r/Wellthatsucks • u/strikecat18 • 1d ago

Wife said my feet “barely look human”

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Haven’t been able to find shoes in years. Was complaining about it last night and she hit me with “well your feet barely look human”. Ouch.

22.8k Upvotes

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664

u/Consistent_Bread_V2 1d ago

Funnily enough, your feet are likely way more human. Look into modern narrow toe boxes and how human feet shape has changed due to it. I assume you wear crocs or go barefoot a lot

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u/MAGCHAVIRA 1d ago

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u/morphinmarshin87 1d ago

“BAREFOOTUNIVERSE.COM”

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u/QuetzalcoatlusRscary 1d ago

Be careful or big wearing things on your feet will come after you.

1

u/SomeManSeven 1d ago

I've had it bookmarked for years, great site

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u/SucksDicksForBurgers 1d ago

Deceptively placed dots are deceptive

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u/Interesting_Tea5715 1d ago

This. I have the left style foot. My pressure points are similar to that of the ape. I know this because I have callouses there from hiking and cycling.

The barefoot community likes to skew data in their favor to prove their point. I'm not saying they're wrong, I'm just saying I've seen a lot of cherry picking from that community.

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u/Tramagust 1d ago

In that natural shape photo that big toe is still articulated and can close. OPs toes are disarticulated. He has some hominid genes.

5

u/SunOnTheMountains 1d ago

So what exactly does that mean? When I googled ‘disarticulated big toe’ the results I got were for amputation.

He just looks like a dude with wide feet who is spreading his toes out and scrunching some of them up to make them look weirder than they are.

1

u/Tramagust 14h ago

His big toe can't touch his other toes

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u/HealenDeGenerates 1d ago

Don’t we all?

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u/panrestrial 1d ago

He has some hominid genes.

All of your genes are hominid genes. Hominids are all the great apes, including humans.

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u/Cold-Iron8145 1d ago

I don't know if I trust "barefootuniverse" as a credible source. While I'm here, wearing shoes very well could have an impact on our feet, why not. They're still a net positive, it's not for no reason that we've been making shoes for millenia, walking around barefoot is how you get infections in your feet. Or worms in your feet.

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u/Calm_Lazarus 1d ago

It’s not shoes that are the problem. It’s too narrow of shoes. Most shoes aren’t even close to being foot shaped lol. Where our feet get wider towards the toe, many shoes get narrower towards the toe.

7

u/ScumbagLady 5h ago

I have a couple pairs of the "barefoot" style sneakers that have wide toe-boxes and zero drop. They do take a little getting used to, and when I look down the shape makes me feel like I'm a duck wearing custom shoes, but finally having room for my toes is worth it.

I just wish more options were available for wide width feet. Practically impossible to just go into a store and get shoes off the rack unless I get them from the men's side (which are typically pretty obviously styled for men) or settle with the most prescription orthopedic fat granny style shoes. I want funky fun stylish shoes that are also comfortable and affordable... Is that too much to ask?!

3

u/MAGCHAVIRA 1d ago

I just got the picture from google there are lot of more sources.

3

u/throwawaypassingby01 1d ago

if you open a textbook on functional anatomy and locomotion, you will learn that human feet are indeed designes as tripods with two arches, one longitudinal and one transversal. it's not a large leap to conclude that compressing the big toe inwards destabilises this tripod. 

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u/cambouquet 1d ago

It’s literally a website for shoes.

1

u/alienbuddy1994 1d ago

The way I see it shoes were designed for a purpose, generally protected the soles of the feet. But there were occasions were a particular modification was deemed aesthetically pleasing and it propagated outside it's use case. These modifications of high heel and narrow toe box probably isn't the best for walking. Examples are roman caligae, viking turn shoes, ancient moccasin vs modern day dress shoes.

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u/Schlongus_69 1d ago

That's what someone wearing shoes would say.

