mlroseplant

It is true! We will give you honest, real-life answers on here that you won't find on Instagram. It's strange that I have never actually seen a pair of Louboutins in the wild, but you'd think everybody was wearing them if you looked at my social media feeds. I am not sure that I've even seen 12 cm in real life either (non platform). There are only a handful of folks on Instagram who can actually walk well in 12 cm, and I can tell you I'm not one of them. Maybe I will be sometime in 2026. But yeah, I'm not going to blow smoke up anybody's nether regions about it either. It's not an easy skill!

Yeah, that sucks. Cracked heat exchanger, eh? Did it sound like a firecracker was going off in your basement/utility room every time the furnace kicked on? Adds a little too much excitement to life. I was offered a furlough, but I turned it down. Yes, contracts are signed for the next building, and prep work has already begun, but all it takes is for one engineer to change something, and then we're talking May or June before they need me, instead of March. I will not sit for a contractor anymore. I don't foresee not getting back to work before unemployment benefits run out, so the worst case scenario would be that I don't get to take the exact job I want, I would have to take what's available. I am seriously thinking about bundling up this morning and going for a walk, even though I don't want to. It is definitely weather where it would be problematic if the furnace went out, plus it's very windy. A famous saying in Iowa, and I imagine other parts of the Frozen North, "Ya know, this really wouldn't be all that bad if it weren't for the wind."

I have found the same to be true--as long as I'm on an even, hard surfaced walkpath, stilettos seem to be just as easy as any other heel. Better, in fact, sometimes, because you don't have the shoe directing you exactly how to come down on your foot--there is more flexibility and grace there. Add in a few cracks and bumps, however, and suddenly the disadvantages rear their ugly heads! In addition to stilettos, I have a fondness for wooden heeled sandals. This seems contradictory at first, but it's probably a result of the time I grew up in. Like @Shyheels and his go-go boots one decade earlier, by the time I came of age, all the cool girls wore wooden heeled sandals, and I wish I could have. Now all the cool girls are not so cool anymore, and I am the one wearing the wooden heeled sandals!

I can remember very clearly the first time I experienced this phenomenon, albeit on a slightly lower scale. At the time, I was wearing around 9-10 cm pretty much all the time, and got to where I felt pretty good at that height. Then one day I wore those 7 cm sandals that I just got rid of, and I thought, "Man, I can really zoom around in these things!" I almost started running everywhere, because I could. I never much advanced beyond the 9-10 cm range until recently, thanks to this challenge. I don't want to say I can zoom around in 10 cm, but they feel much less like heels than they used to.

I personally do not use earbuds when I am out and about. That is a foreign concept to me. Half the reason I walk early in the morning is to enjoy the relative silence of a small town. In addition, and I hate to think this is even a concern, but I wouldn't want someone to be able to sneak up on me unawares. As you know, I've had very few problems wearing heels in my locale, but not zero problems. I would like to take this opportunity to share the news that I will be laid off today. I thought this day would never come! I am very much ready to go, but I wasn't ever going to actually ask for a layoff. I have a list of things around the house that I've been putting off, and I hope I have the discipline to get them done reasonably quickly, now that I will have the time.

I solved the dilemma yesterday by choosing my big and ugly (but steep) chunky heeled mules (pictured somewhere above), but we are in the midst of a January thaw, and within a few days, if not hours, those open toed shoes will not be an option, even for me. @CrushedVamp, very nice photo that turned out well from a mere snapshot! I also like candid photos, but generally of OTHER PEOPLE, haha.

Haha, I never said that you were. I thought your intent was very clear--to present an interesting snippet of googledom for our consideration. My consideration was I thought it funny that this particular snippet said the opposite of other snippets I'd seen in the past, when in fact I'm not sure any of it makes any difference whatsoever. But, somebody evidently went to at least some trouble to create a diagram saying. . . well, I'm not sure what.

I agree 100%, we live in a very noisy world. I am laughing with you @Shyheels. I always turn the sound off whenever I browse social media, 'cause it's bloody awful if you don't! As you all know, playing music is a big part of my life, but I am also a lover of silence. @CrushedVamp, believe it or don't, I don't play the radio in my car, either. I might listen to the BBC sometimes, but I rarely have any music blaring while going down the road. I don't have background music while I'm folding laundry or doing the dishes. The reason? It can't be background music for me. I will stop what I'm doing and actively listen. Sometimes, I'll analyze certain aspects of whatever happens to be playing. I can't count the number of times that I've commented on some piece of background music in a store to somebody, and most of the time, they haven't been listening and have no idea what I'm talking about. Even in moments of silence, my brain is not silent. In fact, as I'm writing this, a Chopin piano piece that I attempted to learn as a kid is going through my head. Why? I have no idea. I haven't really thought of it in years. There is no other sound beside the ticking of the clock, the hum of the furnace, and perhaps a slight clacking of computer keyboard keys. And yet, there is Chopin. How did he get there?

