Wearing barefoot shoes can improve your posture and your foot health after years of squeezing your feet into narrow footwear. Yet transitioning from regular shoes into the barefoot lifestyle can admittedly be quite challenging. How do you make the transition faster, easier, and less painful?
To transition to barefoot shoes, you need to go slow and steady. Wear barefoot shoes for only a few minutes at a time, gradually increasing how long you keep them on. Expect changes to your gait and posture that can feel unnatural at first. Use heel cups and metatarsal pads if you need to.
This guide will be chock full of advice from specialists and your favorite barefoot shoe brands on how to transition from regular to barefoot shoes. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll be ready to make the jump!
Tips for Transitioning to Barefoot Shoes from Brands and Specialists
Katy Bowman
If you’re not familiar, Katy Bowman is an author and biomechanist. She’s also the founder of Nutritious Movement, which strives to get people up and moving.
Bowman has been featured in Good Housekeeping, The Seattle Times, CBC Radio One, and The Today Show.
She wrote a book called Whole Body Barefoot: Transitioning Well to Minimal Footwear that’s the perfect topic of discussion in today’s article.
So what does Bowman recommend for those embarking on their barefoot journeys for the first time?
In her book, the biomechanist suggests that it takes a combination of proper shoe selection, ideal movement patterns, and corrective exercises to make the adjustment a success.
Most importantly, Bowman advocates for a gradual, careful transition.
This is all too crucial, so we want to underscore Bowman’s point.
Although barefoot shoes prevent future damage to your feet caused by years of narrowness and thick soles, wearing barefoot shoes can be injurious if you try to do too much too soon.
As we alluded to in the intro, the key is to make the adjustment a gradual process. Begin by wearing barefoot shoes just for a minute or two around the house.
Then, work your way up to five-minute increments, then 10-minute increments, and 15 minutes.
Soon, you’ll be ready to leave the house in your barefoot shoes, which should again be a gradual transitionary process.
Softstar Shoes
One of the most beloved barefoot brands by far is Softstar Shoes, the makers of kids’ and adults’ barefoot footwear.
Softstar has its own guide on transitioning into wearing barefoot shoes. The brand breaks up your adjustment timeline into two months.
During the first week of the first month, you should spend up to an hour per day in barefoot shoes. Then, in the second week, it’s two hours. In the third week, it’s three hours, and in the fourth week, it’s four hours.
By the start of month two, you should wear your barefoot footwear for five hours a day in the first week, six hours a day in the second week, seven hours a day in the third week, and eight hours a day in the fourth week.
This timetable is courtesy of Dr. Ray McClanahan, a Washington-based podiatrist who opened his own Oregon-based foot practice called Northwest Foot & Ankle.
McClanahan is also the creator of Correct Toes, which are toe spacers that you can purchase through Softstar Shoes’ website.
According to the website description, Correct Toes are supposed to “prevent and cure foot problems without surgery, orthotics or medication.”
Made of medical-grade silicone and designed for flexibility, Correct Toes can reduce your risk of lower extremity osteoarthritis, improve toe flexing and strength, boost athletic performance, and lessen your risk of injury, says McClanahan.
Lems Shoes
The Boulder, Colorado-based Lems Shoes is a favorite of many barefoot shoe wearers and this blog as well.
As has been the case with the other experts, Lems Shoes recommends a slow approach to adjusting as well as the use of equipment such as Correct Toes to ease into the transition.
In lieu of or in addition to Correct Toes, Lems also advises wearing Injinji sports socks, which you can purchase on their website.
Injinji sports socks are mini crew socks that feature Coolmax moisture-wicking fibers that will enhance your comfort when wearing the socks during intensive training sessions, outdoor exploring, and extended runs.
The design, which is patented, safeguards your skin from blisters by preventing uncomfortable skin-on-skin contact.
Even the height of the socks is intentionally designed to limit debris and dirt from getting into your socks and making your feet sweat.
The five-toe design allows you to wear the Injinji sports socks with flip-flops, sandals, or closed-toe barefoot shoes.
