How To Get Hard Feet?

Hi all. Well if you see my posts I am a devoted barefooter 24/7 outside of work. I cannot seem to keep dry hardened feet. I walk everywhere barefoot and still after a year they are not as hardened as I would have hoped. Still the smallest prickle and hot hot road surface sting. Can you advise how to toughen up my soles ???

 

stroke them! (lol couldn't resist)

no but seriously, i know there are techniques for fighters to get hard calloused knuckles, maybe you should look into that?

 

They won't harden.

Big calluses are a response to injury - I've had several thick ones, in places where bad things happened, like I had to dig stuff out of my feet.

You can grow thick tough skin, but hard feet will not happen. Think tough, don't use hard as a barometer.

Your feet will not act like shoes, you won't be able to crush through cactus thickets, you'll just be less likely to do serious damage on the first step on hot or sharp things, and mostly, you learn how to walk and avoid injury as you go barefoot more. It's just practice and gradual toughening, not magic.

All the people who are super hardcore about their punishing walks or hikes or keeping up with others or barefooting in the snow..... they're masochistic and/or posers, or are trying to disguise a fetish, or have other mental issues. Setting personal challanges is one thing, but risking your feet because you allegedly like your feet so much is total bullshit - I've tried that shit, and you know when to turn back - and "when" is damn soon, ever after years of barefooting and feet being as tough as they'll get.

(one exception to the snow bit: wearing wool socks in snow really does work, if you're determined to not wear shoes - but then that's just like the coldest least comfortable least waterproof shoe ever, for use in the cold and wet - keeps the frostbite off, but doesn't make it comfy - just don't be stupid, if you're not going barefoot for better comfort and health why the hell are you, and frostbite/missing toes is good for neither comfort nor health)

I've found that if anything, past a year my feet got considerably softer, but still stronger, as the skin growth and strength was ramped up enough that calluses and other reactions to damage healed.

Listen to your feet. If you want them to do things that they can't, put on some shoes, when shoes get old, take them off again.

 

Seems like we're masochistic, posing fetishists with mental health issues, then . If so, guilty as charged!

I do agree though that it is in fact not easy to get tough soles, certainly not as easy as some try to make out. Despite barefooting regularly for many years, only my heels have really hardened. I guess simply perseverance over a long period is the answer.

Good to know though that there is a lady who actively wants to harden her feet . The ones I've met all want to soften them.

 

Oh you guys rock thanks heaps. Yep thats what's happened to my feet,; thick skin and I'm digging prickle s out right now..only aft a they are a bit angry stuck in there for so long. Lol. Yea and hey I am soo in love with my feet and so is my man I walk proudly barefooting enjoying.

 

Your man is very lucky, TG, but you deserve the attention!

Yeah my feet are my favourite part of my body (bar none!). I once did get a small bit of glass in my foot and it was there for days before I realised and had to dig around to extract it.

 

Everyone's skin adapts differently to its environment. I dated several women who were fulltime barefooters in NYC. One had very leather-like tough soles, another had soft skinned soles and I knew another who had a very impressive set of callouses on her soles. None had any discomfort on gravel, hot pavement, concrete or city streets. Every person is different. You may not develop hard skin, it's just your body.

 

stop getting your feet wet.

taking a shower or bath without getting your feet wet probably impossible unless you take the bird baths, wrap your feet in plastic bags or something which wont prevent sweat < and that will soften them just as much.

I like my feet soft, and Ive no problems walking over the roughest terrain barefoot. park paths at night covered in glass and not a nick do I get.

learn to walk on rice paper without ripping it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9NTo6BWvs

 

I don't think hard and dry is good.
Which is stronger and more puncture resistant - dried up, cracked old leather or soft, supple leather?

I usually use moisturizer twice a day on my feet to keep the skin soft (my GF thinks its funny).
Plus I think if you are going to show your feet in public, one should try to keep them looking nice (dirty soles are fine though and look cool!).
Except for a few lucky folks, feet are not the best looking body part and need all the help they can get.
Cracked and dry is gross.

 

Marry a Fijian , that way your kids will be born with an advantage in that dept . ......and more likely to make a future all black . Solid cv^ts those Fijian rugby players

 

Its funny because it's silly. Despite what all the ads and cosmetic companys say, moisturizer only softens the dead part of your skin, it doesn't absorb into the live dermis layer. if you properly exfoliate you shouldn't need moisturizer, just stay well hydrated and your body takes care of your skin. If you don't abuse it.
OP, you don't want hard feet. When you are barefoot, you need to feel whats under your feet so you can lighten your step if you feel something hazardous, under foot, lol.

