The purpose of this blog is to provide useful information in support of anyone who loves going barefoot, whether that barefooting opportunity is occasional, often, or all the time.
We were all born barefoot and born to live barefoot. The human feet that we were given by God – or nature or evolution if you prefer – were designed and intended to function and serve us well without “support” or otherwise needing to be covered or bound up in footwear.
There is no logical reason why anyone would ever need to have their feet, including their soles, covered or “protected” by shoes or other footwear, with the exception of certain conditions that would immediately or very quickly cause injury or damage, such as extreme weather conditions, caustic chemicals, fire, or similar conditions. Mere risk or what if? are not necessarily good or logical reasons for needing footwear, but only personal preferences.
My name is Kriss Sands. I was born to live barefoot, and that’s what I do; I never wear shoes or other footwear – anywhere. I’ve been a barefooter all my life; that is, as much as possible, outside of school, military service, and employment.
That has included not only day-to-day activities outside of shoe-required employment, but also recreational activities such as barefoot running (including 5K races), martial arts (earning a black belt in taekwondo), and barefoot hiking.
In 2003, about the time I was able to take early retirement from my employment, I discovered an online organization called the Society for Barefoot Living. I was fascinated to find there were thousands of other people in the U.S. and other parts of the world who love being barefoot as much as I, and who actually had the guts to go barefoot in public businesses and other places where practically everyone else is wearing shoes.
So, I started doing considerable research into any and all legal, medical, and health issues related to going barefoot in public, and found that, despite some pervasive myths to the contrary, for all practical purposes, there are no laws, codes, or health department regulations that ban bare feet for customers or patrons of any business anywhere.
I also found that not only is going barefoot the natural function of a human foot without any need for “support” or “protection,” it was a fact that approximately 90% of all foot problems are caused or exacerbated by shoe wearing. My feet in fact had suffered considerable physical damage – necessitating several surgeries – caused by many years of being required to wear shoes for my employment. That, plus I had to put up with recurring foot infections, such as athlete’s foot, plantar warts, corns, and foot/shoe odor over the years, all caused by shoe wearing.
Since I was no longer employed and then free to dress as I pleased anytime I wanted, I was determined to begin living without further damage to my feet being done, as well as to continually feel the stability, comfort, and sense of well-being that comes with direct skin contact with the surface under our feet.
So, in 2003 I began living totally barefoot, all the time and everywhere – no exceptions.
Over the years, I’ve accumulated extensive knowledge and insight into what it means to live barefoot as well as deal with the issues we often face when living barefoot in a shoe-wearing society. I’ve gained this knowledge by extensive research, information gathered from other barefooters in the U.S. and around the world, as well as personal experience.
During the period since 2003, I’ve also kept numerous records and files of practically everything I’ve ever written about barefooting issues, as well as copies of many interesting experiences, observations, and insights shared by others.
I decided to start this blog in order to share some of this information with others in a way that I had never had the resources to do before. Therefore, many of the topics I’ll be posting about I may have actually written in the past and posted to such groups as the Society for Barefoot Living, of which I am a member, certain Facebook groups, or even in letters to the editors of newspapers. I’ve been very active in promoting the benefits of barefooting as well as debunking various myths, and feel a medium like this is a great step forward in continuing that effort.
Please feel free to comment and express your thoughts below any post. For the time being, I’ll be moderating the comments (I may change that later), so any comment you send may not show up right away until I see it first – but I’ll be checking those often.