It Hurts to be Beautiful

I don't know who the originator of this quote is, but it certainly wasn't a man. Men know better. And, I’d be willing to bet said comment occurred after taking off a pair of shoes. And ladies, this ain't no pair of sneakers. We know what kind. High heeled, pointed toes, and spindly, or some combination thereof.

I remember when I was in my twenties I could jam my feet into anything and dance. Not the dances I do now, but the hop up and down slammy kind of the 80's. I'd be out all night dancing and imbibing and get up the next morning none the worse for wear. Now I always experience some sort of AM pain, and this without any, or very little alcohol. Oh how my twenties self would have scoffed.

Wimp.

Ok, so enough reminiscing and whining. How does one, in their middle dancing years, be cute and comfortable? I think this radiates mostly feet up. Yes, you want comfy, stretchy clothing, but the feet are where the mother or all pain begins, and where a solid foundation of a blissful night starts. I first acquired what I believed were "normal" dancing shoes, thin heeled, two inches high, and strappy. Hey, I thought I was doing good. Two inches isn't very high, right? And in fact the two inches was indeed about right. The strappy and spindly heels, sadly, were not. Now I'm not saying this is right for everyone, but I can't dance in those. I turn my ankles, and my feet felt like hell the next day. What I found works best for me are either swing shoes, which look like oxfords with a chunky heel, or ballroom "practice" shoes which have mesh sides and a thick "Cuban" heel. The mesh ones at least have some glitter on them for fancy dances. And after the first few times I got over myself and figure I'd rather be comfortable than glitzy.

Also in my quest for happy feet I've bought and discarded a number of shoe pads. I first tried Dr. Scholl's gel inserts. I figured the doctor knows best...I wore his sandals all through college, after all. And they did feel good when I first put them in. Sad to say, they caused my toes to hurt after dancing. I think they made my poor tootsies curl up and over the gel, I'm not sure. Then I found a pair on EBay that just cushioned the ball of your foot. They had a plastic toe ring thingy that slips over a middle toe and then the pads rests over the ball. I'm sure you are all thinking that sounds horrible, but I had faith. But it WAS horrible. And they looked like some kind of weird extra flap of skin. So that didn't work.

For now I'm wearing the shoes sans pads and hoping I can find some that works. The hunt continues.