever since. I have to admit I do own a single pair of flip flops but they would only be wrn maybe for a day every couple of months.

It felt strange getting around everywhere barefooted and sometimes still does, but I am pretty used to it now. Winter has it's challlenges for bare feet but it's not impossible. The added complictaion or me was/is a foot fetish, I always wanted to go barefoot but never could make myself do it. Now I don;t have that option

 

I suppose I fall into that categorie. However I do own a pair of work boots for tending to our horses etc.

I grew up with hippie parents in California who encouraged barefeet so it's always been part of me.
I was home-schooled, and all the kids of the families I was schooled with were mostly barefoot especially during summer. Except the time we invented our own school uniform of shorts, baggy jumpers and black socks; no shoes mind but black socks!
Of course I went through phases and fashions as a teenager from Converse to crazy sandals, but I always went back to barefeet.

When I moved to the UK with my first partner it took a little while to get used to the climate and I wore Birkenstocks for a while but soon I was back to barefeet. I've been barefoot now 24/7 for the past 8yrs or so (I loose count a bit). I work and live as part of a small community and sell organic produce at the markets and deliver to stores etc.

Where I live in the UK people just don't care, if they do it's an interested question rather than dissaproval. To be honest I forget the difference between me and the shoed majority and that's why forums like this fascinate me. I'm always interested in people who want to be barefoot or question it's reasons.

Go barefoot if you like. If you don't just be cool and try not to damage your feet with sell-out fashions. However it's your choice, I don't really care either way

Shayla x

 

I can't claim to be 24/7 but I am near as dammit. I now own only two pairs of emergency shoes, plus one pair of flip flops. I'm letting the flip-flops get as worn and holed as possible, so when I'm forced to put them on I can still feel as bare as possible. I've always wanted to be barefoot since childhood. However my parents were quite strict about it and it's only in adulthood that I've increasingly gone bf. I agree that here in UK people don't really care and any worries about it are in our own heads. I'm just a bit cross with myself that it took so long to realize this and so I've wasted a lot of good barefooting time in the past by being shy about it.

 

I don't own any shoes, so I'm barefoot 24/7. Yes, I would recommend it. Depends on your circumstances, though. I'm a student and work part time from home, so I can get away with being barefoot always. And wearing strange clothes. Others may have to wear shoes (or even have to wear special kind of shoes like safety boots or dress shoes) at least at work. But anyway, as soon as you can and feel comfortable with the ground and the temperature, do it. You most probably will hate wearing shoes soon.

 

I just came back from a visit to UK and yes, people seemed not to care much. Even in London ...

 

I won’t be barefoot àgain until next summer.
Way too long of a wait.

 

This morning there was ice on the windows of the cars. Still barefoot and I don't plan to change that.

 

I don't barefoot 24/7, but when I go barefoot it's hardcore enough for me.

I do go barefoot in very hot weather. It takes several minutes of blacktop barefooting, including not walking through any shade spots when the soles are burning too much, before I even start to get blisters. I can even do inland valley barefooting in the lower 100 degrees F range an hour before afternoon peak heat, including healing larger blisters without needing any first aid other than draining them and trimming peeling areas... in just weeks. However, I haven't done desert area barefooting such as in Palm Springs (last visited many years ago when I was in college), or Las Vegas (although I've observed much of the sidewalks are red tinted concrete that would get significantly hotter than white or gray), or Arizona (that already feels hot in the air just in the morning, but the sidewalks are probably still doable for shorter distances before needing shade as it gets closer to afternoon peak heat). Desert area asphalt would indeed be a challenge, probably needing some hot footing if the shade spots were more of a distance before the next one, but then I would have to also make sure not to burn my soles to 3rd degree burns.

I also do long distance walking on rougher asphalt, rough and smooth sidewalk, and gravel walkways. So far, I can do almost 10km, though I don't run a clock. The calluses become whiter from the friction as the walking continues. Friction blisters? So what, they are faster healing than heat blisters because the soles don't blister as deep into the soles.

