CrushedVamp

I am not a fan of the look, but I am a person that tends to like contrast, but not just in dress, but on many fronts. When my wife wears a black skirt with white top as the saying says, "Black and White is always right". Red boots merging into red pants or leggings of some sort? Why? If you are going to wear red boots, why make them disappear? Be proud of what you are wearing. Make a statement, but again, that is just me. As for the main premise of the article? I am not sure. There seems to be a lot of marketing here in the USA anyway about sweating lately. Many companies now make whole body deodorant. The body wash I have used for years suddenly says it has five functions with whole body deodorizing being just one of the benefits. Whether they changed the product or not, I am not sure, but I never smelled before, so I am not concerned with it now. I do have to wonder if all the antibacterial soap is setting society up for a really bad back-bite though??? As for celebrities being more open about sweating issues? I don't know. I live a boring life and do not get up on stage before 10,000 animated fans and try to entertain while enough lights are shining on me as I dance or act that is more powerful than the sun. If they are trying to think saying so brings them down to my level... which, by the way, is so low I have to reach up to touch whale turds... they are wrong. I sweat, but they would not do what I do as I am, that is for sure.

That is not so surprising to me. As a hobby woodworker I once read an article about a man who married a woman from the Netherlands, and he researched and got into making wooden shoes like from her home country, and said they were extremely comfortable to wear. I think my insoles are comfortable because they are so supportive. They are made of hard plastic but really support my high arches. My Sketchers have ads on TV about stepping in pillows because of the memory foam they are made of, but I wholeheartedly disagree. One of my bucket list items is to make a homemade pair of high heels for my wife, but I have yet to do it.

One thing crazy thing that persists here in the United States anyway, is that is that it is against the law to drive barefoot… or at least without shoes, and that is actually false. None of the fifty states have such a law so I guess driving in heels or taking them off really does not matter here. Now, it is possible that if you are in an accident and driving barefoot you could be cited for “driving to endanger”, but with a pair of high heels kicked off there is no culpability since it could be said driving with them on would have been just as bad, or worse I would think??? But what NO ONE should ever do is put their feet up on the dash while riding in a moving vehicle… especially barefoot. Take a look at some pictures of people who have done that, and it is clear they will never walk again.

I kind of have a thing for statistics and I am finding out slowly that there are a lot of men doing things you would never guess that they would be doing, like getting manicures. As far as I can tell that statistic is around 5%. To put that another way, for every hundred men you meet on a giving day, five… unbeknownst to anyone… statistically has had a professional pedicure. Which I find interesting. I hesitate to share this because it is personal and weird I know, but because my wife and I like to swim competitively, I dislike body hair and so I shave… like from the neck down and have for years, but I know that is weird. Well, I recently found out… maybe not so much. About 15% of men do. 66% of men shave one particular area that I won’t describe in detail obviously, but the rest of their bodies, fifteen men out of a hundred fully shave. Not a huge amount granted, but who knows, maybe the trend will become mainstream? I do know this, seeing the numbers helps. Since the average urbanite sees about 360 people day, you can quantify the numbers. Assuming a 50% gender split, that means out of 180 men seen per day, 9 of those have had pedicures, and a whopping 27 fully shave. Suddenly I don’t seem so weird.

11 CM is still a lot of heel! We switch who drives quite often, but when she is in heels I just tend to be the one who drives. Not to sound sexist in any way, but on dinner dates and in going to church, I will be chivalrous and go around and get the door for her. I know Prince Philp once said, "When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife." But that does not work so well for me. We dress up because we like how it makes us feel, and making her feel special by opening her car door when she is dressed up is not an afront to me. I do not have any sons, my only son passed away, but all five of my daughters can curtsey. THAT is something that is VERY rare on this side of the pond, but we have tried to instill a little class in our daughters. Had I had a son, I would do the same... well... maybe not having him give curtseys, but by opening his girlfriend's car door and other chivalrous behavior. :-)

I am never a person to pry into anyone's past but I would like to hear how you got started, even if it is a rather long explanation. I have been ahead of the curve on a few male trends, doing some things for a long time long before it was widely accepted that men do them. But on some other things I admit I am timid. The atypical male I guess who wishes things would change like men’s attire that is completely boring, but yet hoping others pave the way to make it mainstream. The problem with that fear of course, is that with so many people like me holding back; nothing changes, or at the very least… changes very slowly. I remember on a episode of Dirty Jobs where they were pouring concrete and the big burly foreman of the crew had to change from his rubber boots to his leather boots and when he did, his sock stayed inside the boot and the man had bright red painted toes. He was called out on it, but the guy did not care and owned up to it even if it was going to be on national TV.

