How tough do your feet get?

So for anyone who goes barefoot a lot, how tough do your feet actually get? I know you learn to look out for things but do you still find yourself going 'ouch' fairly regularly when walking around town, shopping etc., or does it get quite rare? Do you ever get to the point where you almost forget that you've got no shoes on?

A while ago I had a go at walking through town for a short time (took my sandals off and carried them for an excuse to answer questions), and as a complete newcomer I was surprised at how little it hurt, though it was just tarmac, nothing too challenging. But when I got home I discovered I had three big blood blisters so I obviously overdid it but they weren't punctured and didn't hurt at all so I left them alone, and a few weeks later they peeled off on their own with no problem. Oops!

 

I can walk on most of anything, even nails. But dead dry grass? Hell no.

 

hell, i'm far from a full time barefooter and i rarely notice any pain from stepping on stuff. it really just doesn't hurt as much as some people seem to think.

 

Heh. That's nice. How do you handle things that push up into the middle part of your foot, between your toes and your heel? When I was trying to walk in the forest a while ago it was ok but I couldn't work out how you could ever avoid the sticks and other small things, and only have your weight on the parts that become calloused. Was I just silly to try walking in a place like that?

 

Ford tough

 

The pointy things will definitely get on your nerves. I'm still annoyed by how little resistance I've developed against jagged pebbles after all these years. Last summer there was a road construction site near my place. About 200 yards of old road had been torn open to re-pave it, because the old surface was starting to be in pretty rough shape. Anyway, the workers laid out fresh gravel to the site to form a base for the new tarmac. This one night, before they paved the road, I was doing one of my walks and decided to check things out. I saw the gravel and decided to try crossing it in my bare feet, just to see how much I can take. The individual stones were about the size of an egg, and jagged.

This jaggedness was the real issue here, because the tips of the stones pressed against the bones of my feet in a very uncomfortable manner. While I made it trough from end to end without having to put my shoes back on, my soles were in some pain afterwards, and the whole experience, near the end, felt like getting tortured. I had to work my foot muscles hard to find the most comfortable positions, and I did cheat some by trying to find the smoothest spots possible to step on. Unfortunately, I can't try again, as the spot has now been paved again and re-opened for regular traffic.

Winter barefooting has definitely improved my cold tolerance, though. Temperatures that once made me shiver in cold are quite tolerable now. Most recently I practiced some by walking about a mile long stretch of road back to my home in -2 C (28 Fah) weather on snow while barefoot. I did have my emergency shoes with me, but found I didn't need them that time around. I made it back home barefoot, but my soles did become extremely tingly afterwards, and I definitely took time to warm them back up carefully once I got back inside. Surprisingly, I didn't feel much pain at all. They didn't go numb, my toes were still very much able to feel things, it was just the tingly sensation that made my soles feel very itchy for some minutes at the end of it.

Unfortunately my feet are not invulnerable to iron, and I found this out the hard way. Few years back I stepped on a nail and that definitely made a hole that allowed my juices to escape in large quantities. That, then, mandated a full month of bandages and shoes wearing, so the wound wouldn't get dirty and infected. Also, splinters can definitely still pierce my tissues, which is why I now carry my Swiss army knife with me everywhere. The tweezers included in the scales are really good for pulling those little fuckers out.

So to answer the OP, jagged pebbles are still uncomfortable, snow surprisingly not so much anymore in small quantities, and steel definitely still HURTS. Then there are the usual, day-to-day normal surfaces like sand, grass and linoleum, where the sensations range from pleasant to meh, but are regardless always a piece of cake. I've never tried walking on feces/shit, or chemicals, and I never will.

 

A lot of it is in the mind

 

I agree with the jagged pebbles. The city I live in has a nice trail through the woods and circling a small lake. It was recently "upgraded" with a layer of crushed rock. Goodbye trail. Goathead thorns are another nemesis. They look like this:

This plant contains multiple little "land mines," multi-spiked little seed pods. If you see this plant, DON'T STEP ON IT. Here's another view:

Each of those thorns is 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, sticking into the flesh. Ouch!

 

these are little bastards too

 

Some of these thorns would bring Tarzan himself to his knees.

 

in that sort of a situation i think it's just a matter of watching where you step. there's piles of sticks and whatnot all over in the woods, but there's also plenty of safe surface.

 

Im too much of a tenderfoot, not that that matters anyway considering places I fish are mostly boulders, rocks and steep slopes anyway and would be rough on anybody whos is barefooted.

Not to mention the town I live has quite a few heroin addicts, some of whom leave a used syringe on the ground sometimes, so yeah, no thanks

 

Walking on mud, grass,small sticks, large smoothe boulders,concrete and asphalt (not hot) feels lnormal with no pain. When walking a trail, use your peripheral vision to navigate a brisk walk. It becomes a automatic. In the fall, leaves tend to cover some things that you would normally avoid, so a little pain once in a while is to be expected. The fun, freedom and stimulation is worth the occasional pain.

 

Image source The Barefoot Professor: From Opinion To Observation: More Evidence That Going Barefoot Is Best For Your Feet

The padding gets better its not just the skin. My footprint changed from like the middle to the right.

Must be a combination higher arch and better padding but its defiantly noticeable. My feet look alot better, even the bent in toe next to the little one straightened quite a bit.

 

Thanks guys. It's all very interesting. It's amazing how even your arch can adjust so much. It gives me more confidence that you really can 'replace' shoes with nothing in all but the more tricky situations. Those thorns do look like a pain!

 

When I was in a Karate club in the mid 60's, the instructor had us running barefoot. We even ran down the center of RR tracks on the gravel. To this day I have calluses on my heels. I've tried everything for 55 years to remove those calluses and still have them.

 

I found a good "before" picture example in high resolution , looks they have never walked off carpet but for an after it seems that just like on this forum most of the time people insist on walking through dirt before taking a picture and you can't see how the skin adapted for an after picture.





My feet adapted like the example above, the only picture I could find on the vast internet ! where the padding gets filled in and that thicker shiny skin.


I would like to see what the before feet would look like after !

 

My bare feet are really tough when i go camping i can step on broken bottles and i haven't cut the bottoms of my bare feet i have had a sticker from a cactus go in to my heel didn't feel it . But when i saw it it took a little bit to get it out of my heel the skin is really think on the bottoms of my bare feet. But i hike everywhere in my bare feet i even hunt and fish and also ride my 4wheelers and my side by side barefoot. Then at the end of the day i takea shower in my motor home then go to sleep and do more barefooting the next day. Everybody keep barefooting

 

The more dog shit and nails you step on, the tougher your feet will become.

 

PISS OFF......



Cheers Glen.