TXGuy

Good question. I believe the quality of the shoe makes a huge difference, but foot conditioning also has a part on how comfortable any one will be just wearing heels for hours. Especially if you shift from no heels at all to heels for two days. Heels shift more weight to the ball of the foot. My wife and I can both walk reasonably well in heels, but for both of us, the limiting factor is how long we can stand before the pain in the ball of the foot becomes too much. I can actually stand longer in the same height heels, even though I weigh a but more. She also has more time to walk in heels during the week than do. Walking in heels regularly helps strengthen your ankle muscles, flexibility, for heel wearing. I don't know if "exercises", or wearing wearing heels, will increase the ball part of the foot's ability to withstand the added pressure longer. Of course, she may have a different issue. Maybe her ankle strength is not there either....

Frustrating morning! To work myself up to getting out more, I’ve been wearing a pair of Clark’s Dream Harmony booties out. About a 2 3/4 inch heel. (I bought two pair when I bought my wife a pair…) I’ve been getting pretty confident in getting out wearing these. With my normal jeans, the heel is pretty obviously not a men’s, but also not as obvious as a stiletto… I went to a local outlet mall this morning wearing the boots. Looking to purchase another pair of boots, hopefully with a slightly higher heel. To continue wearing out and about. Planning to finally and obviously, interact with a sales person and try shoes on in the store. Early before it got too busy. Not that it will probably be too busy for a while as I figure as most people are shopped out after the holidays… With heart pounding, I walked into Nine West to hopefully find a pair of boots I had seen online. Once in, I said hi to the sales girl who was there. She asked if she could be any help, interested in anything specific? I told her I was looking for a pair of boots for myself. I walked around the whole store and noticed that she did notice that my shoes had heels narrower than the typical man’s. They didn’t have much left over from the season (yea probably bad timing on my part…). And definitely nothing my size to try on. I said goodbye and Happy New Year and left the store. Got outside and realized that no alarm bells went off, I wasn’t ridiculed, or anything else that you might imagine as happening on a first time visit. I immediately walked down to the ALDO store, basically had the same result in terms of available shoes as well as interaction with the sales girl. I then went in to the Clarks store. Where I purchased the boots I was wearing a few months ago. They didn’t have anything of interest. But the sales girl there definitely recognized the boots I was wearing. But once again, no boots in my size. I then walked around to one more store, and once again no luck. I was frustrated at this point, I wanted to find another store to go and walk in with the shoes and hopefully find a pair of boots in my size to try on. As I was leaving, I remembered that there was a DSW a few miles up the road. Ran up there and walked around a bit, but while there were a few things of my size, nothing that I would have purchased. So, I didn’t try anything on in the store. Plus, I was really looking for the interaction of talking to a sales person who had to actually help me with my selection. At that point, I ran out of time at had to get somewhere....

'92 Toyota Supra Turbo '00 Toyota 4Runner

Good advice, some of which I believe I have been doing just by winging it. Correct, walking a runway strait line is not the way I wish to walk. Mostly any tips for making the steps correctly. I already contiously put my heel down first, but I don't think I'm transferring my weight correctly from the heel to the fore part of my foot. It always seems to be coming down harder than it should even when thinking about it. Which is also why I don't think my wife knows how to walk in heels. She doesn't think there is much difference between a 1/2 inch heels and 3 1/2 in heels. She just walks and whether she comes down hard or soft on the front part of her foot depends on how fast she is walking. I also don't seem to have an issue according to your short test. I can easily lift my heels more a 1/2 inch without bending me knees in 4 inch heels.

I've been wondering about this myself for a while. I can walk in high heels, pretty well I feel, I've been wearing them for a while at home. And probably better than my wife. But I don't believe I do walk "correctly" in high heels. Nor my wife either. But, where do you learn the technique? Especially if you are a guy? (I know there are guys who have no problem going out in public. I'm not up to that stage yet, but I also have the issue of keeping my wife happy in only wearing them at home. And I plan to keep my wife happy. ) So, as a guy, it's not like I can ask a few of the woman at work, who wear high heels often, "Can you give me some pointers?" It looks like they are experts. Any places on line that give good pointers? tips, tricks? I've seen this come up here and there here in the last few years, but no good in depth topic discussions. Or I may have missed them. Thanks

The last pair I purchased was the Steve Madden Skylar from DSW. I thought I would add three other of my favorites that I have purchased in the past. I also purchased them all for my wife. Who has given me great joy by wearing them for me while out on dates.

