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10 May 2010

Is the "problem toe" an actual issue for people? [More:]Or is it something this blog made up to sell (IMO) ugly shoes?
I always thought "problem toe" was when the frontmost strap on a sandal is too far forward and too narrow, so that it holds down four toes and leaves the pinky sticking out to flail around and smash into things.
posted by casarkos 10 May | 03:43
We all have a “problem” toe, you know that one toe that just doesn’t look as “cute” as the other toes.

The amount of self-absorption that's packed into that one sentence is kind of breathtaking to behold.
posted by BoringPostcards 10 May | 04:30
My right big toenail used to get ingrown and inflamed and I'd usually have to end up operating it. In total, I operated it something like 7 times, until it was solved by permanently splitting the nail longitudinally. Yup, I have a cloven hoof and don't chew my cud.
posted by qvantamon 10 May | 04:52
My problem toe is the one that hurts. Can one have arthritis in one's toe?
posted by Obscure Reference 10 May | 06:27
I'm a size 14, so the idea of a 'cute toe' is sorta ridiculousness.
posted by octothorpe 10 May | 06:45
I also have a cloven hoof (also right big toe), but mine was caused by having the keel of a boat dropped on it (weighed about 1.5 tons). The doctor said that he could either cut it off or just wrap it up and hope for the best, because there wasn't enough left in one piece to stitch to and the bone was so badly broken there was no way to set it. I'm glad he left it, but cutting toenails is not much of a fun experience. Yeah, cute toes doesn't really cut it when it comes to my feet.
posted by dg 10 May | 06:59
I have never once been concerned about the cuteness of my toes. Just so long as they aren't gnarled and bent at odd angles, like my cousins'.
posted by King of Prontopia 10 May | 07:51
I dunno - I try not to think too much about my toes, but I know that lots of women do.

I like a pedicure as much as the next person but I only bother with them in summer. However, I know lots of women go regularly throughout the year, and who wear lots of toe-baring footwear, and generally give their feet as much consideration in their quest for overall perfection as they do any other part of their body. At the gym I sometimes pick up the beauty magazines that are laying around, and there are always articles about taking care of your feet (because, of course, there is a cosmetic foot-care industry eager to sell you products and services for your pedal grooming). So yeah, I'm sure there are lots of people who are chagrined at their problem toes.
posted by Miko 10 May | 08:06
My college roommate has what she calls 'chicken nugget toes'. (My big toe looks like one too, but I've kinda given up on making my feet look pretty.)

Seriously, they are feet. Not exactly the prettiest object in the world. (Then again, my feet are hideous to the point where not even regular pedicures can help them. I've got those nasty super thick calluses on my heels.)
posted by sperose 10 May | 08:44
I have one toe that is not as cute as the rest, but I don't lose any sleep over it or buy particular shoes to cover it up. I only wish that my one semi-weird toe was my biggest concern.
posted by amro 10 May | 09:29
I have fat little sausage toes, but I'm still fond of them. I don't wear shoes to cover them up, per se, though I do wear closed-toe shoes to the office because it's professional (some offices can do open-toes but this one doesn't seem to).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 10 May | 09:34
My pinky toes are tiny and round, and all my others are really short. But I don't care about that anymore since people stopped pointing them out in middle school, as long as they are clean and nails trimmed.
posted by rmless2 10 May | 10:01
Actually I don't have problem toes as such, in the sense of a toe that I permanently hate or anything, but I do have toes whose toenails look fugly. In fact, I really want to wear open-toed sandals right now, but my toenails are in pretty terrible shape - black and terrible looking. What can I say, I'm just a klutz who regularly stubs her toes.
posted by peacheater 10 May | 10:43
I like my toes, but I don't like the hair that is starting to sprout on them in odd places.
posted by initapplette 10 May | 10:57
I seem to be fortunate in the digit department and have inherited my Dad's feet (rather than Mom's petite but stubby ones) with nice toes, long and even and (despite various breaks) straight. It compensates for the fact that I'm 5'3.25" wearing size 9.5/10 shoes. Back when I did ballet, they fit perfectly into pointe shoes, and I never even once got a blister. They do have arthritis and, if I wore the shoes I really wanted to, would be buniony, but overall, I enjoy showing them off. Sandals or shoes with ankle straps like those above, however, make my legs look like ankle-less stumps. So, I guess you could say I have problem legs instead.
posted by notquitemaryann 10 May | 15:23
Problem toe. Yeesh. Soon we'll be treated to magazine articles urging us to buff and polish our internal organs so they're more attractive.

I was about 15 when I noticed that a classmate had really pretty feet: smooth and shapely with soft-looking skin. (Only now does it occur to me that she probably had regular pedicures.) I experienced a pang of anxiety that my own feet were ugly and misshapen, then shook that off and thought "They're feet. They carry me around all day every day. Of course they look a bit rough! They work hard!"

It sounds simple, but it was a big "a-HA!" moment for me about beauty standards. That was the age when I stopped trying to cover my big long bumpy feet and crooked toes, started wearing sandals more confidently, started sporting toe rings and anklets.

Problem toes? Take a look at my hands sometime. Between a lifetime of cooking and a few years of archaeology, I have completely given up on having smooth hands. They're rough and chapped, nails pared down, skin indented with old and new nicks and raised white burn scars. They're hands that have lived.

Don't even try to imagine my feet.
posted by Elsa 10 May | 15:48
I have weird toes but I don't care about them being seen. I don't often have pedicures though because my feet are ticklish as hell!

≡ Click to see image ≡
posted by gomichild 10 May | 19:00
I have really ugly little paddle feet. They are a size 6 1/2 WW (that's double wide, like the trailer), and not only are both my big toes "cloven", arthritis has made my 2nd toe on my right foot as wide as my big toe.

I REALLY hate other people's feet too. I seriously have the world's biggest anti-foot fetish. I think flip-flops (or thongs) are the grossest shoes on earth. Just... ew. I know, I am weird, but there is just something inherently disgusting about feet to me.
posted by evilcupcakes 10 May | 20:58
If you think that feet are ugly, you'll certainly think that mine are ugly--scars, calluses, and it's probably only a matter of time before I get them tattooed.

Me, I don't think about it much. To echo elsa, they're feet that have lived. To echo amro, I wish my feet were the biggest thing I had to worry about.
posted by box 10 May | 22:04
I have a problem toe. It was always a bit rambunctious on the playground and it liked to try to dig a hole in the bed sheets but it was grade six when it really went bad. It would go out behind the school gym to smoke cigarettes and hang out with bad kids. By grade nine it was smoking weed and drinking grain alcohol and getting into fights. At sixteen it was arrested for assault and by seventeen it had fathered a bastard toe. An accident and DUI followed before it got involved with a biker gang and guns.

It has only gotten worse. So yes, the "problem toe" an actual issue for some people. I don't know what those shoes would do for it.
posted by arse_hat 11 May | 00:36
In summers past, I'd tidy up my feet, paint the nails and wear sandals. This summer, not so much. I managed to catch toenail fungus on my right big toe. I'm treating it, but it'll take a year or more to grow the damaged nail out. The nail on my left big toe is bruised black from a death march of a hike in December; I lost the hiking trail I was on and had to bushwhack out of a rhododendron hell. So I picked up two pairs of Keen sandals with closed toes to get me through the warm months.
posted by workerant 11 May | 14:00
Oh, thank heavens. I've got 1 toe that's just, you know, not very cuuuute. That web page was Inspirational!!!! Why can't I use cute little hearts to dot my i's on the web? It's so unfair.
posted by theora55 11 May | 18:29
Right now I'm listening to || The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook:

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