Tips to Shoe Savviness

Buying new shoes has always been a love hate relationship for me, and probably for most women. As bruised and blistered as my feet generally are, people might assume that I’m a hard-core ballerina. After an extra serious bout of foot injuries the other week, I decided to do some research that might make all of our lives a little easier. So here I present to you some amazing tips on breaking in new shoes (paraphrased from an article by K. Jessie Austin on Associated Content):

1) If possible, plan to buy shoes in the afternoon or later in the day as your feet tend to swell as the day goes on. This will ensure that you are buying shoes that are your true size and will fit you no matter when you choose to wear them.

2) Make sure you try on both shoes and walk in them at least for a few minutes, and on hard floors and carpeting if at all possible.

3) For maximum sex appeal, walk around the house with your new shoes on while wearing socks. Tube socks if you have them… or even toe socks if you want to get extra fancy. In all seriousness, this will help stretch out the shoes a little and prevent blisters later.

4) Along the same lines, and if your shoes are especially uncomfortable, try to walk around in them for at least an hour everyday. This will help your feet get used to them without the pain of wearing them for the entire day.

5) If the shoes are a little loose, add gel or padded insoles to make them fit properly. Actually, just add them anyway because a little extra padding never hurt anyone.

6) If you find shoes that fit you well and are actually comfortable, look for shoes by the same designer, because chances are they will work well for you too.

7) As a last ditch effort, carry band-aids and (depending on how big of a purse you carry) flats with you whenever possible. Yes, beauty is pain, but you can only deal with so much pain until you just don’t care anymore.

Hope this helps, and happy shoe shopping!

(Photo from la doleur exquise)