Hi all, good feedback. Concerning the work part, we’ll see, I know my wife will also not be comfortable with that. She’s not comfortable with my being seen out in the wild as I saw someone else’s post refer to it. Plus, I deal with customers directly, and I’m not ready to gamble on what my bosses may think of this when I’m specifically in this role. If I was in R&D or something, I think that would be a lot different. In terms of getting back on the horse again ASAP, I’ve already started scouting out my next trip and want to get some feedback, especially helpful feedback to make it easier. I made a trip to see what the conditions are like at the time I plan on doing it. Basically, go to another DSW, try on an purchase another pair of heels. For some reason, the fact that I did it in DSW the first time, I feel I have an easier shot at it again. This time, also walking through the fact that after I purchase the heels, go to a specific seat and put them on and walk out of the store in them. I think this is a requirement for my next step. As a stretch goal, go to a nearby mall and make a transit through the mall. I have some concerns here as a lot of floors are tile and I am going to have to get used to the obvious tapping of the heels real quick. But if successful, may be later come back and hit the two shoes stores I pass and browse while wearing my heels. But I have a question if anyone has any opinions. Most of the posts I have read have been about the feedback from female sales women. What about men? Maybe being summer, but there was 3 men to 1 woman in the store and as much as I try to block out my imagination from thinking about their reactions, it does sneak back in. Also, while I'm comfortable walking in heels. I think I have to find a way to boost my endurance on the bottom of my foot to last for a long walk like that. Still looking at/for exercises I can do as I don't have time to walk as much as want to in heels. Thanks

Hi All, I've been looking for posts, threads, or and general FAQs type pages related to high heels. Specifically: 1. Recommendations on selecting the proper size high heel pump. I've worn sandals, etc, with ties on the ankle, but my first pair of pumps, even though I tried them on in the store, I'm pretty sure I got the size wrong. 2. Even though I assume there will not be, are there any differences in sizing between men and woman? 3. Recommendations on training so that I can pull off wearing a 3 to 4 inch high heel pump for hours. Hopefully something that doesn't require me to wear heels every day. As much as I would like to, my current situation is not conducive to coming out at work or socially, my wife knows, and as the only breadwinner in the household, can not risk that. I'm sure I'll have a lot more in the future, would be cool if there is such a FAQ out there instead of posting the questions in a new thread. Apologies now if there is such a place and I have not found it. Thanks

My wife and I have just had this conversation lately and sought the advice of a good friend of ours who is a doctor and a woman. Our information is similar to a few here. Our decision is that our 7 Yr old daughter can wear heels such as she gets from the Disney store, which rather small heels sparingly. Which works now as she is onto to something new pretty quickly anyway. Anything larger will wait until most of the bones in her foot have finished growing, then pretty much she will be home free, with exceptions of making sure she learns the proper usage of them, alternating them with flats, learning the consequences of continuous high heel wearing, etc.

After all the good advice on the other thread, I took a shot at it tonight. A few things going for me. I’m out of town, flying back early tomorrow morning, trying to keep in my mind that who cares what people think, I’ll be long gone and they’ll never see me again. I went to a DSW at 7:00PM and it was packed, lost my nerve. I knew of a smaller one about 12 miles away. So, I tried that one, also packed, went back to the first, at about 8:30, the crowds had thinned out a bit and I went in. Started browsing the women’s shoes. Spotting the ones I liked, and would try to try on. I was looking for black, platform, stiletto pumps. I found three good choices. All the while I kept repeating to myself: “I have no choice, I must try on a pair of high heel stiletto pumps.” Over and over again. Sort of a mantra to keep from thinking about what the other people are thinking about me. I pulled out the first pair, a pair of Nine West black leather pumps, the name on the box is WNStayLive. I was nervous at first, looked around and pulled the pumps out of the box. Sat down, untied my shoes and took them off, and put the pumps on. An old lady came by at that time and I just gave her a wink. Walked back and forth a bit, then tried on a size just smaller as the first ones were loose. Liked these better. Then decided to push it a bit more, and walked down the aisle to the other side in the pumps to look at another pair by Guess. Tried that pair on and walked around a bit. At this point, I don’t know if anyone was really looking at me. Just thinking of walking in a store in beautiful high heel pumps. Decided on the Nine West ones. Took them off, reluctantly…. Before getting there, I had thoughts of going all the way and walking out of the store in them. Lost my nerve at that point and put my regular shoes back on the check out. No problem at the case register. Had a guy, didn’t ask me anything or make any comments, just another transaction. I was actually hoping for the woman next to him as every time I have purchased a pair of heels in a store with a woman checkout person, she has asked me who they were for. I was already to say that these were for me, which would have been a first. Put them back on in the car though, and went to fill up the gas tank in the rental car before I fly home early tomorrow morning. Man, it was amazing how busy the gas station seemed. Took me a bit of time to pull up, get out in the heels and walk around the car to the other side to fill her up. It was amazing how loud the clicking of MY heels on the concrete was. I was almost hoping the woman on the other side of the gas pump heard it, maybe she did. Then realized, the gas opening was on the drivers side. Had to walk back, going click, click click…. Turn the car around and filled it up. Seemed like I was standing out there in the heels forever as the tank filled up, people walking into the convenience store and back out the car. I didn’t notice anyone take a notice of me. But on the one hand, my Levis were covering most of the shoe. Went back to the hotel, once again disappointed to take MY pumps off and put my other shoes back on. But I work in a conservative area (company wise vs geographic location), I can’t sacrifice my job, so I have to be discrete, but stick to areas I know I will not run in to anyone I know… But I put them back on as soon as I got up to the hotel room and started writing this. I wasn’t as bold as I had hoped or imagined, but hopefully next time will be easier. And there will be a next time! But, I have to learn how get the correct size pumps. Even though these felt great in the store, they are feeling a bit small now….. Oh well, another learning experience.