 

Look at foot job porn

 

Why look at foot job porn??. They all woosy pink soft feet. Not true barefooters. But each to their own. If u like what you like.

 

Grating. Lots of grating. That's what I use.

Just be careful not to cut toe pads, but I have done that several times to the point where they heal and callus over within a day or two, even without band-aids or first aid ointment. Grating roughens the calluses but also removes a small top layer. This makes the soles slightly more tender the next day of barefooting, but prolonged rough surfaces barefooting builds up tolerance to roughness within the next day or two. It might still hurt, depending on how sensitive the soles still remain, but shorter distances are doable at a normal walking pace before it's necessary to slow down.

Heat? Same thing. Grating removes a small top layer that is initially more sensitive to the heat. Pre-heating the soles first, on the heat, off the heat, on the heat, off the heat, until it burns less is beneficial during particularly hot weather and hot asphalt... before walking longer distances on the heat. Just walking on the heat is guaranteed to sting more and even burn more quickly and intensely than when the soles are preheated. Depending on how much heat I want to endure to increase heat tolerance, I will either go to prolonged stinging and feeling a pulse in my soles or getting blisters towards the end of a barefoot walk.

This year, I'm using a microplane style grater/zester instead of the usual cheese grater. Some parts of the sole are getting so tough that the zester gets stuck and the fine grating teeth actually start to slightly bend. If I don't let up and apply less pressure, it can slip from too much force and noticeably cut. But, if I apply less pressure to start with and gradually apply more pressure, then it grates that section of the sole for the length of the grater as I intend it to do. I always grate upward, against the normal grain of the soles, in the direction from heel to toes. The soles will eventually become harder leather, not plywood hard, but will still scratch along microfiber even with an audible scratching sound. That's how I want my soles to be, and prolonged hot asphalt burning actually makes them a lighter blackened with white calluses showing through the dirt. They actually only get filthy jet black in mild temperature weather.

I just avoid too much grating so that more callus isn't being removed than can grow back. Too much is if I have started to make foot zest, actually seeing fine sole particles in the zester.

Do it at your own risk, but it's working for me. Just don't be as aggressive with the toe pad pressure that I started out doing.

 

Ouch i dnt think i will take to grating my soles. I have a firm rule to care for and nurture my feet. I use coconut oil occasionally and inspect them for any damages or foreign bodies i may need to dig out. Toes are callioused heels are hard leather now time has gone by batefoot only 24/7 in my time and as much as poss in the office. Cant believe how PC the work place is..u may get a staple or heaven forbid an earth quake and u have to run thru glass. I say i tun faster than u in barefeet...and people assumr after natural disaster they too will be wearing shoes... i kick my yoes at least once a week usually on the shopping troĺly wheel and have not broken anything. The one time i wore shoes on the stairs at work...i tripped. Hmmm what is the hazzard.anyway barefooting in auckland is sloely resulting in tanned leather type soles.

 

Seems about right. Callused toes are from pushing the toes into the ground at the end of each step and pushing off of them. Obviously that results in friction, and the skin becomes harder to protect it. Hardened leather is definitely doing the right heel-to-toe walking on rougher paved surfaces, just watch for cracking in the back of the heel. I'm not sure that moisturizing is helpful, since the way to hard feet is to keep them dry as long as they are not cracking, not pamper them and keep them moist.

Except for daily baths or showers and then dry the feet completely... definitely walk on rougher concrete and even walk over as hot as possible asphalt as much as possible, but void blisters unless pushing for faster heat tolerance because those areas healing are tender for a couple of days before starting to reattach. I have lots of experience with this! Soles start sweating to try to cool off from the burning. Hotter heat evaporates the sweat faster than the soles can sweat, so they are already drying out. Asphalt dirt ends up baking into the soles as the soles burn longer, blocking pores. Blocked pores cannot sweat as more asphalt bakes into the soles. Depending on the sole texture, they will become jet black and coated, or less blackened with white calluses showing. Most barefooters only wipe their feet instead of washing them, except for when it's time to go to sleep in their beds (but a few go to bed with dirty feet, yuck), so prolonged leaving the asphalt dirt on the soles finishes the drying of the soles for that day. Enough dirt baked into the soles means a layer of will remain in them for a couple of days, assuming no additional barefooting, so asphalt dirt over asphalt dirt is how the soles eventually start to look permanently black. DO NOT SCRUB! This won't do anything except for scrape the calluses before going out barefoot, and the calluses should only be scraped while barefoot. Don't do artificial blackening by wiping them in oil slicks, because that only greases the soles and prevents any burning drying of the soles..

