This post is a long read, so below is a summary, but feel free to read the whole thing.
Summary
Barefoot shoes provide some protection and safety from the elements and allow you to go about your daily business (No Shoes = No Service). Additionally, your feet and legs are allowed to operate in a more natural fashion, eliminating back pain, foot fatigue and toe constraints. FiveFingers were my initial entry into this world, but I prefer Vivobarefoot and Barefoot Merrell shoes for the ease of use, superior odor control and their ability to blend in as normal shoes, even though they are far from normal.
It has been about 3 years (can't say exactly) since I have started my barefoot shoe journey. Unfortunately I cannot say I remember exactly how I discovered these type of shoes either. It could have been an internet stumble or an ad from a magazine. I was the first in my immediate circle to purchase Vibram FiveFinger shoes and this was back before they were popular. That is my trend in life, to be a trend setter without knowing it or I am a trend pioneer, which I think I fall more in to the latter category.
I respect FiveFingers because it brought me into the barefoot community, but alas I have not been a huge fan of their line of barefoot shoes. Due to the years of wearing conventional shoes, my toes have a slight inward curl and the bones in my toes fatigue when wearing
FiveFingers (or something I think are my bones). Not to mention that even after becoming accustomed to wearing them, there are times when they are hard to put on, like when I am tired in the morning If you need to go in and out of the house but need to take your shoes off while inside, it can be a drag to take the time to put each of your toes in their individual compartments. Last but probably the worst reason I gave up... they smell. I've tried various ways to clean them, wearing foot powder but none got rid of the smell.. When the wife complains about your smelly feet and only complains when you have been wearing FiveFingers then there is an issue. For those reasons I gave up barefoot shoes and suffered (and I do mean suffer) in conventional shoes.
Then I discovered Earth Shoes. My parents quickly told me about how these have been around forever and were big with hippies. While these are not barefoot, they offered an alternative to regular shoes. I could buy them in office friendly styles, which was a huge plus, since I work 5-6 days a week and can work 18 hours in the day. I needed a dress shoe that could muster as long as me. However, they were not perfect. Especially in the toe box. I do not consider myself to have wide feet, but always felt the toe box of ever shoe that I have worn up this point to be too narrow. Which I believe is why my toes have curled inward a bit. Eight hour days were fine, but long days or long drives, Earth Shoes could start to feel uncomfortable.
Again I was on the search again for an office friendly shoe. I was determined this time to discover a barefoot variety. Then I discovered
Vivobarefoot. Their dress shoes look normal (sorry Earth, while your shoes are not bad, they due look weird). After a few months of wearing my new Vivos at work, I found myself wanting to wear them outside of work. With pants they look ok, but in shorts or in the gym, they don't quite fit. So I took the plunge and bought myself a pair of Neo Running shoes.
On a casual day I can wear these to the office (the match our colors) and I can wear them for every day use.
Now I am in the process of updating my whole shoe collection to barefoot designed shoes and donating my old shoes to charity. I also purchased the Merrell Trail Wide. I had to get the wide version as the regular version was way too narrow.
My next challenge is to find boots and uniform shoes for the USCG Auxiliary that are barefoot.