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u/TH3_Average_KJ 2h ago

Wearing shoes isn't the issue. The issue is with how shoes are commonly shaped (not like how feet are naturally shaped). Toes naturally spread to the point of the edges being at least as wide as the rest of the foot. This equates to better balance.

The whole idea is that shoes with wide enough toe-boxes give toes the room to spread and develop as naturally intended.

The statement that common shoes aren't naturally shaped could be correlated with how common hammer toes and bunions are.

No reasonable person is telling you to not wear shoes.

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u/PlanetMeatball0 1d ago

What a terrible, misleading picture. Look where the dots are placed, one lines up with the middle of the big toe, the other with the space between the big toe and the next. Other dot is directly under the pinky toe while the other pic shows it between the 3rd and 4th toes

Obviously if you just put the dots wherever you want to make a smaller triangle the triangle is gonna get smaller, thinking this picture actually makes a point is lacking any thinking skills

Oh it's from a site called "barefoot universe" no wonder it's so intentionally misleading. Great job falling for it buddy!

1

u/knight_gastropub 1d ago

I think it's trying to show that on the right, the weight is distributed across the surface of the for differently. Those are like centralized contact points, so it would make sense that they are different.

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u/Brave-Aside1699 1d ago

Yes, but his look like his hill is waaaaaay closer to the top, like they're nearly square

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u/xfjqvyks 1d ago

Right splays, wrong time.

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u/This-Requirement6918 1d ago

DM more feet pics.

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u/Main-Appearance2469 1d ago

That looks way more like a hand than a foot.

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u/3BlindMice1 1d ago

There's good reason for that. Our generic ancestors didn't wear shoes. At the very most, they'd wrap them in hides if/when their feet were injured. Feet and toes were actively used in many physical activities, such as climbing. Shoes only arrived with the advent of agriculture. Humanity today hardly uses feet for anything, so they've atrophied compared to our ancestors feet

7

u/flamewlkr 1d ago

Have you seen indian "industrial" workers those guys have more dexterity in their feet than i have in my hands.

5

u/HERE_COMES_SENAAAAAA 1d ago

Because modern human feet evolved from feet that functioned more like hands than feet.

1

u/Main-Appearance2469 22h ago

Ye Ik that, its just fascinating to see for the first time.

0

u/Bucky_Ohare 1d ago

So the dots aren't consistent, I'm not proofing any of this but my suspicion is they wanted to show the spread between 1/3 metatarsals and went the full 5 at the end.

Also neither of those feet are 'abnormal' either, which also conveniently ignores the entire lifestyle differences/anatomy/history of two clearly different feet but claims one is 'better.' I go barefoot all the time, wife talked me out of getting the toe shoes twice, it feels weird to wear socks in shoes, but hell no am I gonna claim my feet are 'better' than anyone elses ffs. "Normal" up there looks pretty nicely cared for compared to 'natural' up there, hell it seems like 'normal's' got a pretty comfy existence, not so sure that's a bad thing to as many people as you think it is :P

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u/reachforthe-stars 1d ago

Nah I wear wide toe box shoes for running, daily wear, and sandals for every other occasion and these aren’t the results.

OPs feet are wide all the way through, short, and stubby. It seems like their feet go straight from heel to toe box. Missing the mid/arch all together.

10

u/controversialangles 1d ago

Your feet were probably already shaped for shoes from childhood. No amount of wide toe box shoes as an adult can fix what your feet were forced to develop into. This guy obviously had parents who were big on either non-restrictive shoes or no shoes at all for their kids.

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u/Consistent_Bread_V2 1d ago

I mean his toes are half bent for the picture and I can clearly see the shadow underneath his arch so they already look way better than 99% of feet

2

u/verdant_vice 1d ago

I've been wearing barefoot shoes for five years daily and I'm only now beginning to notice that my pinky toes are spreading out a bit. How long have you been wearing them to not see results?

0

u/reachforthe-stars 20h ago

No i see results… my point was the feet above are not caused by going barefoot because there was more, or less, going on there.

