Key Things to Make Pointe Work more Comfortable | A Little more to Remember

Key Things to Make Pointe Work more Comfortable | A Little more to Remember

Hey,

I previously posted a post on key things that you can do and use to make pointe work more comfortable and I realised that I forgot some other key things that are small but should defiantly be remembered when doing pointe work. This is just a mini post this time as it's only a few things that I forgot to mention in the first post. Again this post is aimed at those beginning pointe work but you can still read this if you want. As I always say, I am not a professional dancer but an average person who's hobby is dance (Ballet) and who wants to share information with those just like me.

First off, manicure needed. When doing pointe work, obviously you are pretty much using the strength of your feet etc and pointe shoes to enable you to stay on your toes. By standing on your toes, your feet and ankles will receive pressure as your weight pushes down onto your feet, and of course your toes. Having toe nails that are long can cause issues when doing pointe work. For example, pressure is applied on your feet and of course your toes when standing on pointe (standing on your toes) as your weight is also pushing down, this makes your toe nails push into your toe and can be extremely painful. I have ingrown toe nails from Ballet but got this before starting pointe, I didn't take good enough care of my toes and soft ballet shoes can be quite tight, and so this resulted in ingrown toe nails. Another thing that didn't help for me, was the fact that my toe nails grown quite quickly, making it hard to keep up with them. However, my Ouch Pouches (mentioned in previous post) are very helpful as I hardly feel the pressure applied on my ingrown toe nails. Be sure that your toe nails are cut nicely as to avoid pain when on pointe, and avoid ingrown toe nails. If you feel like your nail and skin are starting to get caught, you can also tape around your toe (where the nail is) and do in a way so that you hold the skin with the tape, by the nail and gently wrap it around your toe. This separates the skin and the nail so that the nail doesn't get caught into the skin. After removing the toe tape from your toe, allow your nail time to heal.

Be sure to remove any foot protection
things (such as Ouch Pouches)
from your shoes to allow them
to dry out/air off as well.

Let them dry! After using your pointe shoes, be sure to remove any padding or protection that you use for your feet inside the shoe (like Ouch pouches) and leave your pointe shoes to 'air off'. Pointe shoes need to stay strong, and moisture won't help them as it breaks down the glue used to keep them strong. Following this, don't attempt to break your shoes in even more by not leaving them to air off, as this will just damage them.

Following the need to let your pointe shoes 'air off', purchase a mesh drawstring bag (also known as a breathable mesh drawstring bag) to put your pointes in after they have been used. This will allow air to flow into the holes in the bag and enable your shoes to dry out/air off. I have a mesh drawstring bag that I purchased from a dance website and it's definately an essential for ballet. Plus allowing cool air to reach your shoes will stop most of the bacteria left in your shoes from your feet (yep nice thought there) from breeding as they like warm, moist conditions and therefore your shoes won't smell like a dead, slowly decaying rat (good similie there haha) If you're not sure what I am talking about, are interested in or are in need of buying a bag like this heres a link to a site called http://www.dancewear.co.uk/  where they have a mesh drawstring pointe shoe bag for sale -https://dancewear.co.uk/products&subcat=4 You can also find one on many other dance websites and shops but this is just a suggestion.

 I hope you found this useful and if you would like me to do anything, please suggest to me in the comment box below.

Thank you for reading,

Yours Truly,
Caris