I believe that there are a bunch of good comments on this thread, much more than I thought I would see.

Basically, keep it simple, be honest, and go for it. Most of the fears are my own.

I like the suggestion of wearing pumps as it makes it real easy to swap shoes to try them on. I’d have to purchase a pair first. Almost all of my experience is in sandals, I have a few pairs, including the new pair I’m wearing right now. I think I’m pretty experienced in heels, at least my wife says I’m better at walking in heels than she is. But I’m not so sure for stilettos. I’ll have to find out soon. I also think I’d be more comfortable wearing closed toe shoes in public….

The pump idea was definitely on my mind during lunch today, I was in line today at a fast food place and the woman standing in front of me was wearing a beautiful pair of black platform pumps. 1 inch platform and at least a 4 inch heel. I could not help thinking of what it would be like to walk into a shoe store wearing those. I’ll have to see if I can find a pair to try on. I also think it would be a requirement, sandals are a little forgiving in terms of size, but a closed toe shoe would not be, especially if it’s too small.

As for the courage thing, I think I’m pretty close. I travel a bit for business and I’ve gotten to the point that I have no problems walking into shoe stores, mainly DSW, browsing for something I like and most likely my size and purchasing them. The thought that the stores are not in my home town makes it easier. That I’ll never see this salesperson again. I do seem to always get asked who they are for though. And up to now, I’ve always said for my wife. (I did purchase the pair I’m wearing now for my wife from the local DSW and that was also a breeze.) After reading most of the comments in this thread, I think I’m up to it next time I have a chance.

At this point, I’m going to start on out of town stores. Mainly, while my wife knows I enjoy wearing heels and have a few pairs, she isn’t up to having me seen out in the wild. But, who knows, that may change, even though she was against it at first, we were just talking and she brought up maybe surprising me with a pair of heels that she picks out. We’ll have to wait and see. I’d love to go out on the town with my wife where we are both wearing heels.

Thanks for the support.

I’ve been thinking about trying heels on in public and thinking about the best conditions. This will also be the first time wearing heels in public. I have not had the courage to wear heels in public yet. (Sounds a little like and AA statement. ) A few thoughts I have been mulling over. Should I walk into the store with regular shoes, or wearing a pair of heels? One way definitely lets the sales person know who your buying for… Small store vs big, ie, Nine West vs DSW? Hopefully a slow time… With heels, since it is also the first time brings up a few questions, look for a small store in a strip mall? Or a large mall? It would be easier to get out of my car and walk into a small store, but if I had the guts to walk through a large mall, trying a new pair on in public would be probably be nothing compared to that. Thinking of ways to make the first attempt successful vs crash and burn....

What about wedge heels? While I have had a pair or two of stilettos, for comparable heel heights, I do thinks wedges are more comfortable. I also do prefer the look. Up to now, sandals. Today, I purchased a pair of a Steve Madden Skylar sandals from DSW. This one mainly to match a pair I purchased for my wife that I like seeing her wear. But I haven't purchased any boots yet....