Tanned leather soles is also a side effect of staining from extended daily walking on asphalt surfaces, once the blackened stains and even the redness under them starts becoming tanned from not burning too much anymore.

As far as the workplaces go, most have dress codes anyway. Some workplaces are relaxed enough to allow walking around barefoot provided they at least entered with shoes on. Others have their reasons for no bare feet, such as stepping on staples, to make sure everyone does it.

Earthquake is valid though. Strong enough to shatter glass or cause larger debris and it will be an incredible challenge to step on in bare feet. Ouch, ouch, very slow and having to use more delicate steps... provided nothing cuts the soles or pierces the soles and even gets stuck there. I know it's hard enough for me to step directly on small rocks, small acorns, stick sized branches and even now and then I get one of the small rocks or acorns that sticks in the soles. My soles are tough enough that nothing pierces fully into the soles anymore when I first step on it, even in the less tougher part just behind the balls of the feet, but I have picked up two glass pieces the size of about US #2 pencil lead that did poke and stick into the soles. When I'm outdoors, I actually don't worry about it as much since there is more than enough space to step over or around debris. Indoors and there will only be a path through it when it's blocking entrances, hallways, and exits... and there is no way around it. Remember that although safety glass shatters in cubes and would still be more than ouch, ouch stepping larger stretched or piles of it, then pulling off from sticking in the sole, and there is still risk of a cut from the safety glass points... normal even laminated glass shatters in much larger shards that can pierce all the way into the sole enough to disable walking if it is long and narrow.

 

I also just wanted to point out, for those who might think it's unusual for me to grate my soles to make them tougher... I got a chance to see what a Ped Egg kit actually looked like in a Made For TV section of the store. If I recall correctly, it used to be just an egg, but this one had a cutter and sander, both shaped like eggs.

The egg shaped the cutter itself is virtually identical to any other rasp kitchen tool zester/grater (such as an OXO brand) or a Microplane branded zester/grater (but paying more for the name brand because it's also a hardware tool before cooks used it for zesting and grating). It is quite obvious that the intent is to grate the soles with the grain of the foot (as in "down" in the direction from toes to the heels) to scrape off the calluses (without cutting the sole, of course) because the egg shaped bottom compartment below the cutter would hold the foot shavings (like it was foot zest). Reviews of Ped Egg are often unfavorable about having to empty the foot shavings, even if they were otherwise satisfied with it. Foot zest or no foot zest... they obviously would follow up with the egg shaped sander to smooth out any roughened spots made by the grating, but not sure how that compares to foot files that women can buy, because as a man I don't file my soles smooth. Probably meant to be done while the soles are wet, so that softened skin grates easier with lighter pressure with less of a risk of cuts.

Anyway, a Ped Egg could be used in the same way I already grate/zest my soles to ROUGHEN them: turn the egg cutter around and grate "up" in the direction from heels to toes. There may of may not be foot shavings depending on the pressure. Just avoid cutting too deep, especially on the toe pads. I actually use a full size OXO zester/grater, not a Ped Egg, and I grate my soles when dry, rather than wet, so that there is even more resistance requiring harder pressure. I wouldn't recommend sanding down the soles to smooth them out.

Basically just saying that while zesting/grating the soles UP to ROUGHEN them might be different, Ped Egg seems to be a popular enough product, and that is a smaller handheld egg shaped zester/grater.

 

So weird i am the barefooter. Yet when i walk on beach or sometimes sidewalk with my partner i get cut feet and bits of shell or sharpiea in my feet and he gets bone. Interesting that my feet go from leather,dry and hard to walking in sea water and patches/blisters. Yep never pussy always dry areas of skin puff/peel. In winter and now its rain storm my feet are pussy sorr n peeling. What the hell?? Why

 

My South Island (Christchurch) bare feet have gone almost rock hard. I can't believe where i can now go with bare feet and not have to worry at all. They do get a bit soft of it's been raining and they are wet for too long, but another day and I'm back to being able to go places my friends struggle with in their jandals lol

 

Are You Off Your Crutches Yet....??.....Nice To Have You Back.....



Cheers Glen.