Why I Don’t Wear Heels
Serious stuff about sensory issues and weird feet
The last time I remember wearing heels was at my sister’s wedding. That was in 1996. I went barefoot for the reception, as did most of the ladies. I heard once that if I just bought good heels, expensive ones, I wouldn’t have these problems. I went and tried them on. I don’t think this is true for me.
When I was a child, I had an awful time finding shoes that fit well enough to a) stay on my foot while b) not being excruciatingly painful. My grandmother told me when I was in my teens (where are they when you’re suffering?) that I must have what she has — a “combination last.*” This is where the back part of your foot is one size, and the front part is another.
In our case, our heels are narrow. If our shoes are wide back there, they fall off or rub up and down, causing painful blisters. However, the toe of our foot — actually, the measurement across the foot, just below the toes — is wide. Our feet do not want to be squeezed into women’s dress shoes. She forced hers because she had to in the early 1900s. Her toes ended up on top of one another permanently. I just refused to wear shoes that hurt me.
I went to one school for two years where dresses and dressy shoes were required. We took forever to find shoes that I could wear…
