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Heat: going forward... just hotter for longer and some increased callousing
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Daniel W. Rouse Jr.
Jun 14, 2014, 6:38:01 PM6/14/14
to
As summer approaches and the goal is to make the feet tougher and more heat
tolerant, I find it's just a repetition of heat tolerance by progressive
burning and an occasional single pass crosshatching for callous maintenance
to maintain some roughness.
* Heat training: Pre-heating. I start out as close to peak heat as tolerable
and pre-heat the feet by standing for a bit, going to a cooler surface or
shade as needed, before committing to the walk. (The closer it gets to the
low 100 degrees F range, the earlier close to peak heat may be, such as
burning hot by noon, and getting painfully hot by 1:00pm that is one hour
before the actual peak heat time). Pre-heating is needed to prevent too much
burning at the start of the walk. Stop as soon as the burning starts to get
painful and stinging even slightly.
* Heat training: Walking. I set a goal above the usual walk to be done. If
the distance is one hot parking lot, set the goal for two long hot parking
lot lengths. If the distance to be walked is half a loop around the
neighborhood (no matter how odd or strange others may look at it), then set
a goal for more than half and try for a full loop as much as possible. If
the distance to walk is something much longer such as a mostly asphalt swap
meet--then do several tenths of a mile since many of them are several feet
in walking before the nearest shade spot. I generally do several tenths of a
mile as much as possible--allowing for extended walking across parking lots,
street festivals, and at least several tens of steps before needing shade at
all-asphalt swap meets.
* Heat training: I commit to walking on hot asphalt as long as possible
before going to a cooler surface or shade. I make sure to include rougher
gravel asphalt even though blacktop is the hottest, but it's also a balance
to avoid making the feet too tenderized from both the burning plus all the
poking and scraping on the rougher asphalt. Occasionally, I add some red or
black brick sidewalk--and black brick burns a lot very quickly--just because
it can get hotter than blacktop during peak heat. Metal grates just get too
hot--I'll walk across them but it's not very productive to stand on them and
burn way too much too fast, even if the feet don't blister. I no longer
stand until the feet tingle, since that can be too close to blisters during
longer walks. Just at the point the burning starts to become painfully hot,
I stop and stand. I find it's easier to roll on both feet at once, rather
than lifting a foot one at a time in the air--better balance and the same
parts of the feet get the same amount of heat exposure. If the burning still
persists, then do go to a cooler surface or shade. If the heat sort of
equalizes when rolling on the feet--though it will still burn--then I resume
walking again.
* Heat training: I'll walk on the cooler surface first. when it still hot
enough, since may not cool the burning from the hot asphalt right away. When
the heat equalizes on the cooler surface, then I'll stand on it. If the heat
equalizes when standing, then back on the hotter asphalt. In the high 90's
to low 100's, I do find it's necessary to go for shade during peak heat,
especially when standing for longer times such as waiting at a pedestrian
crossing.
* Heat training: Shade. I'll walk through shade as possible before standing
it the shade. Then I'll stand and only as needed until the feet just cool
off from the burning. During extended walks, I did find that it may even be
necessary to use shade several times after just tens of steps, but prolonged
exposure to that much heat before going to each shade spot will help build
up even more heat tolerance.
* Heat training: After the walk then the feet will be quite dirty from
mostly asphalt walking. I leave this on for a while to help dry the soles
before cleaning it off. I've also found that prolonged walking on as hot of
a surface as tolerable--tolerable meaning it can still be walked on for a
distance until it gets painfully burning hot--means the feet may also sting
for several minutes after the walk due to that much burning. Again, I do not
clean off the asphalt dirt until much later to prolong this stinging as much
possible.
* Heat training: Friction. Heat doesn't always just occur from hot surfaces,
it can also build up from longer walks on even rougher sidewalk. Gradually
longer distances helps prevent blistering from friction too. So far, I can
walk almost 10k barefoot on sidewalk parallel to a beach seawall. Doesn't
matter to me that it currently takes over 2 hours, and the added benefit of
being by the beach is additional strengthening of the feet without any
additional abrasion when walking on the sand near the water.
* Heat training: Blisters. Should they occur, I just pop them, drain them,
and then take a day or two off from barefooting so they start to reattach.
