One of the surprising things, at least to me since I think I have only mentioned them once, is how many people come to my blog looking for information on the Vibram Five Fingers. My trip in for "The Procedure" (see the last two posts for more information on that bit of fun) gives me cause to mention these wonderful shoes again.
I wore my VFFs (as we Five Finger wearers commonly refer to them) to the clinic, which would come as no surprise to anyone that knows me because I practically live in my VFF Classics.
No. Really.
I took this picture today as evidence.
As a side note, besides the obvious VFF Classic tan line, there are two karate related aspects to this image. The first, I'm not actually sure is karate related but it would have to be my guess, is the blood under my toenail. I don't remember any trauma to that toe so I'm going to have to go with the assumption that it was Justin, my current #1 student, who has picked up the nasty habit of stomping on toes. The second takes a bit closer look but around the ankle you will seeing the indents from sock ribbing, which means that while I say I live in my VFFs, I was apparently wearing socks just prior to taking this picture. That's because I'm wearing an ankle brace around because I can barely walk today (and yesterday). Every once in a while, it acts up but it has never been this bad since the day that it happened about a decade ago. I was sparring with my then #1 student, Shannon, and he put me in some bizarre and accidental hold that placed more pressure on my ankle than it could withstand, which caused seemingly permanent nerve damage to that ankle. I can't balance on that foot to this day and every now and again, I have to wear an ankle brace to keep me mobile. Today is one of those days.
Now, back to the topic at hand (or foot).
I wear my VFFs all the time everywhere and I answer questions for people who interested in them. I did this several times as I walked around the amusement park in Ohio.
I wore them to the doctor appointment where it turns out everyone or their spouse (or in one case, both) had a pair of VFFs of one kind or another. There were only four models when I bought mine but Vibram has added a couple more since then. A couple of which I may have to give a closer look now that I know they exist.
Some of the users at the doctor's office had just recently bought them and wanted to know my thoughts. I absolutely love the classics and even showed the tan line to him as proof. Seriously, if I haven't mentioned it yet, I live in these from waking until bed in the summertime. It's the next best thing to being barefoot. My feet tend to sweat and get uncomfortably cold at the same time if I go barefoot so it's very rare that I actually go barefoot. I love being barefoot though but usually wear socks indoors and sandals outdoors as being the best that I could do until Vibram came out with these wonderful shoes.
So, for people who visit this blog for information on Vibram Five Fingers, let me give you the scoop on the two that I have tried: Classic and Flow.
I think I have covered the classic fairly well so far so I'm going to start with the Flow and come back to where the Classic works better for me than the Flow.
The Flow is the cold weather VFF. It has the famous Vibram sole, the individual toes, and a neoprene upper to keep your feet warm. After wearing the Classics around all summer and absolutely loving them, I thought this would be the perfect answer for the winter. I could wear them in and out of the house and still go around picking things up with my toes, even while wearing shoes.
It didn't work out quite that way for me.
First, they are kind of difficult to put on. 40+ years of wearing shoes has curved my pinky toe in so that it's practically under the fourth toe (I present the pic of my foot as Exhibit #1). You can't just slide these things on like you do with shoes. Each toe has to go in its own finger and for me it was like trying to put winter gloves on a two-year old. It would take me about 10 minutes to get them on. Once on, I would just leave them on all day so that part worked out. They still have the VFF comfort but you don't just slip into a pair of shoes and head out the door. These take a time slot in my dayplanner if I want to put them on.
Second, and I have admitted this many times here, I'm a complete puss when it comes to the cold. I don't do well in the cold and winter is incredibly hard on me, physically, mentally, and emotionally. To make it through this last winter, I actually wore several layers whether in the house or out (adding a couple more layers to go out). I never went outside without a thick coat, gloves, and a hat, even if I was just going to get in my car to drive to work. This actually made the winter a bit more bearable for me. I tend to run around mostly naked in the summer and in previous winters tended to dress as light as possible but this last winter, I changed directions and covered up in layers of UnderArmour ColdGear and a wool coat.
All of that to say that you can't wear socks with VFFs (actually, Vibram now offers socks for VFFs as I just noticed on their website). So, bare skin was exposed between the bottom of my pants and the top of my Flows. Sure, my feet were warm but my ankles weren't and the draft up my pants was no fun. Now that I have seen they have socks, I am going to buy a pair to try this winter. All the reviews I have read about using toe socks with VFFs have been bad but I wonder if Vibram wasn't able to overcome the problems people were having to compliment their own product. I'm gong to order a pair this fall and give them a try.
Back to the Classic.
The two drawbacks that I have with the Flow are absent in the Classic. The low cut of the shoe allows me to stick the tip of my finger between my fourth and fifth toe as I put the shoes on. My feet slip right into them. A quick flip around the heel and the shoes are on and I'm off and running. They are nearly as easy to put on as any slip-on and take as much time to put on as a pair of sandals with straps.
Obviously ankle warmth is not a concern for a pair of summertime shoes.
There a couple things that you should keep in mind with the classics, since everything in life is a double-edged sword.
First, the low-cut-ness that makes these things so easy to get your toes into also makes it easy for everything else in the world to get into your shoes. Dirt, small rocks, grass cuttings, and anything else that you walk through has a fair chance of ending up in your shoes. This isn't much of a problem because they are so easy to take off and put on but I'll mention it for completeness. I live in the desert and if I leave pavement to walk in the desert, I have to dump out the fine rocks that get into my shoes on such a walk.
Secondly, the coolest thing about these shoes is that you are practically barefoot. The important part of this that you need to remember is that you're practically barefoot. We have tons of goathead thorns in this area. In fact, I have completely given up on riding my bike because I can't my tires inflated for more than one or two rides. When I step on a goathead in the Classics, the point reaches my foot. It's never penetrated the skin but you do have to immediately stop walking and pluck the thorn out of the sole. The last time that we went playing disc golf, my brother wore his Classics and there was some rocky terrain that he had to gingerly walk across. I didn't wear mine because the last time we played this course, the weeds were seeding and I could just picture all the crap in my VFFs. Everything was green and that wasn't an issue but it shows some of the thought process that needs to go into wearing these things.
One of my doctors at this clinic (I have to be specific about location now because I'm got as many doctors as I can count on my toes in VFFs now) has a pair. My other doctor at this clinic has the KSO model, which is made to overcome the rocks and seeds in the shoes by Keeping Shit Out. The KSOs have one of the drawbacks of the Flows in that some people have a hard time getting them on. One of the wives of one of the doctors has a pair of the new Bikila model that was specifically designed for running. You can run in the others (but as I have mentioned before, you can't have any heel strike in your run) but the Bikila has been built specifically for runners. Two of the nurses at this clinic have husbands that have VFFs (although one of them didn't like them - no reason given).
So, there you have it. One fitness guy and summertime lover votes for them. Two doctors and two spouses of medical personnel also wear them, with only one nay vote thrown in. That's like 5 out of 6 people involved in my procedure that recommend them. That's better than Dentyne.
Get a pair.
If you try or have tried any of the other models (or the socks- especially the socks), leave me a comment or drop me an email letting me know what you think of them.
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