That was a true snapshot--no planning, took all of 10 seconds. In fact, I think we set down the grocery bags right there in the garage in order to take this. Typically, I set the camera, which in my case is a phone, on a tripod and use a remote activator to do my "selfies." Since they are shoe-centric, I go even one more than @Shyheels suggests, and set it up about belt height or so. And I don't know, I often pose in a rather stilted manner, so that a person can better see the contour of various angle of the shoes. But then again, these photos are targeted at a very specific audience! So, back on point, I need to decide if I'm going to start breaking my own rule with this higher heels challenge. My rule is that I don't take walks in stilettos. The problem is, all my highest heels are stilettos. You see my dilemma?

Have you tried a dump truck, perchance? 😆

That is very interesting, in that this informational placard (I'm choosing to call it that, anyway) says the exact opposite of what I've heard others say in the past, and that is to say the setback heel is actually better and more comfortable. It seems everybody has got an opinion. I reiterate, I've worn both styles for years, and I cannot really tell any difference between the two, comfort-wise or walkability-wise. I do believe it seems easier to catch your heel on things unintentionally with setback heels, but maybe I just need to learn to pick up my feet when I walk!

I think I can say that I'm making progress toward getting to 12 cm. Although I am not there yet, I have decided to take a different tack towards getting there. Instead of going for long distance in lower shoes, I have found that wearing higher shoes for shorter distances has gotten me somewhere. I put on a pair of 10.5 cm pumps yesterday morning and walked a mere 1.6 km, same as I did last week. After about 400 m, I found that I got into a rhythm and they felt much more natural. After that, I put on these mauve patent 10.5 cm pumps for church, and I wound up wearing them the entire day with no problems. I didn't get a chance to snap my usual picture with the tripod and the remote, so I had my son take this photo in the garage after we came back from grocery shopping. Now I know why I keep the tripod about half a meter tall for taking these shoe photos. You can't really see my shoes when he's standing up full height, can you?

I got the chance to play with the high school pep band at a basketball game Friday night. I elected to play tuba, because they didn't have any tuba players--I was the only one. So I had to drag out the tuba and play it a little bit every day all last week to regain my chops. Yes, I know the thing is huge--it's probably more of a three-ba than a tuba. At any rate, I elected to wear much flatter shoes than I would normally wear, just because I had visions of falling down the stairs at the high school gym while carrying that monster. My friend from church was at the game for some reason, and sneaked up behind me while I was carrying the tuba back to the band room just to tell me that she noticed I had lost a few inches of heel for this gig. You cannot actually see me in this band picture, but you can see my bell!

Ok, let's talk about more pleasant things, then. I ran across a picture I took over four years ago depicting a "setback" heel vs. one that curves to the front somewhat. Shown in the front of this photo is a true setback heel, which comes straight down to the floor from the back of the shoe. At the back of the photo is a curved, traditional shaped heel. I don't know if it has a special name. This is the style that I believe @luvmaryjanez likes the most. In the middle of the photo is something in between, which is what 90% of the stilettos I own are. Some say that setback heel is simply there to make the heel appear taller than it actually is, and I suppose it's true. Our favorite Christian Louboutin certainly took advantage of this illusion, to his great success. CL makes very few shoes where the heel doesn't come straight down from the back of the shoe, and most makers have followed suit. I prefer a little curvature, but do not necessarily prefer the 1960s style of more extreme curvature. Steve Madden lets you have it either way. My favorite Daisie pumps have a slight curve to the heel, whereas the Vala model has a straight, setback heel. Otherwise, the two models are identical. There are those who claim that the setback heel is much harder to walk in, and that you should always choose a heel that comes down more toward the center of your heel. I have personally never found this to be a factor at all, but then again, I've never had a lower heeled shoe with a setback heel. Perhaps it really does make a difference in the 2-3" range, but once you get above 4" I cannot tell the difference, other than looks. I will say it is somewhat easier to accidentally catch your heel walking down the stairs in setback heels, particularly if the stairs have those plastic edge protectors on them. Those are the worst!

Yes, those are exactly what I was thinking of. That and some of the Japanese inspired stuff. No thank you.

Yeah, the "life hacks" have gotten out of hand, but it seems that we are more about clicks than substance these days. The thing is, there are so many "heel hack" videos out there, I'm just wondering who is watching them? I certainly don't see anybody attempting to wear heels much these days. I know that we are in a kind of bubble, and even amongst people who like high heels, and maybe even wear them occasionally, we are a tiny minority. This point was driven home just a few days ago when I told one of my female friends that we had a challenge in our little group to work on wearing higher heels. I told her my personal goal was 5 inch (or the scaled equivalent of 12 cm). Her first reaction was "Oh my God, why?" The only thing that made any sense to her was an analogy to dance, and the athletic challenges that go along with that. The other thing that surprised me is that nobody really thinks about heel height as specifically as we do. If it looks cute or aesthetically pleasing to them, exact heel height doesn't matter all that much. And then let's get into steepness--forget it! It took me a while to explain to my friend that I, a size 9, had to have a taller heel to maintain the same shape compared to a size 7, the standard. It is not something that had ever crossed her mind in 57 years. I didn't even dare bring up the fact that 4 inch heels don't actually make you 4 inches taller! @Shyheels Standing for a whole hour in 12 cm! That is quite an accomplishment. I'm not sure I could do it. Maybe I'll have to try. I have a whole pile of shirts to iron.

