jmc

. . .Maybe it is like sugar pills.lol. Since I enjoy heels so much it make me "mentally" feel better. Just joking....

High heels -- the ultimate placebo!

Ciara, it takes time and patience. I know that is not what you want to hear but it is the truth. There is no shortcut. As the height increases the required time increases too. Ultra heels are a real commitment, you will have to "work up" to them by wearing some intermediate heels of progressively greater height. If you are struggling in these heels, you are not ready for them -- and if you "push it" you are in for a miserable experience.

Personally, I would have passed them by -- but that's irrelevant. If you like them then you should have them, even if you never venture out of the house in them -- even if you just admire them and never actually wear them. As far as your date goes, you and she have to evaluate your relationship in light of this. If she cannot accept and love you for what and who you are then your relationship is not built upon respect anyway and it is destined for trouble.

I've gone strolling around in a Wal-Mart, a big shopping mall, a Target, a couple of Home Depots and a Lowe's in my 3" wedge boots and (except for a pair of pre- adolescent girls) I had no awareness that anyone noticed. I even had my hair (what little there is) cut in those boots. Not a peep.

Most people are pre-occupied with their own concerns to notice what a man has on his feet. And why would they care? -- How much attention do we pay to the standard fare of boring mens' shoes? That situation may change as more men start wearing something worthy of interest.

Wear 'em where you want. It is difficult but try to change your mind-set -- they are not heels, they are just interesting, comfortable boots that feel good on your feet. And when your feet are happy the rest of you will follow suit.

. . . As for Marina Sirtis, she would look good in most anything. Unfortunately, I can only recall one episode with her in heels. She somehow got hooked-up with some ambassador and aged about 60 years during the course of the show.

Has anyone ever seen her doing anything else?

Oh, yeah -- as the saying goes "She could stop traffic in a gunny sack!"

The episode where she aged so quickly was "Man of the People". The ambassador was also an empath and he was able to transfer all his negative emotions to another person, thus freeing him up to negotiate peace deals. When his "receptacle" died aboard the Enterprise, he latched on to Deanna Troi. She could not take the stress and aged much faster than he expected. Dr. Crusher's medical expertise and the transporter ultimately saved the day.

Sorry -- just saw the episode on DVD two days ago.

I have not seen Ms. Sirtis in any other roles ( -- unfortunately -- ) but she does have a website.

Welcome aboard ShoeBill!

I have very flat feet -- no discernable arch whatsoever. I think that is part of the reason why I like the feeling of heels, they restore a more normal arch to my feet.

I really don't know why it is that most guys way over-analyze the issue. . .

Let me give it a shot:

For all our lives heels have been associated with feminine attire. Men just didn't wear heels and any man that did was tagged with some very negative stereotypes.

Then at some point we experience an incident at which point we become aware that we like heels. Not only in the way that was acceptable for men to like them -- on women -- but on our own feet as well! And we do not want any part of all those negtive stereotypes. We cannot recognize any part of those typecasts within ourselves -- as as been well documented elsewhere on this board the stereotypical images of a heel-wearing man are hogwash anyway.

Once we have a couple of pairs of heels we find that we like to wear them very much and want to wear them more and more. This leads to a desire to leave the privacy of our homes in them and uncertainty about how we are going to be accepted in them. Since we cannot crawl into other people's minds and know what they are thinking we imagine the worst.

Thus we are left with a need to rationalize our heeling, to explain it away and make it seem routine in our own minds. We don't immediately realize how little other people care what is on a man's feet, this only comes after we go out a few times.

It is all just part of the mind-games we play to work up courage and confidence.

Good I'm not the only one. I can hear heels a mile away and start looking immediately to see how high they are. This took a long time for my wife to get used to.

You're definitely not the only one fine-tuned to that wonderful sound of heels hitting something solid. I can zero in on its source whenever I hear it -- and I know I'm not the only one looking.

Ironically, I don't like to make that sound myself -- at least in this stage of my life with this "heel-thing". This is primarily because I do not want to attract attention to myself in the way heels attract attention from me.