In some cases, even with minimal indoor walking--wearing socks as needed if
it hurts that much to walk indoors--I have found that sometimes the blisters
get fluid in them again. If this occurs, it is necessary to redrain them. If
the blister does reattach, it becomes a tougher but permanent white callous
on the sole. If the blister does not reattach, then it can be slowly cut
away as it peels away. Depending on how large or how deep the blister
was--the resultant hole or crater from when it peels away may last for as
long as two months. Generally speaking, I don't find I get near a blister
threshold until walking during peak heat in mid 90's, exclusively on
blacktop asphalt, and walking across more than the length of a large parking
lot without any shade; however, it's also realistically way too hot to stand
on for even more than just a couple of seconds, even when rolling on the
feet.
* Heat training: Callous maintenance. It's not very productive to scrape
away rougher surface callouses, even if the skin just underneath has
leatherized. At most, I'll do a single pass crosshatching on each foot:
diagonal directions only (45 degrees one way, 45 degrees the other way, and
in an *upward* direction against the normal foot "grain" to add some
roughness) across each toe, each section of the balls of the foot, each
section of the edge of the foot, and each section of the heel--and with just
enough pressure to leave lines without actually carving into the callouses.
Dirty soles help a lot since some dirt goes away and leaves some fine white
roughness after crosshatching. Afterward, it also does feel slightly more
sandpaper-like rough. If I use a larger stone, then the area is much wider.
If I use something narrower, such as a hand-held file-like grater, then the
area is much narrower (however, the grater needs the least force or it can
cut toe pads and carve into callouses a lot easier). Once I have reached a
certain amount of desired roughness that is also heat-tolerant--then I no
longer do any further callous maintenance for the rest of the summer heat.
tolerant, I find it's just a repetition of heat tolerance by progressive
burning and an occasional single pass crosshatching for callous maintenance
to maintain some roughness.
* Heat training: Pre-heating. I start out as close to peak heat as tolerable
and pre-heat the feet by standing for a bit, going to a cooler surface or
shade as needed, before committing to the walk. (The closer it gets to the
low 100 degrees F range, the earlier close to peak heat may be, such as
burning hot by noon, and getting painfully hot by 1:00pm that is one hour
before the actual peak heat time). Pre-heating is needed to prevent too much
burning at the start of the walk. Stop as soon as the burning starts to get
painful and stinging even slightly.
* Heat training: Walking. I set a goal above the usual walk to be done. If
the distance is one hot parking lot, set the goal for two long hot parking
lot lengths. If the distance to be walked is half a loop around the
neighborhood (no matter how odd or strange others may look at it), then set
a goal for more than half and try for a full loop as much as possible. If
the distance to walk is something much longer such as a mostly asphalt swap
meet--then do several tenths of a mile since many of them are several feet
in walking before the nearest shade spot. I generally do several tenths of a
mile as much as possible--allowing for extended walking across parking lots,
street festivals, and at least several tens of steps before needing shade at
all-asphalt swap meets.
* Heat training: I commit to walking on hot asphalt as long as possible
before going to a cooler surface or shade. I make sure to include rougher
gravel asphalt even though blacktop is the hottest, but it's also a balance
to avoid making the feet too tenderized from both the burning plus all the
poking and scraping on the rougher asphalt. Occasionally, I add some red or
black brick sidewalk--and black brick burns a lot very quickly--just because
it can get hotter than blacktop during peak heat. Metal grates just get too
hot--I'll walk across them but it's not very productive to stand on them and
burn way too much too fast, even if the feet don't blister. I no longer
stand until the feet tingle, since that can be too close to blisters during
longer walks. Just at the point the burning starts to become painfully hot,
I stop and stand. I find it's easier to roll on both feet at once, rather
than lifting a foot one at a time in the air--better balance and the same
parts of the feet get the same amount of heat exposure. If the burning still
persists, then do go to a cooler surface or shade. If the heat sort of
equalizes when rolling on the feet--though it will still burn--then I resume
walking again.
* Heat training: I'll walk on the cooler surface first. when it still hot
enough, since may not cool the burning from the hot asphalt right away. When
the heat equalizes on the cooler surface, then I'll stand on it. If the heat
equalizes when standing, then back on the hotter asphalt. In the high 90's
to low 100's, I do find it's necessary to go for shade during peak heat,
especially when standing for longer times such as waiting at a pedestrian
crossing.
* Heat training: Shade. I'll walk through shade as possible before standing
it the shade. Then I'll stand and only as needed until the feet just cool
off from the burning. During extended walks, I did find that it may even be
necessary to use shade several times after just tens of steps, but prolonged
exposure to that much heat before going to each shade spot will help build
up even more heat tolerance.
