Barefoot season: easing feet back into sandals after winter

Two weeks of sun and a blister on day one

The first properly warm week arrives. The sandals come out of the cupboard. By the evening there is a raw patch across the top of one foot and a sore line where the heel strap sits, and it is only May.

This happens to a lot of people every year, for a straightforward reason. Your feet have spent six months in socks and closed shoes, and they have no idea what is about to be asked of them.

What winter does to feet

Closed shoes hold the foot in one position with a sock between skin and shoe. Pressure gets spread widely and the skin is protected from direct friction. Over a Nordic winter the foot gets comfortable with that arrangement.

Two things build up in the meantime.

Hard skin forms at the heel and under the ball of the foot, thickened by months in boots and dried out by indoor heating. By spring it is often hard and slightly cracked without ever having been sore.

And the skin everywhere else, the top of the foot, the sides, between the toes, stays soft. It has been under a sock all winter and has done no friction work at all.

Then a sandal arrives, with narrow straps pressing on narrow lines of soft skin, and no sock anywhere.

Where sandals rub

The friction points are reliable enough to plan around.

The heel strap or back edge. A line across the back of the heel, right where a sock would normally sit.

Between the big toe and the second toe. For anything with a toe post this is the classic one, and it goes from fine to raw quickly.

Across the top of the foot. Wherever a strap crosses a bone.

The outside of the little toe. Especially in anything with a firm edge to the footbed.

The sole itself. Walking on a flat footbed with no arch and no cushioning is unfamiliar work for feet that have been in boots since October.

The heel taking direct impact on pavement after a winter of cushioned soles is its own adjustment. Hard skin at the heel, dry from winter, is more likely to crack once it starts flexing on a hard footbed.

Getting ahead of it

Soften the hard skin first. A few weeks before sandal weather, moisturise the heels daily and use a foot file gently on damp skin. Gently is the operative word. Taking too much off at once leaves the skin underneath tender and more likely to blister.

Check last year’s sandals before you need them. Straps stiffen and footbeds compress. The pair that was comfortable last August may have dried out over the winter.

Break new sandals in. An hour indoors, then a short walk, then a longer one. A full day in town is the wrong first outing.

Try them on in the afternoon. Feet swell during the day and in the heat. Sandals that fit at breakfast can be tight by four o’clock.

Protect the spots you already know about. Most people know exactly where their sandals rub. A strip of moleskin cut to size and stuck on the foot or on the inside of the strap stops the friction before it starts. The roll is 7cm by 40cm, so one pack covers a lot of summers, and the adhesive is hypoallergenic.

Carry something for hot spots. A hot spot is the warm, tender patch that comes before a blister. Cover it the moment you notice it and you usually avoid the blister altogether.

Toes get their own problems

Sandals expose toes to rubbing they avoid all winter. Toe posts, open sides and sliding forward on a flat footbed all press on toes from new angles.

If one toe consistently takes the worst of it, a gel sleeve is easier than a plaster that will not stay on bare skin in the heat. Tåhätta stretches to fit any size toe, cushions it, and is enriched with mineral oil that softens the skin and helps reduce hard skin build-up.

Blisters, if you get one anyway

The general advice from pharmacy and health services in Sweden and Finland is consistent. Leave an intact blister alone. The skin over it is a sterile cover and the fluid underneath is doing a job. Protect it with a padded dressing and keep the friction off it.

If it has already burst, clean it, leave the loose skin in place rather than pulling it off, and cover it. Watch for spreading redness, increasing pain or anything discharging, and get it looked at if any of those appear.

Easing in

None of this takes much doing. Two or three short outings in sandals before a full day, some attention to the heels before they crack, and something covering the spots you already know will rub. Most spring blisters come from treating the first warm Saturday as though your feet were already in practice.

Sources: 1177.se and Terveyskirjasto on blisters and skin care; seasonal foot care guidance from Apoteket and Apotek Hjärtat.