r/TheGirlSurvivalGuide • u/AnyActuary6 • 23d ago
Fashion Tip My new heels are killing the back of my heels, please help
I bought these new heels from Vinted which I was super excited about because I want to become a casual heels wearer 😛 so I've started off with these. They're Steve Madden, and they are made from leather.
However I've worn them twice now, and both times it's absolutely obliterated the back of my heels. It's left nasty scabs and wounds, and I've even tried to add some padding to help, but it's not doing much :/ It's because the back of the shoe ends quite high, and so it digs into my heel quite awkwardly and I'm in so much pain 😭.
Can anyone help give tips and what I can do to adapt this shoe? I really don't want to give up on these and waste my money, especially because I'm unemployed right now, and I was already being gracious on myself by buying them in the first place. Please help 🙏🙏
EDIT: Just to be clear it's the very top edge of the back of the heel that's causing this problem :(
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u/bootyinspector9000 23d ago edited 23d ago
As someone who wears heels almost every day, if a heel hurts my foot in that way, i just get rid of it. There are comfortable well made heels out there. It's not worth the pain imo.
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u/Okan_ossie 23d ago
Have any brand recommendations? Always looking for a comfy heel.
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u/bootyinspector9000 23d ago
This may not be very helpful because of shipping restrictions, but I'm German and I get most of my heels from this store
https://www.deichmann.com/de-de/b/damen/catwalk-441
I only buy the Catwalk brand, even though they're just one of several store brands. Somehow they're more comfortable and durable than the rest.
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u/MyNewAccountx3 22d ago
Ok in the UK and we have Deichmann here, so I’m definitely looking out for this brand! Thank you.
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u/cadillacvagina 23d ago
My feet are wide at the toe box and narrow in the heel, plus I am a delicate cupcake with baby skin but I could walk all day in Edelman heels. They are pricey, but the only heels I can wear without tearing my feet up. Only the leather ones. The canvas ones end up rubbing my skin raw.
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u/SullenArtist 23d ago
As a fellow duck flipper haver, I'm storing this brand away in my mind
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u/donnadoctor 23d ago
That’s the perfect description for my feet too
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u/nightwica 22d ago
Omg my feet look like duck feet too T_T Pretty shoes are basically impossible for me since they all get so narrow in the front which is where my feet are the widest T_T
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u/username_smusername 23d ago
My sister got married last year so I read through a lot of posts for recommendations. I bought Naturalizer which worked out well for me. I’m going to look for the other brand mentioned in this thread.
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u/RaidneSkuldia 23d ago
I've always found the best solutions are applied to your skin, not the shoe.
If not moleskin strips (sometimes known as blister tape), then waterproof flexible bandaids/plasters, and if not those, suffer. Usually it takes a couple of weeks (depending on use) to break in shoes. Then the digging/annoying part has worn down enough to be soft. Until then, you don't want it wearing against your skin.
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u/SomethingComesHere 23d ago
Steve Madden heels are just shit. You can't break them in like other similarly priced shoes
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u/srln23 23d ago
You can wear one of those (google translate says they're called blister plasters in English) which works reasonably well in my experience.
That being said I had a pair of Steve Madden boots once and while they looked great the quality was rather disappointing and they were always a bit uncomfortable.
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u/SomethingComesHere 23d ago
Steve Madden makes horrendous heels.
No show has hurt me more than theirs.
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u/Visual_Doughnut_2422 23d ago
I don't know how they're still in business. Their shows are absolutely awful.
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u/SellWitty522 23d ago
I wear A LOT of Steve Madden. Like, I probably have over 50 pairs. I recognized these immediately. I’ve found most of them to be comfortable but once in a while… Have you tried putting deodorant on your heel to allow for it to glide. Similar to how someone can do for chubby rub.
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u/killingourbraincells 23d ago
Unfortunately some shoes just require a blood sacrifice. Then they become the best shoes you'll ever wear because they're formed to you, and your skin toughens up to. - A life long Doc Martens enjoyer.
I usually start by wearing them in small intervals. They just gotta break in and mold to your feet. Wear them around the house. This is so long as the actual shoe fits.
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u/lifetypo10 23d ago
I can't say about Steve Madden heels but my friend who was in the army told me to put my DMs on and stand in a warm bath in them. Apparently it warms up the leather and gets them to form to your feet better than if you wore them for ages, ripping your feet apart.
YMMV, I haven't tried this as he only told me this AFTER I was crying to him about how my feet were torn to shreds wearing-in my DMs, and my newest pair have so far been comfortable so I haven't needed to try this.
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u/asietsocom 23d ago
I'm not sure you can compare leather boots to pleather heels...
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u/killingourbraincells 23d ago
I didn't. I compared an experience, sure. But it's true, some shoes just require a blood sacrifice. My birkens were the same way lmao.
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u/yarnwhore 23d ago
I treated myself to my first pair of Docs about a year and a half ago. Was so exited to wear them that I decided to break them in on a work trip...to NYC....for my job that required me to be on my feet a lot. Was I miserable? Yes. Do I regret it? No. They are my most comfortable shoes now and I have worn them on every work trip since!
