There are a number of things you must take into consideration while checking the fitting of your steel toe boots:
Do your toes feel cramped inside the steel toes?
If so, Your boots are too tight for you.
Do your toes have extra space to travel around inside the boots while you walk?
If so, Your boots are too loose for you.
Now, the question is how tight should the boots fit then?
The answer is that your steel toe boots must be of such size that they should be able to hold your feet firmly in place without constricting your toes or making them cramped. All you need is a little room for your toes to breathe but not to swim around.
If your feet easily slide into the boots while encountering a bit of resistance that keeps your feet firmly in a place, you have got the perfect tight fitting.
If your feet easily slide into the boots while encountering a bit of resistance that keeps your feet firmly in a place, you have got the perfect tight fitting.
The next thing to notice is…
When you lace up the boots, does your heel creep up?
Your heel should stay put without creeping to give full comfort support to the rest of the feet.
How to Properly fit/wear Steel toe boots?
While wearing your steel toe boots you must take into consideration the following things:
1.) Wear them with thick pair of socks to loosen the boots and to prevent your feet from hurting.
2.) Lace them up tightly to ensure proper fitting according to your needs.
3.) Ensure that your toes don’t hurt inside the steel toes.
4.) Wear them with a steel toe cap.
5.) Ensure that your heel stays put in one position.
6.) Make sure your toes have some space to breathe.
7.) See if the arch of the feet is bent inside the boot. Then the boots are too small for you.
8.) If your feet swim around inside the boots, they are of bigger size for you.
Should you size up in steel toe boots?
Steel toe boots are generally heavier than the regular boots that is obviously due to the extra protection that it provides to your feet.
Anyway, they should fit like any other regular boots.
But…
There is a catch!
As your steel toe boots are heavier and sturdy, you must wear them with thick pair of socks. And this might end you up in buying a ½ size up of steel toe boots than your regular boots.
When you wear the steel toe boots with thick socks, your toes might feel cramped inside the boots or they might not have any room to breathe. This point requires a ½ size up steel toe boots for your feet to feel comfortable while you walk and work.
What should a properly fitted pair of boots feel like?
A proper fitting pair of boots includes many aspects like:
1.) Comfort of the boots:
A comfortable boot will give you enough space to breathe and move your toes a bit, but not too much that your heels slide on the sides and cause you pain later.
Also, it should feel that the cushioning is just perfect to offer you the day long comfort while you walk in them.
2.) Security and Support of the boots:
Security means good traction and this depends on whether your heels strike right on the heels of the boots.
This means that your heel should be exactly where the heel support of the boots lies. If it slides on the sides, it means that your feet are not going to get the right grip on floor.
3.) Fitting of the boots:
First and primarily your boots should have a lace up system so that you can make the boots fit right according to your own comfort regardless of the small distortions of the boots.
Lace them up in such a way that the boots offer you a snug fit and not too loose or too tight. Your feet also should not slip inside the boots or it might create hot spots on your feet.
How to tell if your work boots are too tight or too loose?
Well, there are signs to notice whether your boots are too tight or too loose the very first time you try them on your feet:
1.) Wear the same socks at the time of purchase:
The first time you wear the boots wear them with the same socks that you are going to use with the boots later. Obviously, you are not going to wear them without socks later. This will give you a more accurate fitting of the boots.
2.) Checking the resistance level of the boots:
With the correct fitting of the boots, your feet should feel a bit of resistance from the boots but not too much that it starts hurting your feet.
3.) Walk in them to check the comfort and fitting:
Wear the boots before buying them and lace them up according to your comfort. Walk in them to check how your feet feel.
Notice whether they feel too tight for your toes or too narrow for your heels to slide along? If the boots give you the right comfort, then go for them.
4.) Notice any movement of your feet within the boots:
When you lace up the boots you should notice the movements of your feet. For example, if your feet stay at the same position without getting hurt after you lace up your boots, you have probably chosen the correct size.
But if your feet move on the sides and have enough space to make your toes swim in them, you have made the wrong choice. Another thing to notice is whether your heel crepes up in the boots and if it does, do not buy the boots.
5.) Your toes should not feel cramped:
This is another thing to notice while buying the boots. if your toes feel cramped, then your boots fit you tight.
How Can You Make Your Steel Toe Boots Bigger?
If you own a steel toe boot you must be aware that they are a bit narrower than the regular boots and this call for the need to increase their width.
Well,
I am here to help you out with some interesting and easy hacks to widen your steel toe boots:
1.) Wear the steel toe boots longer than usual:
Step 1:
Make it a daily routine to wear your steel toes for nearly half of the day for a few weeks when you buy them. This will break in the boots faster and your feet will start feeling comfortable inside the steel toe boots.
Step 2:
Try them with thick pair of socks. This will not only increase the room inside your boots but will also make your feet feel comfortable with the boots.
Step 3:
Each time you wear the boots, try to bend the body of the boots back and forth for a few times. This will break in the boots faster and will loosen them as well.
Step 4:
Continue all the 3 steps for 4 weeks and boots will be comfortable to wear and of perfect sizing for your feet.
2.) Stretching of the Steel toe boots with Stretching Sprays:
Stretching sprays does the work of rubbing alcohol in loosening the leather fibers and widening the boots in the process.
Step 1:
Spray on the entire boot or the concerned area that needs to be widened.
Step 2:
Then wear the work boots for work to allow the spray to size your boots according the size of your feet.