If you're not comfortable going into a shoe store and trying on heels, keep an eye on Zappos and Nine West for stylish yet more discreet heels. Diba has also had some nice ones in the past although their sizes end at 11. Zappos is good because of their return policy (although many of our European members have a beef with them because they don't ship outside the US -- not an issue with you). Boot season, unfortunately, ended about three weeks ago, everybody is clearing out for the spring styles now. You might need to resort to eBay for now, then next fall the boots will be back. For a more discreet heel, try searching for a "block heel", "chunky heel" or "wedge heel". There are also some nice Western-styled boots that we guys can wear without attracting too much attention. They just look like cowboy boots to most people. Since you mentioned that you already are an old hand (or maybe foot ) at spike heels, you are certainly already aware of the sizing situation and know what size to get for starters.

Welcome Aboard, HappyFeat!

Hey Maxine -- new member or no -- your thoughts and opinions count as much as anybody's. Your graphics experience shows, you have some good ideas.

Age is not a number -- it's a state of mind.

. . . I would love to take pics of all women i see in the streets wearing very high heels, but I haven´t find the way to do it without being noticed . . .

Check out the "street shots" thread http://www.hhplace.org/discuss/your_favourite_shoe_pictures/2794-street_shot.html

Greetings and welcome to HHplace! I'll try to answer a couple of your questions:

. . .

I'm not sure of the demographics, but this site seems to be mostly male?. . .

Yes, that is true. Women don't seem to be as interested in talking about heels -- it's just footwear to them. We do have a small but growing female contingent here and we desire and respect their input.

. . .I'm looking for the discussion specifically aimed at men who enjoy women wearing high heels. . .

There's a lot of that around here -- look through the older threads under "For Everybody" and "For the Guys".

. . . and the women who enjoy men's attention? . . .

Probably not as much in that area, again look through some of the older threads. You may want to start a discussion on that topic but I would very strongly suggest you spend some significant time exploring the board and getting to know the members before you do that. There is more than five years' worth of postings on this board -- and just because a thread may be five years old does not necessarily mean it is irrelevant. It takes some time to find and absorb what all is here.

. . . I find the women only board the most interesting, but I'm not allowed to contribute to that one. . .

As a moderator I must reinforce the "No Guys posting in the "For the Girls area rule". This rule grows out of the respect factor I mentioned above. We like having the women around and we reserve a place for them. In the past, guys were allowed to post in the "For the Girls" area and at one point the women perceived that their area was being overrun by the men. And in fact it was indeed being overrun -- the majority of posts in "For the Girls" were by men and guys were hijacking threads all over the place. A veritable brouhaha erupted and most of the women left the board. It was a very unfortunate situation and it was not pretty.

Please regard the "For the girls" area as the ladies' powder room. Imagine the pandemonium that would result if one of us were to barge in there unannounced.

We, as men, can look at what is going on in the "For the girls" area but we need to leave that area to the girls for their own discussions. It is a matter of simple respect. Our female membership has been growing and we value their presence.

. . .There seems to be the two boards, women only and men only and the rest all lumped together. . .

There is only one board -- HHplace. In HHplace there are a number of forums: "For the Girls", "For the Guys", For the TV's, CD's and TS's", "For Everybody" and several more. Each of the headings you see on the http://www.hhplace.org/discuss/ main screen is a forum and as a male member you may post in any of them except "For the Girls". You may read posts in all the forums.

. . .Maybe I'm just confused, but where do I fit in? I've worn heels in the past, playing dress-up with some girlfirends, but I have no desire to be a TS/TV/CD out in the world. I'm happy in my "malemess" and I'd like to chat and talk with real women who enjoy high heels. No offense to the posers, but there seems to be some fakes on here, men pretending to be women for whatever reason. I have no problem with men who are upfront about being male, I've read some great posts from them so far.

A lot of us are faced with the same questions -- where exactly do I fit in? Again I would suggest exploring the board for quite some time (and I mean a few months) and getting to know the members. When you see and begin to understand the trials and tribulations many of us have already experienced you may begin to clarify aspects of your own situation. You will find items that strike chords of recognition within your experiences -- feel free to add your own comments.

