The life-changing fashion hack we wish we’d always known...
Our idea of a love-hate relationship? Shoes. You obsess over the perfect ankle-tie pumps and squeal when you find a killer pair of heels on sale, but these sources of delight are simultaneously instruments of pain. Throbbing feet and stinging blisters, anyone?
Since we’re not giving up our addiction to heels anytime soon, it’s time someone found a genuine, non-faddy solution. And it turns out, they have.
While we’re firm in the belief we’re single handily keeping the blister plaster business alive and have worn in every new pair of 4 inch Loub heels around the house only to find ourselves hobbling or walking barefoot home from a cocktail party, still nothing quite eradicates that feeling of putting your feet into a mousetrap.
While there’s plasters, balms and gel packs, no-one has ever resolved that awful ‘full-foot’ pain. You know, that entire foot throbbing, can’t-feel-my-toes, misery-inducing pain? But it turns out, all we’ve ever needed is a little medical intervention – medical tape to be exact.
In we-can’t-believe-we’ve-only-just-heard-this-news, it turns out taping your third and fourth toes together (counting from the big toe) will radically improve your situation.
Yes, it’s a little weird, but there's actually a nerve in between these toes which contributes to foot pain. Stress on the nerve is alleviated when supported by the other toe. Simply taping them with medical tape can help ease the strain on the nerve, and consequently, the pain. Mind-blowing, right?
In our quest to eradicate all shoe pain forevermore, we’ve also discovered two other mid-blowing hacks.
First up, for a pair of too-snug shoes, fill a zip lock bag halfway with water and place inside the shoe. Put the shoe in the freezer overnight and your shoe stretches. Genius.
And then have you ever tried shopping for shoes at night? No, really. Turns out, shopping at the end of the day when your feet are slightly swollen is a tell-tale sign of whether your shoes will hurt. If they crush, pinch or smash your toes in the store, you can bet they'll do it at home and on the way to your next cocktail party.