To want to walk barefoot in the summer (including into shops)

[nomorequotes]

I don't understand why in this country it is considered so bad to be barefoot, I have been told I am not allowed to walk into Tescos barefoot, or Waitrose, they claim it is a 'health and safety issue' because something might fall on my feet. Well if that is the case shouldn't they be banning flip-flops too? Flip-flops are pretty dangerous things really, accountable for many broken toes, ankles and feet in the summer. I have a friend who broke his ankle so badly it was like he had been in a car accident and all he had done is twisted wearing flip-flops.

So why the intolerance to bare feet? They have been outside the same as shoes so it can't be a hygiene thing and they are much safer than flip-flops.

I am sick of having to have shoes in the car just so I can walk into shops, it makes no sense to me, if I want to be barefoot I should be allowed to be!

I'm a full time UK Barefooter (that includes in the winter)Wouldn't have it any other way. Ask to speak to the store manager and write a disclaimer stating your full name etc and that you take full responsibility for where you walk and if you hurt your feet you will not seek further action And sign it. This then goes to their HR department as health and safety rules only applies to staff or they would have to make sure all of the shoppers wore safety shoes. This can be done in most places if you have a word with the manager. You can also wear barefoot sandles, I have several pairs of crocheted ones

In my family we children spent the summer outdoors running around barefoot (NE Scotland so not that warm) but my mother insisted that we had shoes on for meals. A meal was a "formal" occasion and required us to be properly dressed.

So perhaps in our culture, footwear is a sign that we are dressed. We are not supposed to wear pyjamas in public places, nor are we expected to go barefoot. In other cultures, both pyjamas and bare feet are acceptable; in still more, showing legs and arms is not acceptable. If you go to, say, a Muslim country and flout cultural mores about dress (coverage etc), you may be asked to cover up. Equally, in our culture, shoes on = public wear.

So above and beyond people's squeamishness about dirt and broken glass, and the fact that barefoot is actually how we are meant to be a species, the cultural norm in this country is shoes on in public. If you don't confirm to cultural mores, expect to be looked at a bit funny at least.

(Barefoot right now at home)

To be fair a whole heap of NZ kuds go to school barefoot because they are poor.
I was shocked when i first saw people here in the supermarket barefoot - even the school principal!

Having returned to visit the UK i would never go barefoot there because it is so dirty, but we walk around barefoot all the time here and none of us have veruccas or fungal yuk on our feet.

I think I just live in a really clean area because my feet are just not dirty at all.

Going to the softplay soon, have to wear socks there! Be the first person to put socks on rather than take shoes off I would think.

I think I just live in a really clean area because my feet are just not dirty at all.

I think that that is humanly impossible.

I wish i had your circulation (no shoes in october)
I have had to put slippers on in house for laminate floors now even in summer... Im only 34

What happens when a barefooter meets one of those people who complains about sockless babies?

Is it like clash of the titans?

I think it is humanly possible too

I bathe my feet every night and they are not dirty when I go to bed.

They are clean and healthy!

I have no issue with bare-footedness; I like bare feet in the house or in my own garden/over the lawn. HOWEVER, op, you are coming across like a bit of an attention seeker, 'sticking to your principles' needlessly. It is not the norm in this country, as you well know. It is very much outwith the norm. Why bother? It's not like you're, say, not shaving body hair because of deeper beliefs (which I would totally get!)

It's a non-issue really. If you don't want to wear shoes, then by all means don't, but don't expect other not to think you a little eccentric.

But they must be really hard and yellow! I am frantically removing even the tiniest scrap of dry or hard skin from my feet and pride myself on having baby soft soles, why would you want really tough hard skin?

Those of us who regularly go barefoot (and I'm a Kiwi, it's part of my culture) actually have healthier feet than those who scrape and remove the hard skin. Humans have evolved to walk barefoot. We naturally develop hard skin to deal with sharp objects and general dirt. If you religiously remove all the hard skin your feet are more susceptible to injury from sharp objects, verrucas and fungal infections.