Is this as confusing to read as it was to write?

Not really. A lot of us are a little conflicted in many ways. This board does help us sort things out.

Again, welcome aboard!

As you have just discovered, any increase in heel height has a far more profound effect as the height goes up. Go from a 2-inch heel to a 3-inch heel and the effect is barely noticeable. Go from a 3-inch to a 4 and the effect is considerable -- although certainly manageable. Go from a 4 to a 5 and it's night-and-day. Go from a 5 to a 6 and, well, you know. I might suggest something a little less radical as an interim "step" (no pun intended) -- try a 5.5 inch heel and get accustomed to that, then go to the 6-inchers. It's no doubt -- 6 inchers are a challenge. I probably never will be able to wear them well.

Hey buddy, I'm the one with the catsuit in my avatar. And thats not just a housecat either!

Mrrrow!

This is nice but I am inclined to agree with hoverfly, it does scream "FETISH" and doesnt say anything about hhplace?

Its also still a picture and doesnt come across as a logo...

Like if BT just had a picture of a telephone instead of a logo..

I quite like BT's old logo of the trumpeter...

Just my opinion of course

I think this image is fethishy because of the height of the heels. Those are very high -- higher than most women wear and certainly higher than the vast majority of guys wear in public. I like the idea of associating a high heel with both genders but I would like to see somethinng a little bit more conservative.

Thighbootguy -- I've driven from Northern Michigan to Tampa in heels a number of times -- 1400 miles one way. Mostly stayed on I-75 all the way. I did not make a lot of stops, just gas and pit stops (food stops were at fast-food drive-through windows "road food in my lexicon", most of the gas stops used pay-at-the-pump stations and pit stops at the Department of Transportation rest areas) so there was not a lot of chance to be seen in public. The heels were at least 4 inches high, block style but they were completely visible to anybody who cared to look. Next time I do it I've got some wedges that are definitely going to make the trip. Of course I had to stop at outlet malls along the way to see what they had in the line of interesting heels -- I find that Rack Room Shoes often has nice heels but the sizes seem to end at 11. Sometimes I can use an 11 if the sizing is generous. I would change my shoes before going shopping because I do not yet have the guts to go shopping for heels in heels. Except for one incident in which an older female cashier gave me an unapproving "evil eye", nobody batted an eyelash.

. . . Thing is, I cannot quite decide if I want stilettoes or chunky heels.

From my own experience, block heels are quite a lot easer to "get away with" mentally, and wedges are even easier. It takes a lot of self-confidence to wear stilettos well (but I will admit I have not progressed that far yet). I do believe that wearing wedge or block heels will allow you to build your self-confidence while you get practice and still enjoy wearing heels.

Could you supply further details please

Yup, right here: http://www.hhplace.org/discuss/real_life_meetings/6139-world_heel_meet_2007_london_sat_march_10th.html

Welcome to the board, misschocolat!

Fabulous boots, Gina!

. . . if you look closely you will note the heel is that off-tan/brown color that many of the styles are favoring this season and, as such, it's pretty hard to cover any dings or color breaks in the heels..does anyone have any suggestions on how to REPAIR blemishes and small wear-marks in heels of this type?

. . .

I guess I'm not quite clear here -- are you asking how to match the color of a polish or other material to be used in the repair? You mention a bottle of polish earlier in the thread, am I to assume that did not perform satisfactorily?

Depending on the construction of the heels, you might try a wood stain to effect a repair. They are available in many colors and those heels appear to have a wood-grain look to them. If they are simply a plastic construction, wood stain probably wouldn't work.

Another possibility might be model paint like Testors. Color matching would be a challenge, you would have to mix paints.

i like stillettos.

Don't we all?

Stilettos are amazing but they do take a tremendous amount of self-confidence to wear well -- especially for guys but also for women.

For me, personally, blocks or wedges work better. Just a personal choice.