My wife can drive in her everyday heels, and by that, I mean the ones that are 3-1/2 inch or so in height. I have seen her do it a few times when going to church or special functions but it is a pretty rare occasion. Most of the time it’s a place we are going together like church, a dinner-date, or some outing and it’s just more common for me to drive. If she does drive in heels, it is because for some reason we had to take two vehicles. I am not sure with her taller heels if she could safely drive, or more to the point, she would FEEL as though she could safely drive. She would probably just take them off. I do not wear high heels so I am not sure if I could or not. I would test my ability but while I do not have big feet per se, I can’t wear her shoes. But everything we have for vehicles has automatic transmissions of some kind even the skidders, bulldozer, tractors… yep, everything we have.

I remember once she bought a pair of high heels she liked so much, that even though they were not in her size, she bought the closest ones to fit, a full-size more than she normally wore. To make them fit she put some heel-pads on the back of her pumps and had to have 2 of them stacked up to make the shoes fit. But that's my wife: she loves high heels!

My wife can drive in heels, but I am not sure that I could. Here in the United States it is rare now to see a manual transmission car, and even for big trucks, a manual transmission is getting harder to find. I grew up on trucks with two shifters, (Mack's suicide shift) up to 18 gears, and deep reduction and split rear-ends, but now if a company wants to get a truckdriver, since about half cannot drive manual a transmission trucks, they buy automatics so half the truckdriver applicants won't leave for a different company. Many truckdrivers just refuse to drive manual transmission trucks now. Sad!

Or what you are passionate about. I am struggling with writers block now but its because I am in just a stressful place in my life. Not altogether angering; it is of my own choosing as we switch from life on a river to island life full-time. We shall see what new employment brings for me at our new location. My wife has a new job but not so much for me.

This may, or may not apply to you because you seem to see a connection in wearing high heels and calf pain exclusively, but earlier someone mentioned magnesium. Well... Totally unrelated, but I was talking with my nutritionist and as she was going over my diet she just asked a simple question, "you must get calf cramps a lot?" I was like, "Oh my gosh, all the time and debilitating ones too". She shrugged it off as if it was nothing and explained why she knew. "You have zero potassium in your diet". She was not wrong. I am not a huge fan of V-8 Juice, but it is loaded with potassium so now I drink half a bottle a day of it and my debilitating calf pain is completely gone. So for whatever it is worth, for you or others, potassium intake is something to look into.

She did teach me a very important lesson though because in the past 47 years I have never once poked a birthday cake to see if it was hot! And I am not scared of rats and know the right way to use garden hoses. 🙂 But all kidding aside, having been in a foster home I know of foster siblings who put up with a whole lot worse than me. I won't go into details, but many would turn your stomach. As a writer, many of my mainstream novels include foster or adopted children. Not for added drama for plot purposes but because its a situation near and dear to my heart.

This is not a great photo as I cropped it out to just a pair of my wife in high heels, but one of her "everyday" high heels. This is typical of her preferred style and taken when we were in the kitchen of our church one day. What I have noticed though is that unlike some peep-toed shoe designs, it seems she likes a peep-toe that is much smaller than some. For instance, hers typically show only 2-1/2 toes whereas some peep-toe designs expose 3-4 toes. I wonder if this causes the toe box to close in squeezing the sides of her feet more??? Keds, by their very design are just super thin and always have been and wearing them my wife always wears arch supports in them. But the trend I am noting now with other sneakers is, a huge push for memory foam for insole construction. I am not sure that is a good trend though. I have had huge problems with my feet and was surprised that having a hard plastic ach support ended up being the answer for me and not super-soft, ineffectual add-in insoles. I use Super-Feet insoles for instance and have used them for 15 years or more. The ones I use cannot be worn with most high heels granted, but I think they have a style that is specifically for high heels if I remember correctly. Either way, I just found out for me stepping on a softer pillow like memory foam does not work better for me.

