First hassle for years

see, that kinda shit doesn't happen to me. come back and be so smug when you get hook worms. this part of the forums is fun. on. a. bun.

 

You can't get hookworms in North America, dumbass.

 

Reminds me of a song.

 

Is "North America" part of what is termed "the Americas"?

Then maybe the following would apply:

(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookworm )

Who's the "dumbass" now, dumbass.

 

yeaaaa.. you can.. and im sure there are plenty of other creepy crawlies that would love to get into your skin. plenty of ring worm in america.. i know it's not actually a worm but it's infectious as all hell. I was reading something online saying there are no benefits walking in public places barefoot because they're level surfaces, but it is good to walk on sand and uneven ground barefooted. apparently it helps with bone health and posture n shtuff.. but no one on here really talks about that..

 

I cant speak for all the 'experts' but most barefooters like me just do it because we like it, I'd be lying if I claimed to know the health benefits or that its better or worse than shoes. Its a risk, sometimes calculated sometimes not, but a preference, personally its a bit like taking drugs I love it but I have to be mindful that the risks could cause me injury so I tend to avoid the potential risks where possible. As far as stores and shopping I just do it because its subversive and part of my personality.

 

:iamwithstupid: yeah I don't know the health stuff either and just do it cause I like it. Maybe oneday I'll get a badass worm in my foot or something and that will be the day I wear shoes all the time, till then I'm just a dammed dirty hippie who's too stoned to remember shoes :hippy:
..........................uh oh, I just thought now I'm going to get all the militant barefooters educating me
I'll take my sorry-ass bad example to another thread :beatnik:

Madesh

 

My feet do not get cut because I avoid glass, like shod people avoid dogpoo. And I will not sue the grocery store when I DO step in a piece of glass.

It's not a phobia. I do not hate wearing shoes but I love walking barefoot. Why? Because every step feels different.

 

North America is ...the US and Canada.

My God, you guys are stretching this.

We like going barefoot...all others, get lost

 

Ok.... Well i would say that barefooting is something that many people find very wierd... a strange thing to do.

I personally don't barefoot because of some kind of 'movement' i barefoot because i like it.. Sometimes it can be challenging because of people in grocery stores and its really something that society looks down upon...

Ever since i was little i never liked shoes..
I lived on a ranch out in the country and i used to run acres of land with no shoes and didn't care less what i stepped on. When i stepped on thorns and got them in my feet at night i would just sterilize a sewing needle and get it out of my foot same thing with anything else that might have gotten stuck in the bottom of my feet. As someone barefoots more the tougher the bottom of the feet do become. Not saying that makes your feet invincible but some barefooters can be self righteous as well...

I like to feel the different surfaces. I love the way grass feels on my feet, the mud, pavement.. And my feet are so much more comfortable bare than in shoes. If i have to wear shoes i will wear my flip flops if i can get away with it... Now if theres something i have to wear shoes too then of course i will...

But also even my mom and some of my friends have told me so that they think my barefooting is very strange. Like i told them its not their feet..
The other day i was walking barefoot and this older man working on the roof of this house took the time to tell me that its not good for your feet to walk barefoot like that.. He was like 'wheres your shoes little missy?' and i told him at home and he was like well its not good to go barefoot like that i just shrugged my shoulders and politly told him thank you.

And no i couldn't tell you what exactly may be beneficial or not to my feet in the long run but i am sure as well not all shoes are good for you to wear either... I could bother myself with looking it up but i don't care that much really....

I have been an off and on barefooter since i was a teen and i am 20 years old now.. When i was younger like teen years my mom would force me to wear shoes if i went anywhere with her.. Which i would say i highly dissagree with that its like changing someones indiviuality. and i even think its slightly embarassing for her. but im me and thats it. When i was on my own i was barefoot everywhere i went except for work. and now i have been barefooting off and on since i am back with my mom. but i have been walking barefoot when i can cause as i dont go barefoot my feet do soften up..

and as for walking and stepping on poop, glass or whatever i do watch where i am going.. you know most people have enough common sense if you see shards of broken glass or anything like that to step around it so your feet don't get cut and if someone chooses to step on it then thats their problems they are the ones with the cut feet not you. I would personally never sue the grocery stores or any place if i stepped on something and cut my foot..


and i personally have no problem with people that wear shoes.. i have a pair of flip flops and some flats myself but i wear them as little as possible really.

and also as i have had many conversations with other barefooters mostly on the hippy forum its a spiritual thing for pegans... they make a commitment and no matter what go barefoot.... so also just pointing that out as well.

 

Weeattoes: I love your last quote.

 

You quoted one little part of my post, without the (reasonably important) context. It's pretty likely you've had a glass cut somewhere on your body in the same time frame. I generally have an active lifestyle, right now I have scratches on my arms from giant cane that are way worse than anything I've ever had on my feet, and I got them while wearing steel toes-I have blisters on my hands, scars and calluses-so you sort of sound like you're a little bitch when you act like one cut in a year+ is some great harm from going barefoot and enjoying myself. It's a lot less harm than you've come to if you've been taking almost any sort of drug, from pot to tylenol, in the last year.


