Avtomat Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 Hello all, I just got my ballet boots!! And after reading many tips on how to pick a pair of ballet boots, I got a pair that fits me perfectly! The smell of the patent leather ( I like the shine) was intoxicating and the feel of it over my legs was great. But the a few problems came up. 1) Well if the boot fits too well its not a good thing. This is because walking in the boots without padding is unbearable. But with the padding the toes are a little cramp and uncomfortable. 2) As much as I liked the smell of patent leather, it started to get a little overwhelming... And it really gets, erm intoxicating, in a bad way 3) I happen to have what we call it as the Morton's toe, which means the second toe is longer than the hallux or big toe. This is problematic, as you can guess, to walk en poite.. Oh well that's the life... anybody care to advice?
DR Who 3 Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 I think JimC might be of some help with your foot shape and ballet boots. Dr Who 3
ChipsHH Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 But the a few problems came up. 1) Well if the boot fits too well its not a good thing. This is because walking in the boots without padding is unbearable. But with the padding the toes are a little cramp and uncomfortable. 2) As much as I liked the smell of patent leather, it started to get a little overwhelming... And it really gets, erm intoxicating, in a bad way 3) I happen to have what we call it as the Morton's toe, which means the second toe is longer than the hallux or big toe. This is problematic, as you can guess, to walk en poite.. Oh well that's the life... anybody care to advice? Well, I'm no ballet heel expert, but, throwing my two cents.... 1) Depending on the brand, you may have needed a size higher from the gecko. I've always heard that some need a size smaller, others a size bigger. And who made the boots also is a factor in some cases. 2) Probably that new boot smell? Haha, should ask the person you bought it from. I would hope that isn't the case with ALL boots D: 3) Urm...... anyone else? Formally "HHDude"
DR Who 3 Posted July 7, 2010 Posted July 7, 2010 I really enjoy the smell of my ballet boots. The new leather smel has lasted these 2 years. Devious 2025 ankle boots. Dr Who 3
Avtomat Posted July 7, 2010 Author Posted July 7, 2010 Tried my ballets again today. wow the pain on my second toe... The smell is ok... That isn't as big as the pain problem. I improvised by using some bandage I nicked from the school. Cut them folded them to place under my toes, but the padding wasn't quite enough
Lady Celeste Posted July 7, 2010 Posted July 7, 2010 Bonjour I have 2 pairs of leather ballet boots, ankle and knee high. At first they were almost impossible to walk in and my toes cramped unmercifully. A small bit of synthetic pillow batting in the toes solved the problem. I can wear them for several hours but i am still learning to walk in them. Suggestions would be welcome to help me train to walk in them. Merci Celeste
DR Who 3 Posted July 8, 2010 Posted July 8, 2010 Hi Lady Celeste I have had my bboots for 2 years now and I finaly found a padding system that works well for me. Please check out my other posts for what I use. As far as walking goes just keep at it as much as you can after you get a padding system that works for you. You might try walking in a narrow hallway at first that way you can use the walls to balance your self when needed. Only use the walls if needed try to train your self to balance without any help. I hope this helps if not just ask and one of our bboot members can answer your questions. Dr Who 3
Avtomat Posted July 8, 2010 Author Posted July 8, 2010 Thanks for the suggestions. I will explore newer ways. But the problem with my longer second toe is a little more complicated than just padding. When balancing on ballet boots sometimes I need to control my toe muscles by flexing or extending them. However the second toe in a forced into a crooked position isn't very comfortable. And regarding balancing, well honestly not much work done on that yet, since I need to overcome the pain problem before I could start overcoming the balancing problem. I have a pair of size 10 6 inch pumps with a pointy toe box. Size 10 again is exactly my size, but it was tighter than I thought. This time on the other hand, my longer second toe can fit perfectly into the pointy part, so it wasn't that cramped. And shoe padding doesnt come cheap! Don't want to buy so many to find that it either doesn't fit or doesn't work.
Rockpup Posted July 8, 2010 Posted July 8, 2010 I have morton's toe also. I hate to say it but the only way I was able to be comfortable standing/walking for even an hour was to wear pointe shoes with gel toe pads inside a pair of boots 2 sizes up from normal. Even then the toe see's enough abuse that I sometimes lose a nail You can try getting a gel pad, and cut out a notch for your second toe. Might help. (formerly known as "JimC")
DR Who 3 Posted July 9, 2010 Posted July 9, 2010 I was just thinking about your problem and I wonder if you were to put some packaging padding the kind that looks like satered glass ( lots of tiny air pockets) I use this material and it comes in different thicknesses. Cut some in the shape of a 1/2 sole of this material or something similar and place it on top of your feet as well as the bottom to the point where your foot is held tightly higher up in your bboots and lace this area of your boots very tightly. ( around the ball area of your foot) Perhaps this will transfur some of the pressure on your toes to that part of your foot because the padding will just let your toes touch the toe box without much weight on your toes. I do this to mine and it helps keep the weight off my toes. You may loose a bit of feel in the toe box when you walk/stand but it is better than all the pain. I really don't know how the ladies can walk in their bboots with a lot of pain on their toes. I tryied to do this but I can only last a few minutes. With the padding I have finally worked out, I don't experience mnch pain in my toes at all but my legs get most of the work out and they rebell after about an hour but I keep walking unbtil I can't tak another step before my legs give out then I quit my walking session. I hope this helps. Dr Who 3
pata Posted July 11, 2010 Posted July 11, 2010 could you post a picture of your balletboots? anyway I am afraid it will stay problematic for you anyway... eventually getting a balletboot with more flat surface (like lsb ballets) would help as you can pad them better for your *special case* then without losing that much of the balance feeling....
Avtomat Posted July 12, 2010 Author Posted July 12, 2010 could you post a picture of your balletboots? anyway I am afraid it will stay problematic for you anyway... eventually getting a balletboot with more flat surface (like lsb ballets) would help as you can pad them better for your *special case* then without losing that much of the balance feeling.... Thanks for the suggestions everybody... I think I have a plan... Instead of cutting a notch for the second toe as suggested, I will make it higher. This will help bend the second toe more, this way the second toe would straighten itself every few steps I take, causing pain as well as risking breaking it... And I tried to lace it a little tighter as suggested too. I think I should have taken pictures closer up without me in it... but maybe next time... cropping and resizing is troublesome... : )
Acin75 Posted March 30, 2012 Posted March 30, 2012 Well shortening the toe would be an option. However a quite radical one. I read once about people who wanted to change theri foot form from one into an other i.e. grom greek into square or roman shaped foot-form. See more info about foot-forms here: http://www15.plala.or.jp/miagolare/Eng_Fitting_Chart.html
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