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- My Feet Used to STANK!
Seriously, Shaka Zulu helped cure my stinky feet.
My mom loves to tell the story of how long my feet have been smelly. When I was a toddler, she bought me one of those sleep jumpers with the feet. You know the ones. I LOVED those jammies so much, but it had one serious design flaw…
Or rather, I had a serious incompatibility with said jammies; my feet sweat…a lot. Even as a toddler, I ran hot at night and locking those cute little toes in a cotton and fake-leather soles was a recipe for stank.
My mother eventually cut the feet off of the jammies to let mine breath, but the magic was gone and I soon just started wearing feetless pajama pants. It was one of the first deep sadnesses of my life — to not have jammies with the feet. I loved the extra coziness of climbing into a human shaped sleeping bag at night, but I had to agree, even then, that the smell of BO and corn chips was not something I liked waking up to either.
My smelly feel problem, however, didn’t go away. They continued to sweat in all the shoes I wore and I became a self-conscious teenager and young adult every time I had to take my shoes off in other people’s presence.
SHAKA ZULU
The 1986 TV mini series Shaka Zulu completely captivated my imagination when reruns aired in the early 2000s. I had heard about the warrior ruler prior to watching, but didn’t know much about his life other than he was brilliant military leader and an absolute terror to European colonizers and opposing Indigenous populations.
The miniseries features one of my favorite all time actors, Henry Cele, who also stared in the epic film, The Ghost and the Darkness. Cele is best known for portraying Shaka, and I was sad to learn of his untimely death in 2007 at the age of 66.
One of the many aspects of the film that stood out to me, was one of the many military innovations Shaka introduced in Southern Africa. It was noted by European colonizers that Shaka’s armies had incredibly tough skin on the soles of their feet. Zulu warriors’ feet were “as tough as elephant hide” and “not even a spear could penetrate them”. What?!
What an incredible concept! Shaka apparently was obsessed with rooting out weakness in himself and his soldiers, and the sandals most warriors wore at the time was something Shaka noted slowed down the armies and made fighting clumsy and awkward. So, he simply took off his sandals and walked, ran, and trained without them.
I wanted feet like that!
Mine still stank, but only when I put them in shoes. Could I have Zulu feet? Could I eliminate the awkwardness of my dependence on shoes by embracing an Zulu warrior practice? Was I a Zulu warrior inside?
It was a nice thought to think I had a direct link to Shaka even though I have no evidence of this; it was enough to get me to start practicing and so I stared wearing shoes less and less often. And sure enough, my feet got tougher! I started walking on our gravel driveway, on pavement, in our backyard without my shoes every chance I got. I even walked outside without shoes when it was cold. But only occasionally.
RUN-FLAT FEET
Like I often do, I try to come up with a name for my latest weird Aquarius obsession. The concept of run-flat tires — tires that maintain their integrity even after being punctured — was a pretty dope concept when I first heard about such around the same time I started the Shaka Zulu mini-series. The idea that even with an injured tire, you could drive your car successfully without having to stop immediately was just the type of resilience I envisioned Zulu warriors possessed.
Having feet with skin as hard as elephant hide was the equivalent to a run-flat tire; better than a run-flat tire because feet like that couldn’t be punctured. Run-Flat Feet!
So after months of toughening up my own feet, I decided to test them on a hike my family and I did often. I decided to walk the Hemlock Forest Trail barefoot.
It was an incredible experience! I could feel the trail, the forest and was a part of the community in a way I had never been before. My feet tingled afterwards in the most wonderful way. I had done it! I had become a modern day Zulu warrior in the hills of West Virginia!
Yes, I know, dramatic much? Still, I felt like I was on to something. This fantasy reality of better living through bare feet was reinforced by all manners of new-aged examples from mainstream outlets on the Discovery Channel, podcasts, and even a guy who calls himself a “Neo-aboriginal”. Cringe on cringe, but his podcast introduced me to a podiatrist that changed my life forever.
MINIMALIST SHOES
The concept was simple: the majority of modern day foot problems are rooted in the fact that modern footwear is incompatible with human foot physiology. Modern footwear encases human feet in hard soled, toe binding, non-breathable casts primarily for aesthetic reasons that, over time, change, for the worse, our the way our feet function.
After decades of cramming our feet into these mostly stiff molds, it’s no wonder that so many of us, especially women, suffer from conditions like hammer toes, corns, bunions, planter fasciatous, etc. Most footwear people in the US buy is a slow and less brutal form of foot binding.
All of that made sense, and so I dove down the rabbit hole of what was wrong with my shoes and found answers. And those answers were painful…
I mean physically. The answers were deeply satisfying and affirming, but physically painful because for most of my life I hadn’t really used my feet. My toes angled in on each other, I had poor foot strength, and I mostly was only aware of my feet when something was wrong. My run-flat feet experiment had opened my eyes to what my feet could sense and I now disliked having to wear shoes. It was like deliberately removing your sense of taste and eating Indian food.