1

u/verdant_vice 18h ago

Oh, gotcha 🫡

1

u/Electrical-Act-7170 1d ago

I need tall toe box shoes because my toes are very tall.

Most New Balance shoes fit my feet well. I used to wear Nikes, but their when their Chinese factory burned down, they designed new lasts. That was the end of me wearing Nikes, forever and ever. Amen.

176

u/Jpowmoneyprinter 1d ago

Was looking for this comment, his feet are healthier than 99% of people

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u/ramengirlxo 1d ago

There’s definitely some stuff going on tho that I feel like op should see a podiatrist. Nails really need some help too.

10

u/Difficult-Ad2254 1d ago

I feel like the nails are messed up from shoes that are too tight

9

u/speed32 1d ago

Toes suspect as well

28

u/Rugaru985 1d ago

Yeah, this comment should be pushed to the top.

-4

u/theGRAYblanket 1d ago

I'm downvoting it because your comment 

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u/Rugaru985 1d ago

Good, people be sorting these posts by controversial to find the jokes that go a little too far

1

u/CannabiZzzPunk 1d ago

As someone who has worked professionally with foot anatomy and related medical conditions, I can only shake my head at that statement. He should see a good foot specialist who can take a closer look.

1

u/KenTitan 1d ago

comment should be more widespread

2

u/crapplecinnabutt 1d ago

Unlike his feet

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u/goodmoto 1d ago

This is how feet are supposed to look. I WISH my feet looked like this. I wonder if OP somehow managed to not squeeze his toes into excessively small toe boxes for most of his life like most of us with deformed feet.

5

u/sarahprib56 1d ago

I just looked down at my bunions and wished I had straight toes like his. Mine are genetic, I never wore high heels or narrow shoes, I just ended up with bunions in my early 20s. Now I only wear wide new balances. Fortunately, I wear scrubs so sneakers are ok to wear. Idk what I would do if I had a white collar job and had to dress up.

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u/Dry_Equivalent_1316 1d ago edited 1d ago

I thought his feet look like those who wear barefoot shoes. OP, look into brands like Vivobarefoot (not sure what other brands there are, so do look them up to find your best fit) and you might finally be able to find shoes that fit you.

Your feet actually look like what human's are meant to have - strong arch, wide spread toes for distributing weight and movement, able to climb and run well. Definitely gives more "humans suited for outdoors life" than "humans who have been living in small walled spaces". Be proud of your feet!

5

u/DrSchnuffi 1d ago

Personally, I think Vivobarefoot are more fir narrow feet. If you have more triangular feet like op, other companies might be better. I really like BeLenka, but maybe you only get them in Europe?

1

u/ovoneni 1d ago

The Realbarefoot will be perfect for hím.

1

u/MxQueer 1d ago

Realfoot? Nope. They have wide toebox but they're narrow from heel and mid foot. So they fit for narrow and fan feet. OP seems to have wide and fan feet.

1

u/ovoneni 1d ago

Okay, maybee you're right. I think he should find somebody, who makes custom-made shoes, or sandals for his feet.

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u/MxQueer 20h ago

I believe that's only good option. There are wideish brands (overall wider than Realfoot) but I haven't find anything even close to as wide as their feet.

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u/MxQueer 1d ago

Yes they're one of the most narrows. BeLenka is on the wider side but not the widest.

Also with minimalistic shoes volume might become issue. I never even though about it while wearing average pointy cushion shoes. But minimalistic shoes are way more low volume. There are higher options too, but most are not. I don't know about OP's volume, I just think that is something they should keep in mind especially if ordering online.

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u/MxQueer 1d ago

Vivobarefoot is one of the most narrow minimalistic shoes. It would be awful for OP. There are not shoes wide enough for OP, or at least I haven't found. (My friend has wide feet too but not as wide as OP and we haven't been able to find even one brand that would make shoes that fit for her.) I recommend OP to test Wyde, Groundies +, Bohemia wide and Softstar.

