Goddess Heel guide - Jenny's page public update

[Laurieheels]

I am posting the introduction to an article I am going to place on jennyspage.co.uk for public reading over the weekend. This is the introduction and part one of the article. Let me know what you think. Once up and running, I'll place the link here, and modify as needed per discussions we have here. We need Jenny's site to be the #1 site, read by everyone. I am thinking of maybe picking up some sponsors, and having high traffic would help. The member section isn't doing very well, so an alternate source of paying the bills (monthly internet charges, equipment payments, etc) are needed. We can discuss that, also. So here it is, the start of what I hope becomes a well read document to help anyone wishing to wear heels. *** So you wanna wear heels – a Quick guide to what it takes By Laurieheels (Copyright 2004/2005 jennyspage.co.uk) Okay, so you are eager. You’ve always wanted to wear a nice pair of heels. Maybe it is for a party, the holidays, a dance… you’re young, old, daring, timid… does it matter? Not really. You can wear heels, and be comfortable in them. But you have to know what you’re doing. ‘Get out, Laurie’, you’ll say. ‘Shoes are shoes!’ But at the end of the day, when your feet are cramping and I am jumping up and down on the spot with a smile, you’ll see what I mean. High heels are much like any physical activity – it works better if you practice, it works better if you train. And so, that is the basis for this article. The tips and hints and tricks that aren’t really any of those things when it comes to wearing high heels are what I’m going to discuss. Let’s dance through the key areas you need to know if you’re going to make heel wearing work for you. 1) Start low and climb higher. Okay, the idea here is that you cannot just go from flat to five inches after a trip to the shoe store without a lot of trouble. If you have never worn heels, or just low heels, maybe thick ones, then the idea is to start lower. Your first attempt at a higher, thinner heel should be around three inches. Heck, I wore three inch heels for a long time before I thought of going higher in my quest. It was a lot easier to accomplish the really nice high and slim heels because of this experience. Realistically, a three inch heel is a mid heel, no matter what anyone says in sales and marketing. Heels can go as high or seven or eight inches. But let’s focus on getting to three inches. You’ll want to try on the shoes in the store, walk around, jump, stomp, really get a feel for the shoes. You should not buy shoes early in the morning. If you find a perfect fit, at the end of the day, you will be in pain. We’ll discuss this more in the section about fit and how that plays into higher heels. Now, after buying the shoes, do not wear them out on the town right away. Shoes need time to be worked in. If you buy a new car, there are steps to take to get the car through a breaking in period. Why should shoes be different? Wear the shoes at home. Start with short periods of time. Wear them while sitting down. A quick run to the kitchen for some juice and back to the couch. Go easy. You should be wearing the shoes at home, preferably in the evening, for a few nights before wearing the shoes outside. Why? Well, this gives your feet a chance to learn the shoes. Okay, this sounds weird. The shoes need to be broken in, yes, but your feet are not going to be used to the heel height if you only wear low heeled or flat shoes. The two key factors here are balance and pressure. Balance – A higher heel may mean less surface contact between the ground and the shoe. This means less stability. So wearing the shoes at home is going to help your body learn balance. A gymnast does not just rush to the balance beam, and so you cannot dance all night without trouble if you don’t have your body figure out the balance. Maybe it is more like riding a bike. When you first start out, the balance is difficult to attain. However, once your body learns how to balance, you can jump on at any time and not have problems peddling around. It’s similar with heels. You need to learn your balance. Once your brain figures out how to wire this up, you can do amazing things in heels. But until you develop that balance, you’ll need those nights at home to let your brain figure out the balance and create confidence in your ability to stand and walk without a wobble. A wiggle, of course, is quite acceptable when walking while in a pair of heels. Pressure – The other key here, the one thing that people do not understand, and the thing that causes foot problems early on, is pressure. This is going to tie into higher heels as well. When you elevate the heel of the foot, more pressure is placed on the ball of your foot, and less on the heel. And if your body is not conditioned to this, you will hurt. This is why so many women who only wear heels for a rare occasion end up taking off the shoes before the end of the party and then go barefoot. Would you, without any athletic training, try to enter a weight lifting competition? Of course not. You would hurt yourself or at least, be very sore. Your body needs to strengthen muscles and develop to handle the new distribution of pressure on joints and bones and muscles that lifting increased weight will bring. You train with lighter weights and move up. The body learns in small steps, and once the body can handle a set of weights, a heavier one is introduced. And that’s the whole key with wearing lower heels and getting used to them, and then going higher. *** That's the start of the article. Enjoy!

[highheellover]

good job laurie I say post it.

[Laurieheels]

The link to the full article is now in place!!!

http://jennyspage.co.uk/wearing.htm

On that page, you can see the entry for my article at the top.

It is momentous, because finally, I have had time to complete a public update for Jenny's page. I hope people enjoy. Let me know here what you think of it, and if you would like to see anything else from this article, or even ideas for future articles.

If you can, link in from the highheel top 50 or top 100 site, whatever it is called, to boost the placing of the site.

I'll be doing some things for the main page, I hope, in the next few days, just to ensure the page looks like it is alive.

[bigj3650]

Love the website and actually i tryed what you said, and 3inch heels are ALOT easyer than 4inch and iv been trying to wear 4inch for along time... J

[Laurieheels]

The threes will prep you for the fours. Take in stages, and be patient. I know the desire is great to get there, but really, if it is worth it, the time put in to training up is valuable. Olympic training for high heel wearing.

[bigj3650]

iv been wearing for 4inch heels for 5 or so meters and i can manage but my calfs get sore...but with 3 its fine...and iv went from flat to four in 2 days lol i never had any problems except when i moved to 5...(only 2 month ago) J

[Laurieheels]

Come on, people, over 1700 registered members, and so little feedback! High heel goddess and aspiring writer here, need input!

[Dawn HH]

Laurieheels:-) That's a great idea that you have for both Jenny's site and this one and there are a lot of possibilities here to be developed over time. I'm sure that we can all profit from all of the information that you will lay on us. I know that I will, even though I have been wearing heels for several decades. I'm sure that there is still a lot for me to learn on the subject. I'm your eager student. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[JeffB]

Laurie: Congrats on a very well written and informative article. I would agree that when it comes to wearing heels, you're never too old to learn something new, as I did here! It was certainly well worth reading! Thanks for providing it!

[JeffM]

Laurie havent read it all yet but it looks good to me. Cant put a foot wrong so far. Will report my thoughts more as I read the rest. Jeff

[PJ]

Laurieheels; Your article deals with all of the significant aspects that must be dealt with to learn how to wear high heels comfortably. 1. Working your way up gradually from lower heel heights. 2. Learning to balance with a smaller surface contact area. 3. Adjusting to new pressures on the feet. 4. Realizing that feet change in size throughout the day. When I purchased my first pair of 6" stiletto pumps, I had been used to wearing nothing over 3" at the time. So naturally when I slipped on the 6" pumps, I promptly fell over. I had broken rule 1 above. Today, although I now can wear 6" stilettoes, I don't wear them everyday. So there are a couple of things I need to do before slipping them on. Either I would perform some ankle stretching and bending exercises. Or I would wear 5" heels for a short time before I slip into the 6" pumps.

[Laurieheels]

Thanks for the positive feedback, I do appreciate it. Strange how no one has offered any critical comments on it. I would have thought I'd have a few. Maybe they're just waiting. So far, great to know people are enjoying it. It will certainly have me eager to write an article about wearing heels with flare and style.

[Steve B]

Well-written and informative. Great job, Laurie.