3.) Using a Stick to Widen your Steel toe boots:
Step 1:
First stick a mop stick to the boots.
Step 2:
Aim the mop stick to the heel or the toe whichever part needs to be widened.
Step 3:
Now bend the boots over the mop stick and this will stretch the leather out of the sole, thus widening your boots.
4.) Stretching the Steel toe boots using Mink oil:
Step 1:
Apply the mink oil all over your boots.
Step 2:
Let the oil to set in your boots and soak in completely overnight.
Step 3:
Take a tissue paper and remove the excess oil from the boots.
Step 4:
Dry the boots under the sun and wear them for work.
5.) Use a Steel toe Stretcher:
A steel toe stretcher is a tool that stretches the boots to the required size (length and breadth).
Step 1:
Insert the stretcher in your boots.
Step 2:
Set the preferred size in the stretcher and then turn the lever to stretch the boots.
Step 3:
Keep the stretcher inside the boots in the same position for 1-2 days.
6.) Use Alcohol to Widen your Steel toe boots:
Alcohol loosens up the leather fibers and in the process widens the boots.
Step 1:
Soak in or spray a generous amount of alcohol on your steel toe boots.
Step 2:
Once the boots are completely soaked in the alcohol dry them and wear them for few hours in the sun.
7.) Use Hot Water to Loosen your Boots:
Now, for this process your steel toe boots need to be waterproof otherwise they will damage the leather fibers and your boots will be ruined.
Step 1:
Soak the boots in a bucket of hot water for few hours.
Step 2:
Take the boots out and dry them under a hair dryer or in the sun.
Step 3:
Wear them to work for stay in your feet shape permanently.
How to Stop Steel toe Boots from Hurting?
Of course ladies! You are worth wearing the steel toes. Obviously we can’t compromise in our looks and confidence for any physical pain. After all, steel toes steal the show in every step of our life.
However, we all have to admit the pain that it causes to our heels, even the bruises and spots which it gives to our feet are worth paying attention to.
Ignoring the pain for a longer period of time can cause some major problems in your spinal cord as well as the feet. So, better late than never we should start taking the preventions for stopping the steel toes from creating any further damage to our body.
Why wait ladies? We are here with some interesting hacks for you to stop your steel toes from hurting:
5 HACKS to stop your STEEL TOES from Hurting:
1.) Insert an INSOLE in your boot:
One of the major reasons that your feet are hurting is that your shoe is not fitted to your feet. In other words, there is a lot of movement of your feet inside the shoe due to improper shoe size.
The trick is to insert an insole inside your shoe so that your feet fit true to the shape of your shoe. This happens because every feet shape is different and the manufacturers design shoes based on a standard feet shape.
Insoles would help to adjust your feet shape according to the shape of the shoe and thus prevent movement and as a result your feet won’t hurt anymore.
2.) Wear a thick pair of SOCKS:
Socks provide a thick layer to the base of the feet. When you wear a sock, the pressure exerted by the feet is much absorbed by the socks and your feet is not directly exposed to the heel pressure.
Wearing a thick pair of socks would provide a comfortable layer to the base of your heel and the heel of the boots would hurt you much less than wearing the steel toe on your naked feet.
3.) Insert COTTON PADS:
Being girls, we all have cotton pads in our makeup kits, right? Why not use it for giving some comfort to your feet? Yes, you thought it right! Just place/stick (with glue) the cotton pads in one or two layers inside the heel of your shoes.
Now put your feet inside the steel toes and you will feel the comfort of wearing a soft shoe as the heels would not hurt you anymore. This is a quick fix to your problem without having done any further investment.
4.) Invest in LACED STEEL TOES:
Yes ladies! This might sound weird, but lacing helps to keep your feet intact inside the shoes without any movement. You can adjust the laces to fit the heels according to your feet shape and size.
The steel toes which are without laces, does not fit true to your feet shape and thus cause pain on your heels.
You can either select the many laced steel toes from the market or can customize one for you.
All you need to do is to just cut out a square portion from the top of the shoes exactly where the laces in other shoes are placed. Punch three holes on either side of the cut outs and tie a lace in knots. You are ready to go girl!
5.) Steel Toe Shape and Size:
The ones with very sharp pointing fronts would hurt the most. So, select the ones which fits your toe shape so that you feel comfortable.
You can also use cotton pads in front and on the sides to prevent it from hurting.
While buying the steel toes, remember that the point of the ball of the heel of the shoe should be placed just at the middle of your of your heels. This position would cause much lesser pain than if the point of the ball falls in some other portion of your feet.
Where should my toes be in steel toe boots?
Steel toe boots no doubt have steel toe caps which are not very comfortable for the toes to be in all day long.
Therefore, you should be very careful where your toes are sitting inside the boots.
The first thing to note is that your toes should have at least an inch area at the front. That is the toes should not touch the front of the steel toe caps or else it will hurt your toes and cause pain or blisters.
Next, thing to note is that the toes should have some space at the sides of the toe box that is it should not feel pressure from the sides.
The third thing to note is that the toes should not slide back and forth inside the toe box area or else the steel toe caps would be meaningless.
All in all, your toes should have some room inside the toe box to breathe and move and not to hit at the front end of the boots while still feeling comfortable inside the steel toe box.
Conclusion:
“Fashion is irreversible”, but definitely we can reverse or change some bits of it to fit our comfort because no fashion comes prior to our health.
Try these exciting hacks with your steel toes and let us know in comment section below your queries regarding steel toe boots.
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