I used to go barefoot all the time when I lived in a small town, but now that I live in a city, I am afraid to go barefoot! There are always people breaking bottles & stuff here & I just worry about stepping on the glass shards. I know I'm not the only one with this issue.. what do you all do? Just be more careful?? It sucks not being able to go barefoot just because of other peoples' lack of responsibility. Peace & Blessings, Moon Beam
I live in a large town (Hull) with a significant amount of broken glass around, and it doesn't seem to do any harm. It's only a problem if sharp edges point uwards, such as a bottlebottom, and even then you can usually feel it in time to roll your foot off it. I've never yet cut my self on glass (fingers crossed!) If you go barefoot a lot, your feet will be tough enough to take care of themselves, in my experience.
I don't live in a big city, so it hasn't been a problem for me. I do live in a neighborhood that is a construction zone. Seems like everyone is building. As a result, the area is covered in various sharp objects. Walking, I can avoid them, or even step on them without any issues. But, I'm a runner, and while running it's much too hard to avoid them. I can't run over them either, not like I can walk. I've been using the Vibram Five Finger to run in. That's been my solution. At least, until I move and can go back to running outside of construction zones!
I've gone barefoot in New York City, L.A., San Francisco and many other cities with no problems. Once you're used to being barefoot, you not only develop a keen sense of step but your feet get tough so many small hazards don't bother you. I've pulled out some small shards of glass from my callouses. I even remember one time an ex-gf who was also a barefooter and liked standing on my feet with hers cut the top of my foot (not deeply) because she had a small piece of glass stuck in her foot! It was kinda hard to see the small amount of blood since the tops of mine were so filthy. Just do it! Your feet will get accoustomed to it as nature intended.
Hi moon beam. I lived in a big city for a few years and also felt disgusted by all the glass and filth everywhere. I ended up only going barefoot around clean residential areas and did lots of barefoot hiking on the nature trails. Also I found that people in the big city often have weird problems about other people going barefoot. But I moved back to a small town and everything is much better now that I can go barefoot anywhere anytime and without all the shoe police. I even gave up a good job in the city just to move back but it was worth it.
The city/town where I live isn't very large and there is not so much broken glass laying around... in fact, it's quite rare. In most cases, large glass shards are not problem, because you can see them and walk around, or do some "controlled glasswalking" if you want to. But occasionally there are very small and very sharp glass slivers that you can't see. They stick into the skin, remain embedded there and keep pricking as you walk. They don't do any harm, except for some painfull pricking, but it takes some time to dig them out using a needle or a tweezer.
