Stiletto Advice

Looking for advice on how to walk in Stiletto’s. Recently bought a pair of heels for the first time and they have a six inch stiletto on them. Finding it tricky to maintain my balance.

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:rofl: You have not chosen the easiest starter heels!

There are a lot of good visual guides on YouTube, so I would suggest watching them. Search, “How to walk in heels”, or something similar as it’s much easier to watch and copy than to describe.

To be honest, I would also suggest starting with 2.5"/3" kitten heels rather than 6" stilettos so as not to break your ankle before you learn the technique!

There is nothing sexier than a confident, balanced walk in killer stilettos but this takes time and practise to perfect and you’re not going to master it overnight. Bambi on ice doesn’t scream sexy.

This thread How to walk in heels has a few tips in to get you started :+1:t2:.

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@Curiosity

You’r certainly going straight in the deep end with a pair of sexy six inch stilettos! :high_heel:

It will just take plenty of practice and a little patience. With the aid of the guide in the link above I’m sure you’ll be strutting you stuff in no time.

Did exactly the same ! I live in sketchers but knew OH would love to see me in high heels (and not much else) shuffling along the edge of the bed whilst wearing them wasnt quite the effect i was after :joy: i now just put them on and lay on the bed .
The videos on youtube are good they basically say start small , but i still couldnt get it
Good luck

Thanks everyone for your advice. I find walking around the house I’m mostly fine, however, when I go outside, it’s a lot harder with nothing nearby to catch myself with.

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For reference, these are the heels I own.

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6 inch heels - you are very brave….

I have never gone that high - I’m lucky to be a tall woman and the highest I have had is 4 inch

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They look beautiful :heart_eyes: I’m going to honest I can’t walk in any heals, but I still love them.

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Yeah I’m regretting going so high as I feel as if I’m walking on stilts. What hosiery would go well with them? Qs I’m new to heels, not sure whether I wear them barefoot, with stockings, socks etc.

They are nice . All I can say is practice practice . I can walk walk pretty well in my 5 inch stiletto’s now

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That style, with the closed toe, you have can go with whatever hosiery option you desire.

They would certainly work well with stockings but you could just as easily go with long socks and a short skirt or fishnets. Whatever makes you feel happy. That style works with almost everything.

If you can get the confident, secure walk going, you can team them with whatever you like!

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It can be as much about the style and balance of the shoe as heel height. I have some that are really easy to walk, even run in and others that i should really bin before i tumble

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Some quick tips off the top of my head. (I also went big with first purchase. 6” heel with 3” platform.)

  1. Walk barefoot on the balls of your feet only. Learn how to balance using inner stabilizing muscles. Your big toe and pinky toe help a lot with this. Your calves will quickly tire which is better done barefoot than when in stilettos. (If you’ve ever hunted, it’s similar to the Native American footfall just without your heel, for silence in dense brush/woods).
  2. Read below for shoes that help with the inner stabilization muscle groupings. MBT
  3. Kettlebell Exercises (swings in particular), while barefoot outdoors in soft grass also help with this immensely.
  4. Learn to shorten your stride length. This was my biggest problem at 6’3. (Hence the recommendation of practicing on your tip toes barefoot.)
  5. Get a good gel inset for the balls of your feet. This will help reduce slipping. It’ll also reduce the intense pain you’ll feel on the balls of your feet from almost all of your weight landing and or standing on that spot pretty much by itself.
  6. Don’t be afraid to put a little Gold Bond Powder etc on to help with sweating/slipperiness, just make sure your powder doesn’t interact with the shoes material.
  7. UnderArmor “no show sock liners” are great to practice in to reduce slipping from sweat. They are incredibly thin and much cheaper and more durable than practicing in nylons/stockings etc. (They are only sold in Women’s size 8-12 (edited for correct size), that I’m aware of but they are super stretchy.) My Gf is a women’s 8. I’m a Women’s 13-14 depending and can wear them comfortably after a little stretch. I actually like the way they feel so much I wear them daily, even with Italian Dress Shoes on.
  8. The stronger your inner stability muscles are the less impact your ankle buckling has. It still happens to me with more regularity than I would like but, I’ve stopped a full ankle supination mid-stride without even noticing I was doing it until after I had autocorrected it. I’ve never sprained my ankle to this point yet.
  9. I cannot emphasize the importance of shortening your stride and learning how not to “heel strike,” enough. It’s become such a natural thing for me, (especially growing up in sports and as a farm boy in the woods), that I do it every day all day long. I just don’t make it obvious my heel never actually touches the ground in Men’s shoes.
  10. Be careful the first few times you go from barefoot in heels to wearing nylons etc. it’s a different sensation, and depending on circumstances can be more or less slippery. Both are equally problematic in my experience.

There are no impact shoes that help immensely with this inner stability muscle group(ings). The brand is called MBT They are based off the back to back marathon running African Masai Tribe who do so barefoot in the desert. And win international marathons barefoot on concrete with amazing regularity. The shoes simulate the correct footfall of running barefoot in sand. (They rock side to side and have a rolling heel/toe transition that most shoes eliminate and mess up the postural gait as a result.).

To give you an idea. They come with a warning. “Do not wear for more than one hour a day until your body has acclimated. Then increase by one hour…repeat etc.” (You’re going to be sore in muscles you never knew you had.) As a side benefit they increase calf muscle usage by 32% and quads by 16% just standing still. It takes that much adjustment, and the effect is magnified when running.

Sketchers ripped this concept off and didn’t include the warning with “Shape-Ups,” and were in a multi million dollar lawsuit as a result. And they were pale imitations at best.

Hope some of this helps. And enjoy your new Pleasers :wink:

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Wow thanks. I’ll look into it all.

No problem. I hope it helps some.

I noticed after posting you have the “curved toe” model of Pleasers. I have no experience with those but it seems to me logically, that the balance on the ball of your foot would be even more critical in that scenario, and light pressure resting after full footfall/when standing on the heel maybe.

I still maintain you can’t go wrong with MBTs/Kettlebells barefoot in soft grass and practicing barefoot on tip toes first though. That inner stabilization muscle group seems twice as important with that particular style of Pleaser.

I think you one upped me on the first pair difficulty scale. Lol :wink:

Thanks I’ll try it all out.
Also thanks everyone for the honest advice with no judgement attached. It’s so nice just being able to ask and get help.

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Wow this is all great advice, I am also just getting into wearing heels around the house and like the OP have gone for 5-6".
I have taken my time and used baby steps to progress. It took a while to change from heel strikes (ex military so this was drummed into me) to balls of my feet but getting it slowly. Transmission in surface hight is what I tentative with at the moment.
Practice is the key
Good luck

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Forgot to mention though that my ultimate goal is to be able to walk around in ballet heels, just like Alexandra Potter.

Have no idea who that is.

If you just Google her with the words ballet heels there are plenty of pictures. Unfortunately I would post one but I’m not sure it would be allowed due to copyright and such