* Heat training: After the walk then the feet will be quite dirty from
mostly asphalt walking. I leave this on for a while to help dry the soles
before cleaning it off. I've also found that prolonged walking on as hot of
a surface as tolerable--tolerable meaning it can still be walked on for a
distance until it gets painfully burning hot--means the feet may also sting
for several minutes after the walk due to that much burning. Again, I do not
clean off the asphalt dirt until much later to prolong this stinging as much
possible.
* Heat training: Friction. Heat doesn't always just occur from hot surfaces,
it can also build up from longer walks on even rougher sidewalk. Gradually
longer distances helps prevent blistering from friction too. So far, I can
walk almost 10k barefoot on sidewalk parallel to a beach seawall. Doesn't
matter to me that it currently takes over 2 hours, and the added benefit of
being by the beach is additional strengthening of the feet without any
additional abrasion when walking on the sand near the water.
* Heat training: Blisters. Should they occur, I just pop them, drain them,
and then take a day or two off from barefooting so they start to reattach.
In some cases, even with minimal indoor walking--wearing socks as needed if
it hurts that much to walk indoors--I have found that sometimes the blisters
get fluid in them again. If this occurs, it is necessary to redrain them. If
the blister does reattach, it becomes a tougher but permanent white callous
on the sole. If the blister does not reattach, then it can be slowly cut
away as it peels away. Depending on how large or how deep the blister
was--the resultant hole or crater from when it peels away may last for as
long as two months. Generally speaking, I don't find I get near a blister
threshold until walking during peak heat in mid 90's, exclusively on
blacktop asphalt, and walking across more than the length of a large parking
lot without any shade; however, it's also realistically way too hot to stand
on for even more than just a couple of seconds, even when rolling on the
feet.
* Heat training: Callous maintenance. It's not very productive to scrape
away rougher surface callouses, even if the skin just underneath has
leatherized. At most, I'll do a single pass crosshatching on each foot:
diagonal directions only (45 degrees one way, 45 degrees the other way, and
in an *upward* direction against the normal foot "grain" to add some
roughness) across each toe, each section of the balls of the foot, each
section of the edge of the foot, and each section of the heel--and with just
enough pressure to leave lines without actually carving into the callouses.
Dirty soles help a lot since some dirt goes away and leaves some fine white
roughness after crosshatching. Afterward, it also does feel slightly more
sandpaper-like rough. If I use a larger stone, then the area is much wider.
If I use something narrower, such as a hand-held file-like grater, then the
area is much narrower (however, the grater needs the least force or it can
cut toe pads and carve into callouses a lot easier). Once I have reached a
certain amount of desired roughness that is also heat-tolerant--then I no
longer do any further callous maintenance for the rest of the summer heat.
Daniel W. Rouse Jr.
Jun 15, 2014, 6:30:25 PM6/15/14
to
Also keep in mind that the thicker the callous becomes, the more pressure
may need to be used to make etching lines on the callouses. The more the
callouses are etched, a slight amount of surface skin also gets scraped off.
I find that each time the callouses are etched, a slight amount of heat
tolerance is also lost, so they feet need to be slightly retrained for heat
once again with the newly roughened callouses due to etching. They also
need to be retrained slightly for rough again, but the rougher callouses
also need less training than for heat
I think smooth leathery skin underneath surface sandpaper-like roughness is
ideal to avoid cracking--especially behind the heel. If it's rough enough to
feel it with the hands, not just when running the feet across a smooth
surface, I think that's good enough to stop any sole callous building using
any kind of rough etching.
For me, burning hot is okay--the feet are burning, but the burning doesn't
increase beyond a point, no matter how much the burning remains. Painfully
burning hot is a threshold--so I have to choose a balance between tolerating
that much burning and cooling off the feet. I no longer use the feet
tingling threshold when walking, only when standing full-foot before rolling
on the feet. I do use slower walking paces whenever possible when it's
burning hot. I use normal walking paces as much as possible when it's that
much hotter. I generally avoid using faster walking paces even if it's way
hot, unless it feels like blisters will be soon and a cooler surface or
shade isn't close enough--I'd rather try to extend the amount of walking on
the hot surface for as long as possible before going to a cooler surface or
shade, to keep the heat going to help get used to it more.