I'm a swimmer, I spend many hours in damp swimming pool changing rooms. During the winter when I am constantly wearing shoes I am more susceptible to fungal infections or other nasties. As the weather warms up and my feet harden, this risk diminishes. I never have a problem in the summer months. It's only in the winter months as they soften again that I need to wear flip flops.

A lot of Kiwi children go barefoot to school not because they are poor but because they refuse to put shoes on if it's not cold. My friends despair of their sons who will remove their school shoes the second they are out of sight of their parents.

But if I'm always I'm shoes there is no risk of injury from sharp objects. Even in a swimming pool I'll wear flip flops to the pool edge and in the changing rooms because I don't want verrucas or other nasties. I'm just really funny about feet and can't bear the thought of hard yellow skin or overgrown claws. shudder!! Ugh I really feel icky talking about it!!

The point is, Random, during the summer I don't have to useflip flops meaning there's one less thing to carry around, or injure myself on. My life is quicker and more streamlined as a result.

Then ballet pumps, trainers, clogs, sandals, whatever, but it's not normal (in the UK) to go around barefoot, it's not seen as acceptable in shops and public places here, or for children at nursery and school, and it makes a lot of people uncomfortable because it's not the norm, so why be insistent about it as others have said previously. This isn't Australia or New Zealand, it's the UK. In other Asian countries it's considered extremely rude to bare the soles of your feet, would you do it there just because you want to be different? I think the UK is past the rude feeling, but I think were still at the abnormal and uncomfortable feeling.

I can't even cope with the 2 blokes on Googlebox and one of them ALWAYS has bare feet. I have to look away. It really turns my stomach.

Flip-flops are really dangerous, I wouldn't wear them regardless.

I've just had to put shoes and socks on to go to work this evening and it feels horrible.

I think if other people have an issue with barefeet, that is really their problem and not something I should have to be concerned about when deciding my own dress.

I pride myself on having feet that don't suffer from infections, that can get me from a-b in an emergency without worrying about external things being added to them and that keep me upright and happy.

I hate wearing restrictive clothes and quite fancy going off to Tesco's topless. I don't want my milk ducts being restricted by uncomfortable bras and risking mastitis, men can go round topless so I'm just asking for equality, and they're only breasts, if others are offended it's their issue not mine. It's the norm in the tribes of Africa.

I don't trust our local pavements to be clean enough to roam barefoot - you can get hookworm through your feet.

"While A. duodenale can be ingested, the usual method of infection is through the skin; this is commonly caused by walking barefoot through areas contaminated with fecal matter. The larvae are able to penetrate the skin of the foot, and once inside the body, they migrate through the vascular system to the lungs, and from there up the trachea, and are swallowed. "

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookworm

Yuk.

Go for it Random if thats what floats your boat!

"I pride myself on having feet that don't suffer from infections,"

So do I, and I wear shoes most of the time because my feet feel the cold easily. Today the weather was glorious and walking on the lawn in bare feet was wonderful. I still wouldn't go barefoot to the supermarket though.

Two words. Dog poo.

Having posted earlier in defence of shoes, I went out earlier in my ballet pumps. They have gone sloppy so I took them off and walked down the high street barefoot for several yards. I felt safer and I was not alone in my barefoot ness. Put them on to go indoors, mind.

I also walked home from the park in bare feet. I was soaked to the mid-thigh having been in the paddling pol, though....

I actually can't believe how bloody judgy people are about this! How dare people call someone gross and dirty just for walking around in a natural state, christ, talk about body issues!

My daughter and I went paddling in the local river after school and walked home barefoot tonight. The thing any of the judgy people on here won't know is that modern tarmac roads are absolutely lovely to walk on in barefeet. They are smooth and warm up in the sun and it is just altogether a lovely sensation. Ironic that it is actually becoming far easier and safer to walk about barefoot nowadays than in older times pre-tarmac and pre-paving when you would have uneven stones and mud underfoot, without even getting started on all the old horse shit...

We have plenty of horse shit round here - and dog shit.