to want to tell people to cover up their cracked heels and acres of hard yellowing skin?

[mrsmerryweather]

now that we have all gone tightless and sockless....

it is just revolting when you see a made-up woman then get to her feet and see acres of white/yellow/grey hard skin on her heels.

Have they never heard of footfiles and foot cream?

im with you mrs mw

ew

Mrs MW I don't believe I ever said anything of the sort. I was merely advocating that it is a matter of personal choice, and that if you don't like looking at un-pedicured feet then it is your problem - in fact, it is you who is suggesting that people with less than perfect feet should not be "allowed" to wear sandals.

You (and everyone else) can do what the hell you like for all I care. I won't notice. Like some others on the thread, inspite of being indisputably female, I don't spend my life looking at other women's feet!

""I wonder where I got the whole 'who you are is more important than what you look like' bee in my bonnet from?""

SS- you appear to be unable to see the connotations of what you post. You won't accept that your were being rude/personal, despite others picking that up, and now you deny that you were inferring some kind of moral superiority by those who are ungroomed, like your mum.

Your post here seems to advocate very strongly that people who don't bother about apperances are somehow "on a higher level" and that anyone who is bothered over how they look, or how others look, is somehow shallow.

If you aren't bothered, why do you keep coming back defending your right not to do your feet?

I am was defending myself against your attacks and insinuations.

Bothering about how you look is a personal choice and I would never judge anyone for being groomed any more than I would for not being groomed, any more than I would claim moral superiority one way or the other.

Being 'bothered' about how others look is shallow.

no its not
its good

do you look really bad or something?

Well, I couldn't care less if people want to run around with manky feet. Can't see where I've posted anything on this thread to that effect.

Just don't buy the 'I don't have time' thing, that you need to have lots of hard skin or manky feet in order to do sport or that people on the whole devoted less time to how they looked in the past.

For me, personally, I look after my feet because they're important tools. They do the important job of holding me up.

'Being 'bothered' about how others look is shallow.'

In an ideal society, this might be true. But in reality, however sad, it's not shallow, it's human nature.

Yes, mrsm, I guess my mother was a shallow, inferior person for caring about how she looked and even worse for setting such an example to her children.

What a thick, backwards person!

Oh FFS I never said anyone was inferior for caring about appearances, or vice versa. And I agree it is human nature - but then a lot of 'human nature' is shallow.

This really is odd though. Is this not judgemental:

"it is just revolting when you see a made-up woman then get to her feet and see acres of white/yellow/grey hard skin on her heels."

A bit rude maybe? And every post suggesting that there might be a reason for not doing the foot thing is met with something along the lines of 'I don't buy the no time argument'. So those who have less than baby-soft feet are forced to admit they are lazy, slobbish and 'revolting' into the bargain.

Beleive me please when I tell you that my mother didn't bother with her feet, neither did most people that I knew (apart from the occasional scrub with a pumice). I never learned to. And it come as a bit of a shock to find out that this makes me revolting and not fit to be seen in supermarkets. But hey ho. Tis a cross I must bear I guess.

Well, crucify me then, because I don't buy the 'no time' argument. Fair enough if it's not a priority to some and they're not bothered by how their feet look. Again, I've never posted any hint of its being revolting or disgusting. They're feet after all.

But it really doesn't take much time IF a person is inclined to look after their feet. 'I don't have time' is a cop-out, IMO. 'I don't really care' is more honest.

Throughout time, some have bothered more about personal maintenance than others. But IMO it's certainly not a generational thing by any means. I mean, Cleopatra used kohl around her eyes well before Christ and many a bone tweezer has been dug up on archeological sites.

