So I’m embarrassed to admit I have a closet full of shoes that I cannot wear. As a woman, I know this isn’t uncommon. Every time I buy a pair and they’re even remotely comfortable, I’ll keep them and wear them eventually and when I do, I regret keeping them because they’re not comfortable after an hour and/or they’re not comfortable enough to even walk around in the grocery store while wearing, but now they’ve been worn enough that they’re no longer new and I can’t return them. I have a weird callous-type thing that I’ve had since I was a child that grows on the bottom/side of my right foot just beneath my pinky toe area. I’ll file it down and it just grows back. When it does grow back, it can become extremely uncomfortable to have a shoe pressing on it from the side. After decades I now realize the way to combat this is to order a wide shoe, but often times they’re not wide enough to make a difference for me. So that brings me to about six or so months ago.

We were going on an excursion and I knew I needed comfortable shoes to walk in. I also wanted something that I could wear while walking in our shallow creek, so I went looking for water shoes. When I found whitein’s water shoe and bought them, the first time I put them on made me want to cry tears of joy because [I then realized] I hadn’t had a comfortable pair of shoes in so long. I thought about all those times I was miserably uncomfortable and, quite frankly, the discomfort hindered my happiness and left me with memories of painful feet on trips instead of memories of the trips themselves.
Once I wore them, I assumed the comfort was from water shoes themselves and not the style or brand. I went back to the whitein water shoes only to discover there were only a total of two colors. I’d purchased the blue already so I bought the only other color they had which were black. The only issue with these water shoes is that I wear a ton of dresses or skirts and water shoes don’t exactly go well with those. I’m to the point where I care more about comfort than looks, but I still wished there had been another option for me. I also do a lot of walking in the desert and water shoes don’t work well with thorny cactuses everywhere!

Eventually I decided to go back to Amazon and search for the whitein brand and discovered they had several kinds of shoes available and not just the water ones. I immediately bought a pair of black sneakers and again cried tears of joy when trying them on. This sounds overly dramatic, I’m sure, but these shoes have legitimately changed my life and have allowed me to focus on time with my children when we’re out walking or shopping or hiking in nature as opposed to wincing every step of the way when I’m out and about. I no longer look for ways to cut the plans short because it’s too miserable for me to keep walking when everyone else is perfectly comfortable.

If it’s one thing I’ve learned from this, it’s that my comfort is far more valuable than what some random people think of my shoes! Whitein, you’ve truly improved my life with these and have made me realize that zero drop shoes are likely what I should have been looking for all along and will likely need to wear for the remainder of my life. For anyone else with uncomfortable feet, look for the zero drops.
One other quick point: our home flooring is entirely ceramic tile. Walking around barefoot hurts and I’ve gone through so many pairs of slippers trying to find something that’s comfortable to wear around. The water shoes and tennis shoes work for this too. I finally bought another pair to use solely inside. My back and every other part of me have felt significantly better since I started wearing them inside too. All this time I thought it was the padding and arch support that was important, only to find out it was likely the exact opposite. We weren’t born with feet, so to wear something that allows us to walk the way our bodies were intended to makes perfect sense!

TLDR; If your feet hurt in every pair of shoes, or if your back hurts after every other shoe you’ve tried, then these are worth a try for you. These are amazing and life-changing shoes that I now own in every color I can find in my size. If the apocalypse should come, I know I’m set with shoes for the remainder of my life and won’t be left in the dust! 😂

WHITIN Men's Wide Minimalist Barefoot Sneakers | Zero Drop Sole | Optimal Relaxation

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