Protective Padding

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Pointe shoes are not comfortable. Even with padding pointe shoes hurt when you've been working in them for awhile! Fortunately, most pointe teachers do not insist on their students using absolutely no padding at all in their shoes. The argument that supports not using padding is that the padding prevents you from feeling the floor well thus giving you less control in the shoes.

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There are several types of padding on the market today that help dancers avoid blisters, reduce the discomfort that comes along with with wearing pointe shoes and still enable them to work well in the shoes. Some are better than others. Given the choice between lamb's wool, gel pads, foam pads and fur-lined pads, I recommend a thin gel pad such as the Ouch Pouch brand. Ouch Pouch makes a really nice gel pad that greatly reduces the discomfort associated with working in pointe shoes yet still allows your toes to feel the floor. Using too much padding such as too thick a gel pad can, as described above, cause you to be less stable on pointe by prohibiting you from feeling the floor.

There are alternatives to using pads to reduce discomfort and or blisters. Many dancers simply wrap their toes in paper. Others opt for taping their toes by individually wrapping each toe in a Band Aid or toe tape. These methods claim to not only help prevent blisters but also to develop calluses.

Often dancers use talcum powder on their toes to help prevent blisters. The talcum powder helps by absorbing moisture. This is usually done in conjunction with pads and/or taping the toes. (It also helps your feet smell better!) If you choose to use talcum powder, be sure to keep the powder away from the studio floor or stage. It will make the floor slippery.