Queen Elizabeth wore make-up.

what a fantastic thread...cant believe some people have the time to multiple post a day...must be the same people who have time to "groom properly". Feet bear your weight and will do so, regardless of their aesthetic- I run a "shoe-free" house and have danced for 20 years, barefoot, and have always had ugly feet- but the hard skin served a purpose...if you watch people who walk barefoot everywhere (developing world)- they're feet are hard. We, who have the luxuries of time and money, free from oppression (unless you count the beauty police), are therefore able to pass comment on those with less than perfect feet. By the way, the definition of grooming is as follows: "to keep (oneself or one?s appearance) clean and tidy". Feet are clean, whether they are calloused or not. Anyway, the reason some people get so sensitive about this is because this thread is an extension of the beauty myth. I would love to wear ironed-poplin shirts, navy linen shorts, deck shoes and run my manicured fingers through my Grace Kelly esque-locks- except I dont have the time, figure, inclination or salary !
But having said that, now I've stopped dancing- i have started "doing my feet" in the shower- and they do feel softer, as evidenced by DH comments, but i certainly wouldnt bother passing comment on anyone else's feet !
Tongue firmly placed in cheek.

Ok "'I don't really care'" then But I prefer not to be called revolting even so. And no I know you didn't say that expat.

I danced en pointe for 4 years - didn't go on until I was 13 - used to hammer the toe box and darn the toes of the pointe shoes so as to lessen the chance of slipping on a floor without fresh resin or while moving around stage.

I used to run half-marathons in my early 20s. I used to rockclimb a lot, ski, climb some pretty high mountains, run some more to keep my weight down.

Still looked after the feet because as I found out the hard way when I missed the last step on a flight of stairs at the age of 19 and broke 3 bones in my foot and my ankle, it's not a nice thing when the ol' feet aren't happy and healthy.

I made a deal with my feet especially thing, 'I look after you and you look after me.'

Someone else posted its being about foot health and didn't get slated, but somehow everyone else who points out that taking care of your feet is good is fodder for the cannon?

Btw, I have to use orthotics in my hiking boots now or any boots I'll be wearing a long while.

I fried my arches and because my knees are full of pins and/or next to nowt cartilage, the orthotics keep me from over-pronating and jacking up my knee, hip and back joints and from the killer plantar fascitis I have in one foot and the painful as hell Achillis tendonitis in the other leg.

Had to pay a £39 supplement but to me it's money well spent!

I'm telling you, people, PLEASE look after your feet!

I still don't believe that it can't be sore, not the hard skin, but when it cracks. If that was on your hands surely you would try to 'fix' it? So why not your feet?

my feet would get bad if I didn't take care of them. 50/50 cream and a pair of footsies overnight works excellent. Don't understand the science of it, but when the flip flops come out it get worse. You would think it would be the opposite, having feet in socks & boots for months.

I have to keep on top of mine, but I don't see it as a big deal or a problem. A cheap foot file from IKEA and Flexitol.

I had frostnip once so now I wear socks to bed all the time because a) it's not ever too hot here b) I don't have the best of circulation in my toes anymore.

oh, stop it, this is hurting my tummy - FFS!!! I cannot believe this has TEN pages - you lot are sooo funny.

I can't be arsed to read it all, but if there is any advice out there to help with manky feet, i'll gladly take it. Was gagging today as i was picking the hard skin off my heels - well, id been paddling in the paddling pool and it had gone all scungy - i promise you, it really was rank!

I said i didn't have time (which is true), i also said i couldn't be bothered. In fact i think i need hard feet .

Is there no inch of skin or body in which women won't judge another?

Get a grip.

Last week I was on the escalator. The woman ahead of me not only had hard scaly heels, it was dirty too!

Too many people in this country take no pride in their appearance. It is like they roll out of bed, get up and go!

I would be ashamed to go out with scaly heels with hard skin. Wearing hard skin on your heels is not a badge of honour, it is a badge of laziness IMHO. It only takes a few minutes to file and moisturise and once you have it under control, it is easy to maintain!

spokette, it was probably me - but tis not cos im lazy, i just have more important things going on in my life just now .

That is the only thing i hate about my heels though - they do look dirty, but in the grand scheme of things - I can't see them when im walking up the escalator so i couldnt give a shite.

But even smooth feet will tend to get dirty walking around in flip flops and sandals.

Well, reading this thread yesterday made me do something about my horses hooves.

One bath, scrape and a slather with cracked heel cream later, they're looking pretty fine again.

SAHM / WOHM

Dog Lovers / Dog Haters

BF / FF

Give a shit about cracked heels / Don't give a shit about cracked heels