Steps to happy feet

HIGH HEELS can be unkind to your feet, especially when walking Wellington's hilly terrain or along the stiletto-hostile paving downtown.

Here are a few steps forward for happy feet.

After wearing high heels switch to a flat pair. This eases the leg muscles. Consistently wearing high heel shoes will shorten the tendons and in extreme cases can make wearing flat manolo shoes impossible. Calf stretches also help.

Finely heeled shoes often have super-fine soles that give no protection and jar your feet when walking on concrete. Foot Petals, available from Kirkcaldie & Stains, are foot-cushioning devices for those who have a love/hate relationship with sexy manolo blahnik  shoes.

As you go up in height, your body tips forward. Foot Petals Tip Toes ($ 23) stop the toes from sliding forward into your boot or shoe. They were originally designed for open toed shoes to stop the toes coming forward and hanging over the end of your shoe. Not a good look.

Foot Petals Heavenly Heelz ($ 23), help prevent stiff shoes from cutting into the sensitive heel area. They also prevent blisters and keep your heels from slipping in and out of your blahnik  shoes.

Rubber-soled shoes are good for working on hard concrete floors as they provide cushioning. You can't go past a good pair of Campers or Birkenstocks, available from Kirkcaldie & Stains and The Last Footwear Company respectively.

Soothe and smooth your feet with The Body Shop's Peppermint Cooling Pumice Foot Scrub ($ 13.65). The pumice helps smooth away rough skin from soles and heels while the peppermint oil helps revitalise tired feet.

The Body Shop also has a Lemongrass Deodorising Foot Soak ($ 29.95)--a mixture of naturally derived Epsom salts and deodorising lemongrass oil.