I second NOT waiting for knee surgery. I limped on mine for a year and a half, never really it being a good time for me, and that did a lot more damage. It also prolonged my recovery, which as I said earlier was six months. I was 42 years old when they said I was too young for a knee replacement. I was told it is how they cut off your femur to pin in the replacement knee, but it would wear out, and I would need another one. They can do that operation twice, but the knee wears out in 20 years. They cannot do it three times because the femur would then be too short. I have had severe plantar fasciitis in the past, but my current job keeps me in a chair more, but I am so afraid it will crop up again. That is because this is my last week at my current job so what I do next is anyone's guess, so being on my feet more concerns me. It was really painful in the past.

I was mostly concerned with coworkers seeing my colorized toes, but your poignant point was not lost on me either. What is the chances of that really happening, and if my wife wants something so simple, why not appease her? Without question it is an excuse of MINE that I fully own. You are right, I should call her bluff.

This is not surprising as my wife says something similar. It is almost ironic but the Keds she wears often, (picture several posts ago in this very thread) and keeps as backup shoes, hurt her feet if she does not wear arch supports in those kinds of shoes. The flatness of them is almost worse than some of her high heels. Most of the time with her high heels, her foot pain comes from the vamp pressing on the sides of her toes in being pitched forward. When standing for long bouts of time, heel pain comes from the ball of her foot.

Not sure why I missed this thread until now, but I did. In any case I am empathetic on this as I have Achilles Tennon issues myself. For me... and I wonder if this may be part of your issue... it has to do with my knees. Yes, no joke! I need a knee replacement on my right knee but I am too young for it yet. So, I had minor surgery done to it in 2017, but after 6 months I was not recovering from the surgery. Then an occupational therapist decided to try something, she did massage therapy on my Archilles Tennon and it helped alleviate the issue and I could go back to work. I guess the tenons stretch from your ankle and then go around each side of the knees. For me anyway, with no ligaments in the knee to hold my foot in alignment, it strains my Archilles Tennon. Then, and now even, if I massage that tenon it helps with my foot/knee pain. For me I need this about once a week, something I can do, but my wife also helps massage too. Learning this has helped me a lot, but it also comes with a truth. With medical stuff people will often think that what is wrong with THEM automatically equates to YOU, and I am in NO WAY saying that. For me anyway, just the way my Archilles Tennon plays out, affects my feet and knee. You actually see it in my foot prints. On sand or snow, my left foot is straight ahead, but with my right, since I have no ligaments in my knee, it cannot hold my foot straight so it pulls to the right. Literally, my right foot walks duck-footed, or my footprint on my right side is splayed out at a 45 degree.

Hey thanks for your kind words of compassion. But, while it is easy to get upset at the situation I just try and remember a few things. The first is that as rough as my childhood was, that is behind me. I am not going to let it get in the way of where I am going, as a person has no control of where they were born, what kind of parents they had, if they were in an urban setting or rural, but the decisions I make now can change almost anything for the better... if they are proper ones. So I try and focus on only things in life I can change. And secondly, compared to most of my foster siblings, I did not have it that bad. I endured physical abuse but not the other kind which most of them did. In fact, now they say 9 out of 10 kids in foster care have been S-Abused. I am VERY fortunate that was not something I had happen to me though.

Do members on here feel as if watching "how to walk in high heels' videos on Youtube helps? The reason I ask is, my wife will people-watch people at weddings and confide in me that this person or that does not know how to walk in high heels. It is not done in a nefarious way, just making a point. I have watched a few videos on youtube and they have stated what my wife has made comments about over the years like taking shorter steps, stepping with toe or heel down first when walking on certain surfaces, etc. So I know they and she seem to be lockstep on their pointers, if you will forgive the bad pun?