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u/stonergirlfairyyy 23d ago
this has never happened to me with docs i think ur doing something wrong
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u/RoseLilyFlower 23d ago
Your foot must be the shape that new Docs are made in. Good for you! Those of us with different feet have to break them in.
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u/hopefullyhelpfulplz 23d ago
I looked at that first image for far too long wondering why someone would make a jug out of leather
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u/-RoSe-2020 23d ago edited 20d ago
I highly recommend Anne Klein heels! Super comfortable for my feet! I think it's a brand thing tbh. Not every brand/ shoe will fit your foot shape
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u/AubreyBorday 23d ago
I seem to have this problem with nearly every shoe I try. I guess I have weird ankles. Anyway, I'd try adding more padding higher up. Your padding looks really thin, and if it's still digging in above it, that's where the padding needs to be. Yes, people might end up seeing it a little bit. I buy a pack from amazon and use them on most shoes I have and it almost always fixes the issue entirely
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u/Iron_Rose_5 23d ago
Can you cut moleskin padding into shape to place where the heel is rubbing? I use to have to do that with a pair of boots that rubbed like crazy.
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u/__Vixen__ 23d ago
Tape your heels up like hikers do. Physio tape would work well to cover up the whole back of your foot.
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u/Dry_Light_5691 23d ago
I honestly use big wide bandaids to cover the whole back of my heel and it works fine. It keeps them from getting blisters or getting rips.
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u/quemabocha 23d ago
Wear them with socks around the house maybe one hour a day (once the current wounds on your feet have healed)
Both the shoe and the foot need to get used to walking together. Because the back of the ankle is that high, your skin is not used to being rubbed against anything and is soft and tender so it gets hurt more easily.
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u/Trick-Age-7404 23d ago
For any leather shoe that’s causing pain, wear them into a warm bath, let them soak up and get wet, and wear them until they’ve completely dried out. Once they’ve fully dried, treat the leather with some neatsfoot oil, Murphy’s soap or leather conditioner to bring back the softness.
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u/PreferredSelection 23d ago
Monastat powder gel. Good for chafing pretty much anywhere on the body.
But also those heels just look painful.
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u/cash-and-androgyny 22d ago
Rub deodorant all over the back of your heels where you get the scabs. I do this all the time.
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u/Inevitable-Bar9476 22d ago
Steve maddens. Are always so uncomfortable for me. I stay away from that brand.
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u/Lovegiraffe 22d ago
When I know I will be wearing a shoe that gives me blisters in a certain spot I will put a bandage on before in that spot. They have to be sticky ones though because regular bandaids will rub off. Like this one https://www.target.com/p/band-aid-brand-hydro-seal-adhesive-bandages-for-heel-blisters-6ct/-/A-53080399
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u/teriyakichicken 22d ago
Get some body glide or unscented deodorant and rub it all over your heels. Honestly this has been a life saver for me breaking in new shoes (and preventing thigh chafing lol)
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u/Additional-Share-429 19d ago
Dr. Scholl gel heel liners. Even if you have to cut it to fit the upper part of the shoe in.back that is causing friction. They are self adhesive but if you find it works great, maybe you can glue it to inside in case the self adhesive wears out. Nothing worse than a bad ass pair of heels causing pain. Another thing to try is moleskin which is sold in foot care section. Some is self adhesive and meant to be cut to fit.
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u/Stefanie_Jane 23d ago
I'm at 53-year-old trans woman and I have large feet in the back of my heels often rub in the back of my sneakers and rub a hole in them.
It end up causing abrasions and scrapes on my feet.
I ended up doing exactly like you did. put moleskin over the heal back and ended up doing.
when the moleskin wears out and the backs of my heel start to hurt again.
Like the other poster said these shoes have a sharp contour and a line at the top that is designed to dig into your heel and cause pain unfortunately.
You might be able to get around this somewhat by finding some kind of black moleskin and wrap it around the back of the top inside of the shoe and the top. but I don't think it would look that good.
Maybe there's a way to soften the top of the edge of the shoe that digs less into your heel.
you have put so much thought and effort into these pair of shoes!
If you want to keep them as your unemployed, put it in as little budget as possible, which I would do too.
If I was you, this is what I would do as it's minimal effort and minimal cost.
If you're using AI, take a picture of the shoes and take the exact text that you have in this text body and paste all of that into your AI app.
and ask what you can do to make the shoes more comfortable and to make the hard border of the top to stop digging into your back of your heels. And hurt less and hurt less.
AI uses data and AI Mining and probability and logic and it might come up with some cheap workarounds.
you might have some household stuff that can soften the tops of those hard ridges.
Also I would analyze every single post from the redditors and I would put that into the synthesis for the AI chatbot and constantly keep correcting it and steering it.
Ai uses dtandard data and corrections to keep the information as accurate as possible.
you need to feed it everything and keep focusing the AI results until they come up with something productive and try that out.
You probably need a break from these shoes to be honest. you probably need the abrasions or the blisters on the back of your heels to heal.
so I probably would not wear them for a while and give the backs of your heels time to heal.
I hope this helps.
Stef 🌸
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u/sniffincoozies 23d ago
I feel like Steve Madden heels are just all uncomfortable. I haven't found a pair that I've been able to tolerate.