Well, that's my summer heat preparation this summer. I get a few days of low
to mid 80's before it gets way hot due to heat waves again. The feet are
already rough enough, and for sure they are absorbing even more dirt over
the whiter looking callouses with etch lines still visible. It's time for me
to start out at peak heat when the temperatures are still in the mid 80's to
fully heat train those callouses, even if I have to start earlier in the
morning or later in the evening as the temperatures get hotter and I'm not
yet used to that much heat.
may need to be used to make etching lines on the callouses. The more the
callouses are etched, a slight amount of surface skin also gets scraped off.
I find that each time the callouses are etched, a slight amount of heat
tolerance is also lost, so they feet need to be slightly retrained for heat
once again with the newly roughened callouses due to etching. They also
need to be retrained slightly for rough again, but the rougher callouses
also need less training than for heat
I think smooth leathery skin underneath surface sandpaper-like roughness is
ideal to avoid cracking--especially behind the heel. If it's rough enough to
feel it with the hands, not just when running the feet across a smooth
surface, I think that's good enough to stop any sole callous building using
any kind of rough etching.
For me, burning hot is okay--the feet are burning, but the burning doesn't
increase beyond a point, no matter how much the burning remains. Painfully
burning hot is a threshold--so I have to choose a balance between tolerating
that much burning and cooling off the feet. I no longer use the feet
tingling threshold when walking, only when standing full-foot before rolling
on the feet. I do use slower walking paces whenever possible when it's
burning hot. I use normal walking paces as much as possible when it's that
much hotter. I generally avoid using faster walking paces even if it's way
hot, unless it feels like blisters will be soon and a cooler surface or
shade isn't close enough--I'd rather try to extend the amount of walking on
the hot surface for as long as possible before going to a cooler surface or
shade, to keep the heat going to help get used to it more.
Well, that's my summer heat preparation this summer. I get a few days of low
to mid 80's before it gets way hot due to heat waves again. The feet are
already rough enough, and for sure they are absorbing even more dirt over
the whiter looking callouses with etch lines still visible. It's time for me
to start out at peak heat when the temperatures are still in the mid 80's to
fully heat train those callouses, even if I have to start earlier in the
morning or later in the evening as the temperatures get hotter and I'm not
yet used to that much heat.
Daniel W. Rouse Jr.
Jun 21, 2014, 9:13:35 PM6/21/14
to
Note: one definite indicator to stop with any callous crosshatching
maintenance altogether is when the feet start developing crosshatch lines
through the dirt, and that those crosshatch lines remain as black lines even
when the feet are clean. Any more than that, and it's just fighting the heat
and roughness tolerance that is building. The that callous roughness may
still remain, or it may smooth out and become more leatherized.
One indicator of whether the roughness has remained or smoothed out is to
feel the white patches on the toe pads after hot blacktop walking and rough
gravel asphalt walking--sliding the index finger in the direction away from
the heel on the callous on the big toe and on each of the toe pads. Same
goes for the balls of the feet--slide the finger in the direction away from
the heel on each section, paying extra attention to areas that are whiter
and more calloused that others--and I think it's okay if the balls of the
feet are getting smoother since they have to be flexible in addition to
tolerating rough and hot. The edges of the feet may have some normal
resistance in one part, but I find that area is generally smooth even if it
also has the crosshatch lines. For the heel, the finger will get resistance
before sliding across the rest of that heel section, so that's not reliable
to check even if using a fingernail rather than a finger tip. So, then a
final check is to run the feet--one a time--on a smooth surface such as a
pillow case: if it slides mostly smooth, then the roughness of the callouses
has become so very fine that it's becoming leathery. If it still feels like
rougher sandpaper, then those callouses will remain rough.
Either way, it's noteworthy that it's possible to walk more deliberately on
rougher surfaces. it's possible to walk on hotter surfaces later in the day.
As part of heat training the callouses I have now--I went out for about a 7
minute walk around the neighborhood today during 90 degrees F air
temperature, at 3:35pm during afternoon peak heat hours, without pre-heating
the feet, stopping periodically to stand full foot until the burning just
started to tingle and then rolling on the feet to absorb some more heat
before walking again, and avoiding shade as much as possible unless a tree
put a shade spot across that entire spot on the asphalt.