It was because of the hockey game night @higherheels that we started doing something controversial, at least for some of the members on this site, and that was to always have a backup pair of comfortable shoes for my wife. Typically, they are a pair of Keds, which changes the whole formal/informal look I realize, but they are more comfortable for her to wear. It is controversial because some on here say, "just put up with the pain. By working through it you get better", and others say, "if it hurts stop". I am not sure which is best. These are Keds just so everyone knows what I am referring too...

Or us hockey fans where once and awhile we go to the on-ice fights and strangely a hockey game breaks out! 🙂

So true, which reminded me of the movie Father Goose where for half the movie the woman wore heeled shoes. At least in that case part of the plot was when she was jabbed by a stick and ended up taking them off for much of the rest of the movie, though to be fair its been years since I watched that movie and my memory is a little foggy on the details. But taking your expanded concept further, I always thought it was in poor costume design in the original show Silk Stalkings when you could always tell what was about to happen. Mitzi Kapture always wore high heels all through the show unless she was in a running/action scene, then the miniskirt and heels came off and in its place pants and sensible shoes worn so she could run or drop-kick the chased after perpetrator. Terrible foreshadowing even in a cheesy 1980's crime drama.

My mother had something called Munchhausen Syndrome By Proxy which means she gets this odd exhilaration from her kids generating her attention. Most times it is from others having sympathy for her kids problems. That meant when nothing occurred, she started something. For me, I was her third child with an older brother and sister. I was the result of a camping trip, 13 months after my sister was born. I heard it all. "You were not worth having child birth for". "I got a son and daughter and did not need you.". "I should have aborted you". Worse yet, I was allergic to milk, so it would make me stop breathing and I would turn blue until the paramedics came. But back in the 1970's only poor people gave their kids milk, and only hippies had goat milk. For some reason people allergic to milk can tolerate goat milk. My mother was not doing those things, AND she got attention for the ambulance showing up to treat me. I nearly died so many times but until I outgrew it around age two, she kept giving me milk. But what sent me into foster care was when I was four years old. My mom baked a birthday cake for my sister and told me it was hot. I was four so I poked it with my finger. My punishment? She turned the burner on the stove and put her hand over mine and pressed my palm on the hot stove. 47 Years later my right palm is still scarred by the burn I got from her doing that. I spent years in foster care but they did nothing to her for it. But axe handles given to the to the ribs breaking them, being beaten with garden hoses when my dad was tired and mad which was several times a week, put in the basement alone and without the lights on where there were rats. My mom does NOT get a mothers day card...

My wife always gets a Fire Engine Red color, seen in some pictures where she is wearing peep-toe heels on this site, but calls it by a name that is not good so I won't repeat it. She has been pretty good about me wearing leggings for warmth and comfort around the house, and has teased me a few times about getting red painted toes, but I would be so embarrassed if I was in a car or industrial accident. When I worked for the railroad in extreme cold, my foreman suggested wearing pantyhose to stay warm, and in warmer weather to defeat ticks, but for the same accident reasons, I could not do it. I did try it, and I think he is right as I did seem to stay warmer, and goodness knows the US Marines wear pantyhose for tick prevention while NFL Players wear pantyhose to stay warm under their uniforms, but again it would be tough to explain so I just opt for legging under my jeans and no color on my toes. But that is just me. I think its great others aren't as timid as I am. Life is indeed short, live it as anyone pleases.

A few years ago ABC News had a very early morning news segment, and for some reason part of the routine was to catch the news anchors walking to their seats to begin the broadcast. It was not difficult for the man, but you could see the angst on the woman news anchor's face as she treaded out. This was verbalized as several times she would say, "I am always so scared I am going to trip". I never saw her do that, but after about a year her protests must have been enough to stop the practice and the program started with them already seated. I am glad for her though as I am sure 75% of the viewing audience was like NASCAR fans and really just hoping she would trip, just as NASCAR fans are hoping race cars crash horrifically!