Finally, I have mentioned I use a cheese grater on the soles to keep them rougher. It's really no different than walking on rougher or sharper surfaces, but without the bruising of the soles.

 

The only time I wear footwear is at funerals and occasionally doctor visits. I grew up as a barefoot kid though in Southern California with my two very hippie parents. All my siblings and I were home schooled along with many other barefoot kids from other nearby hippie families. I surfed almost every day year round. I was pretty hardcore. When I finally went to college I did so barefoot and then worked for years in the IT field as a long haired, barefoot developer/programmer. Fortunately my skills were sufficiently good to allow me to get away with my eccentricities and also retire at a very young age. To this day all my friends either call me "Hippie" or "Barefoot." Is my laid back lifestyle for everyone, obviously not. But it has certainly served me well.

 

I'm not sure if I qualify as a hard-core barefooter, but I am barefoot 24/7, year round. Not that it is a choice, but nerve damage and a chronic pain issue with my left foot makes footwear impossible.
Luckily winters here are not too harsh -it might only snow once.

I am the first to admit i have a bit of a foot fetish, but at the same time was always way too shy to go far without jandals (flip flops) to fall back on so the last few years have been "interesting" for me.

The first time I had the cast taken off my leg I found that it was just impossible to get my jandals on and the doctor basically told me I had better get used to life in bare feet, Of course it was a cold, wet day, and I was going to see my parents for the weekend. My first two days as am unwilling barefooter was a cold wet weekend, not fun at all, getting around their farm with bare feet. partial weight-bearing on crutches.

You do get used to not having shoes and it is surprising what you can walk on with bare feet after a bit of practice but you do get sick of some of the regular questions - especially in winter. "Aren't your feet cold?" Weill, it's just above freezing, of course my feet are cold!
"Don't you have and shoes?" No, I can't wear them "Then what about jandals?" No, I can't wear anything...

 

I go barefoot all the time and in jeans. The only downside is that my feet are very stinky. Though I have learned to like the smell. I have gone barefoot to school stores restaurants anywhere. I only have one pair of shoes and socks. You may be suprised that im a 16 year old MALE.

 

what are you walking through? my feet generally just get stinky when they're festering in sweaty shoes all day; barefoot keeps them nice and dry.

is barefooting considered a girl thing where you're from?

 

Are you sure you don't have a fungal infection? 'Cause there are cures for those. I've had nail fungus in the past and ridding it made my feet noticeably odorless.

 

I go about 6 months out of the year with no shoes on whatsoever. Latley though it's been too cold for me to do that but I'm always nd at home.

 

I'm a full time barefooter all year around. Where i live it snows and it get really cold but I'm out there removing snow in bare feet. And I'm also going to the store barefoot i go everywhere barefoot and yes i get asked if i need help or if I'm crazy but i tell themno I'm fine and being barefoot is my lifestyle and my bare feet really don't get cold even when it's 20degrees outside. I love being barefoot 24/7 and i will never go back to wearing shoes.

 

I'm barefoot 22/7. Why 22 and not 24 you ask? Because I cycle 2 hours a day and I gotta wear SPD sandals to clip onto the pedals. I just can't cycle barefoot: I need to be firmly connected to the pedals to put any kind of power to the rear wheel.

So yeah, I own a pair of cycling sandals

 

Full Time Barefooter Here.....Started In August 2006.....Don't Own Any Footwear So I Couldn't

Wear Shoes If I Wanted To......I Prefer Winter To The 40c Heat Of Mid Summer......Walking And

Working In Snow And Frost Doesn't Worry Me......BUT....40c On Melting Bitumen Can

Be A Problem.....



Cheers Glen.

 

I wear shoes in winter.. But I am still hardcore; a woman from Minnesota who passed me on the Heaphy Track last week told me so : P
Actually though it was silly. I would wear shoes next time. I just didn't think about it because I'm used to not needing them. It was the absolute limit of what I can do shoeless. Definitely slowed me down, which has it's up side as I tend to hurry sometimes.

 

Bumping a dead thread.

When the OP first asked the question I would have classified myself as a part time barefooter.

Now I have taken the big leap and am barefoot 24/7.