How to stretch tight shoes at home

You never find out exactly how comfortable a pair of shoes is going to be until you get them home and start wearing them.  That’s where the trouble can start, when your favourite high heel peep-toe pumps which work perfectly with your favourite little black dress can ruin a great evening after a very short time…..by becoming agony. 

Oh the pain of trying to look chic and cool when your feet hurt, because the size you’ve bought, which fitted perfectly in the store, or when you tried them on at first, suddenly starts to pinch where you never thought it would.

I’ve played this game many times, but having recently travelled to a music festival where I knew I would want to wear heels and whatever I put on my feet would have to stay there for many hours, through travelling, performance and the meal afterwards I decided to research how to stretch my toe pinching beautiful high sparkle platform heels for myself.

There’s an old wives’ tale which says you can stuff your shoes with damp newspaper (lots of damp newspaper) to soften the leather which will make them fit better when you wear them. I wouldn’t go there…..

Now there’s a far better way, which is to invest in a professional shoe stretcher and the spray to work with it.  You buy them separately, but don’t imagine one will work properly without the other.  Used in conjunction you can stretch your shoes perfectly.  As I did.  And managed to walk comfortably in high heels for many hours.

You first use the spray, which comes out as a foam, on the area you want to stretch, and then fix the small plastic knobs that come with the stretcher where you most have a problem.  Insert the stretcher into the shoe and then turn the handle until you can feel resistance.  Leave for 24 hours in each shoe you want to stretch.

There are lots of different types of shoe stretchers available.  These were the ones I used, and the system worked brilliantly.  And of course you can use the stretcher over and over again.