Post walk, I can see the feet are very black and dirty, almost all over the
entire foot due to lower arches and the arch flattening with each step. I
see mostly even white spots showing through the dirt on each toe pad except
for only dirt on the little toe. The balls of the feet have diagonal
crosshatch lines that are very visible through the dirt--they will remain
like that in addition to any other ingrained dirt even after the soles are
clean. The edges of the feet don't show any diagonal crosshatch lines, but
clearly show blackened horizontal lines from when the crosshatching included
horizontal and vertical in addition to diagonal. The heel also has some
blackened diagonal crosshatch lines.
Whether some of this gets added to a barefooting FAQ is up to the
maintainers of the FAQ. I've made the posts based on my own barefooting
experiences, especially the most recent ones over months of regaining the
rougher surface and hotter surface tolerance after losing that tolerance for
a few years. There's no need to compare/contrast my progress of my soles to
those of someone else, since I am okay with how my own soles are developing.
The soles will always be nearly completely dirty over the whole foot when
they do get dirty--due to lower arches when standing and the arch going
completely flat with each step.
That said, too often if I do a search on "make feet rough", or "rough
callouses"--I get multiple results of sites with pedicure instructions for
making callouses smooth. No, that's not what I want! As long as I am not
dealing with cracking on the ridge at the back of the heel--and that
apparently can be solved with a pumice stone or emery board, if I did have
to fix that problem before it got worse--there is no need for making the
soles of my feet "look good", just as long as I clean off any surface dirt,
even if any ingrained dirt still remains. The point of getting used to
rougher surfaces and hotter surfaces is to make the callouses initially
thicker and rougher, even if they do smooth out to more leathery instead of
remaining same paper rough. I suppose gently smoothing out the smallest
possible surface of the callouses.
Finally, for those family members and anyone else who may Google my posts
and make fun of them--sometimes even during a debate or argument not even
relevant to going barefoot: so what. After the feet are generally used to
rougher surfaces without getting so tenderized and bruised over a shorter
distance, and after the feet are generally used to hotter surfaces (i.e.,
"summerized" closer to the low 100's that will occur during the peak heat
summer months, and as close to afternoon peak heat hours as possible--or
during afternoon peak heat hours as much as possible)--then I not wear shoes
whenever possible, or I can wear flip flops during excessive peak heat hours
(but removing them as much as possible to gain that much more heat tolerance
before putting them on again).
What's going to be their reaction if I become friends with woman close to my
age or start dating a woman close to my age--and it turns out she *also*
goes barefoot, especially during summer? We'll both be walking as much as
possible without shoes--tolerating rougher surfaces (since most sidewalks
and some gravel asphalt has some amount of roughness), braving the hotter
surfaces as they occur (blacktop asphalt is an obvious one), probably having
dirty feet at the end of the day's barefooting (possibly with burn blisters
(from walking too long on too hot of a surface) if they do occur. I'll just
make sure we both clean the soles of our before visiting, but then ingrained
dirt will always have the soles showing some shade of light gray until it
all wears away. Decades ago, I did know of several girls during my high
school years who went barefoot--to and from class, or to and from their cars
in the parking lot, some were "almost" barefoot walking home (meaning
wearing no shoes and only very thin nylons on the feet), a few walked around
the neighborhood barefoot until it was too hot for their feet (in which case
they did wear flojo sandals, huaraches, or basic flip flops). Same during my
college years--a few women walked barefoot to and from class, to and from
their cars in the parking lot, one or two were even seen at a mall several
miles away and shopping barefoot in a department store, one would
deliberately walk on asphalt whenever possible on the college campus--only
wearing basic flip flops or leather boots when it got too hot for their
feet. Whether or not they still go barefoot decades later is unknown, but if
so then I will certainly not be judging them in a negative way such as never
growing up past their high school or college years, and it won't be any type
of competition as to whether they can handle less, about the same, or more
roughness and heat than I can if we do end up walking barefoot together. And
to be clear I don't *require* that the woman I am friends with or start
dating *must* go barefoot--for all I care she can be nearly 100% wearing
shoes except for removing them at home--but then I'll expect her to clean
the feet as soon as possible after removing the shoes if there is any stink
(vinegary stink vs. poop smelling stink vs. raw sewage smelling stink--*any*
stink is unacceptable to me and keeping that on the feet longer that it
would take to clean the feet with a handwipe is outright disgusting).