I think I know which Nine West pumps you are talking about. It wouldn't happen to be the Tatiana model, would it? The setback stiletto heel is still better than the giant, clunky block heels that seem to be in style now. Never mind one's fashion preferences, it amazes me that it once made financial sense to take your old shoes to the cobbler and have them majorly modified like that. Nowadays, we'd just throw them away and buy something new.

I reckon that you're probably right. In fact, as part of my basement cleaning out exercise, mentioned elsewhere, I made the decision to let some old favorites go--my Sofft Calvados sandals--because they are too low. I had already gotten rid of a silver pair last year because of deterioration, but these two pair were perfectly wearable. It's just that I never wear them anymore, and I can't foresee a time when I will wear them again. It's hard to tell from this photograph, but they are covered in a fairly thick layer of dust, and that influenced my decision to donate them. They are effectively less than 3 inch heels, or 7 cm, and that is just too low for my taste these days, at least in that style of heel. The combination of narrow heels with less than towering height makes them pretty much the last choice for everything. I used to wear them to things like farmer's markets where I was afraid that anything taller might result in my discomfort or worse. Now I don't worry about that, so I guess one can increase one's ideal heel height eventually.

Yes, I agree. The more and more I look at it, I'm not convinced about the second method, either. At least not as exactly stated in this chart. First of all, you about need an assistant to really do it correctly. I think I used a Stanley tape measure extended out and just kind of eyeballed it from afar. But secondly, I'm looking at the marks on the diagram of the foot, and it doesn't make any sense to me. I think the first measurement is too far up on the toes and the second is too far back on the heel, giving an artificially high number. Thirdly, it doesn't take into account toe flexibility, which is kind of important once you reach towering heights. I'm hoping, as are the rest of the participants in this thread, that your actual ideal heel height can be increased with practice and the force of will.

I am not off to a great start with the walking, distance-wise, but I'm glad I did not attempt a second mile in those high pumps. I think I probably would have ruined them. It's very early days, though. As long as I don't make laziness a habit. And now for something completely different. . . I was attempting to clean up a portion of my basement yesterday, and I ran across some photos from my university, specifically a couple different graduating classes. Flipping through, I noticed that more than half of the girls were wearing heels, which is kind of what I remember for dressy occasions, but exactly zero of them were what we would consider "high" heels. The one girl I knew who might have been wearing shoes that approached four inch, well naturally you can't see her shoes in my old photo. Another girl that I remember who wore heels a lot (several times a week, and even for more casual dressing) was dressed smartly in black patent pumps which had a whopping heel height of maybe 2 1/2 inches. What I used to think was excitingly attractive is a big yawn now. I'm ruined for life.

I definitely don't get the first heel height formula. It seems like a bunch of random numbers that sound like they mean something, but in fact have nothing to do with anything. I also find it amusing that the number they come up with for this model is 5.2 cm, but she is depicted wearing shoes likely twice that tall, even if you discount for the platform. The second formula, on the other hand, I have actually tried myself, and the last time I did it, probably two years ago, I came up with 4 inches or 10 cm, which seems about right to me. It would be interesting to try it on somebody who says they can't wear heels, and see if there's any actual science in it. It would also be interesting to go back in time and try this test before I ever started wearing heels vs. what it is now to see if the resting angle of my feet to my ankles has changed because of wearing heels rather than any natural tendency I might have.

They were not really a big deal, other than I was super slow, or I felt like I was super slow. It took me about a third of the way before I got into my rhythm. Normally, it takes me approximately 20 minutes to walk a mile in 10 cm heels. I should have timed myself, but I didn't instead. It didn't take me as much as 25 minutes to walk the mile, but it sure felt like it. The heel tip wear is not uncommon for stock plastic heel tips. Rubber tips will last at least 10 times as long.

One thing I hadn't noticed at first, but somebody else did. If you look way in the back, you can see my son practicing his bass, patiently waiting for me to quit talking and go home.

Trying to wick it up this morning, can I walk a mile (1.6 km) in these pumps? Evidently, I can. They are the size 38 equivalent of 11.3 cm. However, I won't be able to walk a second mile in them until and unless I get them reheeled. Look at the wear after only one mile!

Here is my high heeled (actually mid-heeled) buddy from church. Our children almost, but not quite, overlap in age.