Simple fact is, I like going barefoot, I feel better and have a lot more time and less hassle when I do, and you're more likely to die ANY SINGLE TIME YOU GET IN A CAR than I am from going barefoot for the rest of my life.

As I said, you don't get good answers because you're not asking honest questions, you want to try to chase people around with your hookworm boogeyman, not really understand why they go barefoot. Yeah, we all read to kill a mockingbird in school, which is how most people I meet who know what hookworms are, know. They're generally not a problem in north america because we have plumbing and don't shit where we walk. Also, on the extreme off chance that you get them in north america without stomping around in shit, they're treatable, and can, but seldom cause real problems.

 

Hookworm hasn't been a serious problem in the Southern US since modern plumbing has replaced the outhouses (let alone all the places where even outhouses weren't in use). And it never was a problem in cooler climates (my country doesn' t have it and never did, even before modern plumbing). You have to stand around in places where an infected person has pooped to get infected; first of all there's not a lot of human poo on the street anymore, and second the infection rate is so low that in the rare instance you might encounter something, perhaps in a back alley some place, it'd be a huge coincidence if that person happened to have hookworm. Even if you beat all those odds, it's easily treatable with modern medicine; the bad cases of anemia described in old literature were cases that went untreated very long. Canine hookworm is still more common and spread further than human hookworm, but has a harder time penetrating human skin; you have to stand around in dog poo for quite a while to get infected.

Not in North America/Western& Northern Europe.. in some tropical countries there are some other parasites that bury into the skin, but not here. Try again in a thread that discusses barefoot travel -I don't think we have any regulars who live in the countries where these parasites are still a problem posting in this particular sub-forum.

You're right, it's not a worm, it's a fungus. Another name for ringworm, when it infects the foot and toes, is athlete's foot. It typically spreads when people go barefoot briefly in a locker room or swimming pool, and then put closed shoes on again. It is actually very rare in people who go barefoot all the time! The thing is, a fungus needs a warm, damp, preferably dark place to live. It can spread only on moist floors in places that are kept warm -on a sidewalk, in a mall, on the floors of a store or school or any other regular building, even if an infected person walked around barefoot, the spores would die very quickly, and another barefooter would have to walk right behind him/her to pick them up. Apart from locker rooms and pools, airport lines are a potential risk, there many people who may have been on the road for some time and have pretty sweaty feet walk in one line, all stepping where other people have stepped only moments before.
But even then, only those who aren't barefooters and put their shoes (back) on are at serious risk of infection. Remember, it's a fungus. Even on the skin, it still needs those warm, damp and preferably dark conditions. If you put your foot in a shoe, especially an athletic shoe and go play sports/warm up/sweat for some time, then it gets a chance to really infect you. If you keep walking barefoot, your skin dry and exposed to fresh air and (sun)light, any spores that may get picked up are still almost certain to die off. Athlete's foot is named 'athlete's foot' rather than 'barefooters fungus' for good reason!

A typical 'shod' comment, and that's why I like to walk barefoot, because I love to feel all the different surfaces underfoot... 'public places' aren't quite as boring as that, only if you go barefoot you discover there's still quite a variance in sidewalk tile, asphalt and concrete. Some is smooth, some is rough, some is cool and other surfaces are quick to warm up... there's curbs, stairs, manhole covers, drain covers, patches of gravel, tiles especially aren't often as smoothly laid as they should be (ask the elderly or other infirm who may trip over the slightest thing, too )... Of course it's not the same as a forest trail but it's not all 'level' by a long run!

 

I dont think i have ever gone into a business barefoot...

1 time i do remember going into Burger King though barefoot,my cousins THEN boyfriend said to me "Just walk in like you own the place" so i did....

No one ever said anything....... (Thats the only time i can think of that i did that (In the 80s))

 

That usually works.

Walk in like you own the place, show no fear, hesitation, or guilt, be animated, and you're much less likely to be hassled.

 

:iagree:Totally! :afro:

 

I walked into the Y today for yogalaties and the woman angrily told me I can't walk around there barefooted.
Seriously? I'm going to yoga!! It's a quick walk from the entrance to the group fitness center. Why the fuck do I need shoes for that?
I'd been going there 5 weeks without shoes. One woman who worked there did say something thinking I was going for a normal workout in the gym, but I told I was just going to yoga, so she stopped caring.

Do they think I'm going to dirty up their floor with my feet or what? And what do they expect me to do? I bike there- and there's no way I'm wearing shoes biking. Ew.

 

^my shes would dirty up a flor quicker then my feet would...i cant stnd it either when theese minimum wage pions try enforcing rules on me...why do they give such a shit?

I dont see why people get "angry" about it either...

 

I was told I can't be in "Fresh and Easy" with out shoes. I don't shop there any more. I had a basket with over $400.00 worth of groceries in it. Their loss! I was at the Fullerton, Ca. store on the corner of Orangethorp and Euclid. I won't shop there any more. My money works everyware. If they don't want it someone else does.

 

In other related news,,

"Fresh and Easy's Fullerton location, on the corner of Orangethorpe and Euclid, has closed, due to a sudden downturn in the economy. Footlocker, Inc., parent group of Fresh and Easy, would not return calls requesting comments."