In conclusion--those make fun of my posts can go ahead and make their feet
hot, sweaty and maybe even stinky with the closed shoes (since happened to
me once with some very cheap less than $15 Walmart gym shoes that I ended up
discarding as soon as the sole also started to peel away), but then please
do keep the feet flat on the floor to avoid foot stink in the air if they
will not be cleaned off right away with a handwipe. Just a reminder that
when cleaning the soles of the feet, that also includes in between the toes.
Oh and I don't wear closed shoes--and then generally walking shoes that
don't cause stink--except for during workdays, and I only wear formal closed
shoes (e.g., Florsheim) for job interviews or if the dress code requires
those shoes.
maintenance altogether is when the feet start developing crosshatch lines
through the dirt, and that those crosshatch lines remain as black lines even
when the feet are clean. Any more than that, and it's just fighting the heat
and roughness tolerance that is building. The that callous roughness may
still remain, or it may smooth out and become more leatherized.
One indicator of whether the roughness has remained or smoothed out is to
feel the white patches on the toe pads after hot blacktop walking and rough
gravel asphalt walking--sliding the index finger in the direction away from
the heel on the callous on the big toe and on each of the toe pads. Same
goes for the balls of the feet--slide the finger in the direction away from
the heel on each section, paying extra attention to areas that are whiter
and more calloused that others--and I think it's okay if the balls of the
feet are getting smoother since they have to be flexible in addition to
tolerating rough and hot. The edges of the feet may have some normal
resistance in one part, but I find that area is generally smooth even if it
also has the crosshatch lines. For the heel, the finger will get resistance
before sliding across the rest of that heel section, so that's not reliable
to check even if using a fingernail rather than a finger tip. So, then a
final check is to run the feet--one a time--on a smooth surface such as a
pillow case: if it slides mostly smooth, then the roughness of the callouses
has become so very fine that it's becoming leathery. If it still feels like
rougher sandpaper, then those callouses will remain rough.
Either way, it's noteworthy that it's possible to walk more deliberately on
rougher surfaces. it's possible to walk on hotter surfaces later in the day.
As part of heat training the callouses I have now--I went out for about a 7
minute walk around the neighborhood today during 90 degrees F air
temperature, at 3:35pm during afternoon peak heat hours, without pre-heating
the feet, stopping periodically to stand full foot until the burning just
started to tingle and then rolling on the feet to absorb some more heat
before walking again, and avoiding shade as much as possible unless a tree
put a shade spot across that entire spot on the asphalt.
Post walk, I can see the feet are very black and dirty, almost all over the
entire foot due to lower arches and the arch flattening with each step. I
see mostly even white spots showing through the dirt on each toe pad except
for only dirt on the little toe. The balls of the feet have diagonal
crosshatch lines that are very visible through the dirt--they will remain
like that in addition to any other ingrained dirt even after the soles are
clean. The edges of the feet don't show any diagonal crosshatch lines, but
clearly show blackened horizontal lines from when the crosshatching included
horizontal and vertical in addition to diagonal. The heel also has some
blackened diagonal crosshatch lines.
Whether some of this gets added to a barefooting FAQ is up to the
maintainers of the FAQ. I've made the posts based on my own barefooting
experiences, especially the most recent ones over months of regaining the
rougher surface and hotter surface tolerance after losing that tolerance for
a few years. There's no need to compare/contrast my progress of my soles to
those of someone else, since I am okay with how my own soles are developing.
The soles will always be nearly completely dirty over the whole foot when
they do get dirty--due to lower arches when standing and the arch going
completely flat with each step.
That said, too often if I do a search on "make feet rough", or "rough
callouses"--I get multiple results of sites with pedicure instructions for
making callouses smooth. No, that's not what I want! As long as I am not
dealing with cracking on the ridge at the back of the heel--and that
apparently can be solved with a pumice stone or emery board, if I did have
to fix that problem before it got worse--there is no need for making the
soles of my feet "look good", just as long as I clean off any surface dirt,
even if any ingrained dirt still remains. The point of getting used to
rougher surfaces and hotter surfaces is to make the callouses initially
thicker and rougher, even if they do smooth out to more leathery instead of
remaining same paper rough. I suppose gently smoothing out the smallest
possible surface of the callouses.