So I tried the recommendations of the podiatrist and found an entire ecosystem of like minded people and shoe companies that shared a vision of footwear that was more aligned with human foot physiology.
A minimalist shoe has three characteristics. 1) The sole is highly flexible. 2) The is no heel and minimal rise at the front of the shoe — known as “zero drop” shoes. 3) The toe box is wide allowing for the natural spread of human toes as we walk, run, and move.
It was a rough two weeks with my toe spreaders at home and then another two weeks in my new minimalist shoes (with toe spreaders) outside. My calves and feet ached, but it was the same ache you get when you work out hard. My feet were working like they did more than three decades ago when I was a toddler.
I began to feel the world in my new shoes! I was getting a percentage of the pleasant foot tingle that I had gotten barefoot on the hemlock trail!
I’ve been wearing minimalist shoes for almost a decade now and you couldn’t pay me any amount of money to go back. Seriously, if someone offered me $20 million to never wear minimalist shoes or go barefoot again I’d turn them down.
I know that sounds bonkers, but would you take $20 million if the price was giving up your sense of taste?
STINK…STANK…NO ANY MORE!
And so it happened one day after wearing minimalist shoes for several years, when I noticed something. Or rather I noticed the absence of something.
I took my shoes off and put them on the shoe rack and realized that I didn’t smell anything. I hadn’t even realized that I had been expecting said smell, but there I was, nose deep in the shoes I had just taken off — an act that previously could be successfully used in deep interrogation techniques — and the only thing I could smell was shoe and sock fabric.
What in the hell?!
I immediately became emotional. Was this real or was I losing my sense of smell? How could it be that after so many years of hiding my shoes from people that I was not smelling a single overtly unpleasant thing?!
But it all made perfect sense. I was actually using my feet now and not locking them in cast with little to no ventilation for hours on end. The wool socks I wore were no longer overwhelmed with buckets of sweat from my mostly immobile feet and could wick away the much smaller quantities of moisture my feet now produced.
My feet also stayed warmer as a result of them being free to move inside my shoes. I began to wear my all time favorite canvas boots as snow boots in the winter and my feet never got as cold as they did in my conventional boots.
My balance was better, my feet and legs were stronger, and I was so much more confident as a person.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS
There are lots and lots of companies now that make minimalist shoes for almost every activity except for certain sports that require specialty footwear like cleats and basketball shoes. I’m looking forward to the day that the concept of minimalist shoes catches on with pro athletes, especially since stars like LeBron James and former San Fran linebacker Patrick Willis have notoriously horrible foot problems. Willis retired earlier than many thought he could have in large part because of his foot issues and how much pain he was in on a daily basis.
My two go-to brands for minimalist shoes are Xero Shoes and Lems. I generally prefer the later over the former from an aesthetics standpoint, but both make solid shoes and add new models every year. Lems is notorious for taking their best selling shoes out of circulation after a season or two, so if you find a pair you like, buy a second pair soon after.
Right now, I’m rocking all Lems.
The Drifter is my go to everyday casual shoe. I love these for traveling because they come off so easily at security checks and just generally getting around.
The Primal Zens are my go to for walking, biking, and general warm weather activity.
And the Nylon Boulder Boot is simply the best boot I’ve ever worn in my entire life. I didn’t take the advice on buying twice that I’m passing on to you and now Lems doesn’t sell these all black boots any more. The other versions are excellent as well though.
I’ll be looking to grab a pair of the more rugged boots for hunting this fall and winter, so stay tuned for that!
Or, I suppose I could try and do what Shaka never could, and hunt in the snow barefoot.
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New Video Content
JUST THE TIP
I had planned to release this video this week, but couldn’t make the time to get the edit done. It’s coming though and it’s a good one. Stay turned!
THEY NOT LIKE US
Speaking of upcoming content, I finished filming Part 3 of my race and hunting mini series this week. I really can’t wait to share this one with y’all!
Wild Food Update
Speaking of not taking my own advice, I corrected a cookware mistake I made recently, but taking advantage of Made-In’s Memorial Day sale and purchase their grill pan (on the left). The pan on the right is the bootleg Kroger version that, after one use, started pealing. Can’t believe I did that foolishness, but the Made-In pan is something special and I don’t plan to replace for decades.
Recommendation
MINIMALIST SHOES
No need to repeat myself other than to say, scroll back up and buy yourself some minimalist shoes if that’s something you think you might want to try.
It’s totally worth it!
Business Update
NEW WEBSITE
No, it’s not up yet, but I’m letting you know I’ll have one up soon.
The biggest reason being to gather better data on people who interact with my content and provide a single hub for the digital products I offer. I’m aiming for the end of June to have the new website up, so don’t forget to ask me about it as a way to hold me accountable. It should be dope! Stay tuned!
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