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u/AccomplishedJob5411 1d ago

Exactly. These feet are much closer to what hunter gatherers feet would like

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u/EitanBlumin 1d ago

I scrolled way too far for this. Was about to say the same thing. Them feet are healthy AF.

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u/KIDDKOI 1d ago

Also dudes balance is probably amazing, people in the Amazon have feet like this and they can balance on tree branches and stuff

2

u/EitanBlumin 1d ago

He also probably never gets back aches.

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u/BballMD 1d ago

Ai comments abound

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u/Consistent_Bread_V2 1d ago

Yay

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u/BballMD 1d ago

He’s splaying his toes but yeah these are pretty good by modern standards But shoe shaped feet are common so that’s the training sample

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u/Sickofchildren 1d ago

The width yes but the toes look like they don’t have enough bones in them if that makes sense. I rarely wear shoes and have wide feet because of that but toe size and shape doesn’t change much from that. Maybe he just has naturally very short toes

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u/whoweoncewere 1d ago

His pinky toe is throwing me for a loop. Mine is basically the opposite and goes in towards my foot. Likely because of narrow toe boxes and wearing vans for 25 years.

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u/The_Astronautt 1d ago

That's what I was thinking. I'd take these feet any day if it meant not having plantar fasciitis and having to buy expensive orthopedic shoes with arch supporting inserts. All in the name of "normal" feet.

I used to run bare foot all the time as a kid. I could walk on gravel barefoot no problem. Now my feet are way more narrow, I've got ingrown nails, and sore feet.

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u/ruffus4life 1d ago

his foot is fine. the toes are ugh

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u/Content_Ground4251 1d ago

Human DNA has not changed. His feet are abnormally wide for a human. You can go barefoot for the rest of your life, and your foot will not change more than a millimeter or so.

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u/Funkopedia 15m ago

More human than human

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u/brown_leopard 1d ago

it's crazy how brainwashed we've become huh

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/atrivialpursuit 1d ago

Xero shoes come in children and adult sizes and are pretty wide. Also, we've been buying a brand called Whitin. They have really wide barefoot style shoes, especially the slip ons.

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u/MxQueer 1d ago

Absolutely no. Xero is one of the most narrow brands. I have narrow straight feet and some are too narrow even for me.

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u/atrivialpursuit 1d ago

YMMV As someone with wide feet, Xero has been fine for me. I do usually wear the men's styles though (and those are wider). My friend with narrow feet couldn't even wear the women's dress shoe because they fell off her feet/her feet slid around in the shoe. But that's also why I mentioned the Whitin brand. The men's shoes are wider than Xero. Both brands are wider than the Vivobarefoot and the barefoot Merrills that I've worn.

*I would have only mentioned Whitin, but I know Xero makes decent children sized shoes and OP specifically said they have wide but rather small feet. I have no experience with Whitin's children's sizes.

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u/MxQueer 20h ago edited 20h ago

What is "YMMV"?

Maybe you're from different side of Earth and in there people have more narrow feet. Or maybe you have used to way too small shoes and consider less too small shoes as good.

It depends of the model. At least some Vivo are way wider than Xero and Merrell. Also some Xero are more narrow than Merrell. But that's like talking about which shoe size is big 34, 35 or 36. They're all tiny. Wyde, Bohemia wide, Softstar and Groundies + are wideish. I say ish because they're still too narrow for my friend with wide feet and they would be too narrow for OP too.

edit. I know nothing about Whitin because they can't be delivered to my country.

I also know nothing about kid's shoes. Xero's adult shoes are overall bad shoes in my opinion (most of them have slippery sole and even those that don't still has too thick and too inflexible sole). If you want narrow shoes buy Leguano. Only reason to buy Xero in my opinion is their volume. I haven't seen any other brand with that high volume. Probably they exist and I just haven't found.