Finally, for those family members and anyone else who may Google my posts
and make fun of them--sometimes even during a debate or argument not even
relevant to going barefoot: so what. After the feet are generally used to
rougher surfaces without getting so tenderized and bruised over a shorter
distance, and after the feet are generally used to hotter surfaces (i.e.,
"summerized" closer to the low 100's that will occur during the peak heat
summer months, and as close to afternoon peak heat hours as possible--or
during afternoon peak heat hours as much as possible)--then I not wear shoes
whenever possible, or I can wear flip flops during excessive peak heat hours
(but removing them as much as possible to gain that much more heat tolerance
before putting them on again).
What's going to be their reaction if I become friends with woman close to my
age or start dating a woman close to my age--and it turns out she *also*
goes barefoot, especially during summer? We'll both be walking as much as
possible without shoes--tolerating rougher surfaces (since most sidewalks
and some gravel asphalt has some amount of roughness), braving the hotter
surfaces as they occur (blacktop asphalt is an obvious one), probably having
dirty feet at the end of the day's barefooting (possibly with burn blisters
(from walking too long on too hot of a surface) if they do occur. I'll just
make sure we both clean the soles of our before visiting, but then ingrained
dirt will always have the soles showing some shade of light gray until it
all wears away. Decades ago, I did know of several girls during my high
school years who went barefoot--to and from class, or to and from their cars
in the parking lot, some were "almost" barefoot walking home (meaning
wearing no shoes and only very thin nylons on the feet), a few walked around
the neighborhood barefoot until it was too hot for their feet (in which case
they did wear flojo sandals, huaraches, or basic flip flops). Same during my
college years--a few women walked barefoot to and from class, to and from
their cars in the parking lot, one or two were even seen at a mall several
miles away and shopping barefoot in a department store, one would
deliberately walk on asphalt whenever possible on the college campus--only
wearing basic flip flops or leather boots when it got too hot for their
feet. Whether or not they still go barefoot decades later is unknown, but if
so then I will certainly not be judging them in a negative way such as never
growing up past their high school or college years, and it won't be any type
of competition as to whether they can handle less, about the same, or more
roughness and heat than I can if we do end up walking barefoot together. And
to be clear I don't *require* that the woman I am friends with or start
dating *must* go barefoot--for all I care she can be nearly 100% wearing
shoes except for removing them at home--but then I'll expect her to clean
the feet as soon as possible after removing the shoes if there is any stink
(vinegary stink vs. poop smelling stink vs. raw sewage smelling stink--*any*
stink is unacceptable to me and keeping that on the feet longer that it
would take to clean the feet with a handwipe is outright disgusting).
In conclusion--those make fun of my posts can go ahead and make their feet
hot, sweaty and maybe even stinky with the closed shoes (since happened to
me once with some very cheap less than $15 Walmart gym shoes that I ended up
discarding as soon as the sole also started to peel away), but then please
do keep the feet flat on the floor to avoid foot stink in the air if they
will not be cleaned off right away with a handwipe. Just a reminder that
when cleaning the soles of the feet, that also includes in between the toes.
Oh and I don't wear closed shoes--and then generally walking shoes that
don't cause stink--except for during workdays, and I only wear formal closed
shoes (e.g., Florsheim) for job interviews or if the dress code requires
those shoes.
{:-])))
Jun 21, 2014, 10:15:39 PM6/21/14
to
Daniel wrote:
>Whether some of this gets added to a barefooting FAQ is up to the
>maintainers of the FAQ.
As far as I know, Paul is long gone from here.
>Whether some of this gets added to a barefooting FAQ is up to the
>maintainers of the FAQ.
Near as I can figure, the only people here
who have posted in a very long time are:
you, me and Victor.
Here's an old something.
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/barefoot-faq/part1/
Some of the folks who used to be here went to,
http://www.barefooters.org/
There appears to be a Facebook site.
- fwiw
Victor Sudakov
Jun 21, 2014, 11:55:19 PM6/21/14
to
"{:-])))" wrote:
> Here's an old something.
> http://www.faqs.org/faqs/barefoot-faq/part1/
> Some of the folks who used to be here went to,
> http://www.barefooters.org/
The original FAQ is still there at http://www.barefooters.org/faq/
> Here's an old something.
> http://www.faqs.org/faqs/barefoot-faq/part1/
> Some of the folks who used to be here went to,
> http://www.barefooters.org/
There is also a Russian FAQ, periodically updated, at
http://www.barefooters.ru/barefoot.php
--
Victor Sudakov, VAS4-RIPE, VAS47-RIPN
2:5005/49@fidonet http://vas.tomsk.ru/
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