Xero Shoes
If you “live life feet first,” like Xero Shoes says, then you’ve probably browsed their extensive selection of footwear before.
Interestingly, the brand’s take on adjusting to barefoot shoes flies in the face of everything else we’ve discussed to this point.
According to their site, Xero says that “it’s about form and function, not seconds on the clock.”
In other words, Xero Shoes recommends that you focus more on how you’re walking when wearing barefoot shoes rather than just spending five minutes in the shoes.
This is good advice with a caveat. We still do recommend taking it slow as you adjust to prevent injury but paying attention to your form is critical in successfully transitioning to barefoot shoes.
Here are some pointers from Xero Shoes. “When your foot touches the ground, it should be almost directly under your body. Don’t ‘overstride.’ That is, don’t reach out in front of you with your foot in order to land.”
Xero also suggests that you “focus on using less energy and effort” and that “rather than ‘landing’ on your feet, think of your feet as something that only touch the ground for as little time as necessary, and have them moving at the speed you’re traveling across the ground.”
On their website, Xero Shoes does say that the amount of time it can take you to walk this way can take anywhere from days to years depending on how conditioned you are to walk a certain way already.
We’d add the amendment then that you should always be patient with yourself and remember not to rush!
Tikki Shoes
The husband-and-wife team of Adrian and Maria are the creators of Tikki Shoes, a barefoot shoe brand.
The couple were inspired by their young children getting up and walking for the first time and wanted their child to develop healthy, happy feet.
Thus, the Tikki brand was born.
Tikki recommends doing foot exercises to aid in your transition into wearing barefoot shoes. You should spend about 30 minutes a day on these exercises to benefit.
Balancing on one foot technically counts as exercise. Be sure to switch between feet to reap the most benefits. You can make this exercise more challenging with a Mobo board, a balance ball, or a kettlebell.
Try the short foot, where you contract your feet by pushing down on the ground using your toes. Keep your foot in this position for several seconds, then let go. You’ll activate foot muscles, including in the arch, so if you feel something, that’s good!
Even rolling a ball underneath your foot can be advantageous.
Of course, we should note that you want to do all these exercises barefoot, of course!
Vivobarefoot
Back in 2015, Vivobarefoot published a blog post about how to transition to barefoot shoes “the sensible way.”
What does Vivobarefoot recommend? Walking barefoot. No, not wearing barefoot shoes, but going outside and walking without any shoes at all.
Obviously, if you want to follow in the footsteps of Vivobarefoot (pun intended), then you will need to map out your route and survey the area ahead of time.
You don’t want any kind of hard terrain or injurious obstacles. It’s best if you can walk on softer surfaces such as a field of grass or a beach.
Here is how your feet can benefit, Vivobarefoot writes: “Walking barefoot as much as possible will allow your foot to reawaken. The plantar fascia will loosen making the arch more dynamic; you will start stretching your Achilles tendon slowly – loosening it but not aggravating it; and you can start to learn how to use your toes right away.”
This is, according to Vivobarefoot, anyway, how you eventually transition into barefoot running, a sport that has taken the world by storm.
Leguano
The Leguano brand produces barefoot shoes for the whole family, including toddlers and children. From boots to sneakers and flats, there is something for everyone from this great barefoot shoe brand.
Leguano has a list of tips for adjusting to wearing barefoot shoes. Of note? Leguano recommends you don’t run or walk on hills while transitioning to barefoot shoes since you need to gradually let your Achilles tendon become longer.
Hills will force the stretch, which could be painful!
You should always listen to your body too, Leguano says. If you’re in pain, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should stop wearing barefoot shoes. Rather, change your stride and see if that helps.
Conclusion
Transitioning to barefoot shoes isn’t easy, nor is it fun, but the results are absolutely worth it.
You’ll feel more in touch with nature as you enjoy a greater groundfeel with every step. Your toes will be free to move, wiggle, and splay with an open toe box, and most of your foot pains should dissolve.
We hope that this expert advice gives you some great starting points as you switch to barefoot shoes for the first time!