flip flops

I’ve spent an unbelievable amount of time shopping for footwear to wear around the house; I needed something backless that didn’t require any effort to put on or remove. Prior to the current state of things, I would change into flip-flops at the end of every workday. I’d wear them from the time I returned home until the time I went to bed. In the fourteen years that I’ve worn them in this fashion, the style has never caused me any issues. Things started to go downhill this year once quarantining became a reality. After assuming my new role as a homebody, I began to wear flip-flops more often.

When considering a shoe to wear indoors, I know now that flip-flops aren’t the answer. I speak from experience when I say that wearing flip-flops constantly over a long period of time will cause damage to your feet. Thank goodness I was able to reverse mine. Heed this warning: you may not be so lucky.  

In my quest to discover why flip-flops are so damaging, I came across the website of a leading New York podiatrist named Dr. Miguel Cunha. His practice, Gotham Footcare, has two locations: one on 5th Ave and another on Broadway. Not only has Dr. Cunha lent his knowledge to outlets like Health magazine, PopSugar, and Refinery29, but he also writes blog posts to benefit the general public.

The three most important points that I’ve extracted from his writings concerning the topic of this post are as follows: 1) you should have a pair of indoor shoes 2) wearing flip-flops puts too much pressure on the forefoot and can lead to conditions like hammertoe 3) slides tend to cover a generous portion of the forefoot, which may keep unwanted conditions at bay (provided that you don’t wear them excessively). After months of searching for shoes to wear indoors, I’ve ended up with a pair of gold mules from J.McLaughlin and a pair of slide sandals from J.Crew (the Cyprus sandal in roasted pecan).

As you can see, I’ve worn my mules outside for photo-taking purposes. I wiped the soles down later for the sake of cleanliness. Although I love how they shine in the sunlight, I don’t wear backless shoes outside unless I’m leaving the nail salon or going through airport security. They’re not appropriate to wear whilst actively working towards my daily Fitbit goal.

Works Sighted

J.McLaughlin mule (no longer available); Spanx Perfect Black Pant, Ankle Backseam Skinny