Of course it's intended that you learn how to walk in all high heels, but there are ways to make it easier on yourself:


* A good shoe feels comfortable immediately
* Preferably by a leather shoe
* Make sure you have shoes with a flexible (leather) sole by the toes and harder by the heel
* Make sure you have a strap around your heel, or preferably over your instep, so that keeping your shoes on your feet, will be effortless.
* A shoe with laces is better than a shoe step-in-shoe, because you can adjust this to your foot
* It's necessary to have enough space at the ball of the foot and the toes
* The inside of the shoe should be moisture absorbent
* It's necessary to have e good fit. The shoe should not squeeze or pinch anywhere
* Never wear second hand shoes. These are already formed to fit somebody else's foot
* Make sure you have as little stitching and seams in the upper leather. These can cause irritation
* Remember that an expensive shoe is not always a good shoe per se!!!
* You should be able to lift your heels at least 2 cm off the floor when you're standing on your tippy-toes. Then you will be able to learn to walk in the heels. If you can't do that, walking elegantly will be a huge challenge and will take a lot of practise.

Tips for walking in different surfaces


Practise 'gliding', walking like you're walking on air and have never done anything other than walking in high heels. Ideal to practise this is the supermarket: the floors are perfectly smooth, not too slippery. You can do your groceries, while practising your walk and you have your shopping cart for extra support if you're inexperienced in walking in heels. Take all the aisles, practise a rhythm, different speeds, stop every now and then and start walking again. Practise a nice hip swing and by the time you get to the cash register, you've had a good workout and you can take a rest, changing your stand and rest leg. After doing groceries like this for a week, you will have upgraded yourself from a beginner, to an experienced heel wearer.

Of course you're not just going to come across smooth and even supermarket floors while walking. A few of the possibilities you might ans will run into:

Carpets and rugs
The deeper the pile, the bigger the danger. If possible try to find the more shallow parts. Really sink your heel into the carpet for your balance. By the way, if it's your own carpet, you're better off taking your heels off, since this will kill your carpet in the long run.
If there's a rug, be extra careful for them not to slide away. Try to avoid rugs that are not being kept in place by furniture.

Marble
Be very careful! Marble can be slippery like ice. If you don't feel all too secure in your heels, try to stay on the side a little, where you can get a little support in walls and furniture. If that is impossible, make sure you're not wearing brand new shoes with leather soles, right out of the box. Make sure you're either wearing rubber soles, or rub your leather soles over a piece of sanding paper or the sidewalks, to create a little more grip. Also make sure that in the case of a slippery floor you don't turn your feet outward too much and don't put too much weight on your heels. There's the risk that the heel might shoot from under you and you will end up flat on your face on that slippery floor.

Stairs
When you're walking up the stairs, you do so on the ball of your feet. When you're descending stairs, you place your feet slightly sideways. Of course they go sideways to the same side, no Donald Duck!!! Hold the railing gently. In the case of open metal stairs, you do everything on the balls of your feet, or you wish for a strong man to lift you.

Escalators
Taking the escalator up, is no problem at all; you can easily let your heels hang just over the back of the step. Going down is a different story though. Only if you're really sure your heels will not get stuck in the grooves of the steps, you can relax and put your heels down. Otherwise you will put your weight on the balls of your feet again and just let your heels rest gently, or even just have them float a little above the steps.

Sidewalks
Try to look for the straighter areas, avoid the grooves and in the case of cobbler stones or other heel-dangers, place little to no weight on your heels. Walk on the balls of your feet, because you will kill your heels. Be extra careful when the stones are wet or frozen!!!

Gravel and grass
The narrower the heel, the more awful gravel is as a surface. Get on your tippy-toes and make sure to get past is as soon as possible. The same goes for grass.

Sand
When sand can not be avoided, kick off your shoes and get your naked feet in the sand. Unless you wear boots that are high enough for the sand not being able to crawl in, then it is doable, but otherwise heels and sand just are not a good combination.

Dance floor
The ideal surroundings to shine in your shoes. Even surface like in the supermarket and usually not to slippery. Make sure you're wearing shoes in which you will feel comfortable for a long time, preferably with a strap over your instep, or around your ankle, so that keeping your shoes on your feet, will be effortless. If the balls of your feet still hurt, buy those gel-inlay-soles. That should make a huge difference. You can also take some Ibuprofen before going out: it prevents the feet from swelling.



If you wish to order your shoes from foreign countries, but you're not sure about the size, you will find a complete table here.
Please take in account the possible payment of VAT and import duties when your order is being delivered. To make an exact calculation of the extra costs, you can take a look at the Dutch Customs website.