If you have a bunion, you may experience pain and discomfort on a daily basis. As if pain and discomfort were not enough, you may also experience worry and anxiety about how people will react to seeing your bunions.
While they are more common than you might realize, figuring out how to hide and disguise bunions can help many people boost their confidence and wear shoes that they never thought they’d wear again!
Here are our tips for hiding or disguising your bunions so that you can continue to live a confident and happy life.
Confidence
Your bunions are only a small part of you. While you may have a bump on your feet, other people have other issues—whether seen or unseen—so in truth, having a bunion is nothing to be ashamed of.
If you’ve always been a naturally confident person, you may find it easier to just go about life without worrying what people think of your bunions.
If your personality is exuberant, you may also find that most people don’t really notice your feet because of your confidence!
However, if you’re a less confident person, it may be difficult to just “be confident” in yourself and how you are—even though having a bunion is nothing to feel bad about.
We do recommend sharing your feelings with a good friend or family member—someone you can be yourself with and who won’t judge you. The more comfortable you can become around them, the more that confidence will spill over into everyday life!
But in the meantime, you can try some of these ideas to hide or disguise bunions while you build up your confidence.
Buy Sandals That Hide Bunions
Fortunately, there is a variety of sandals to choose from that can help you hide and disguise your bunion!
When you go shopping, it would be best to look for sandals that are either specifically designed for bunions or that can accommodate bunions.
The best sandals for bunions will have a wide toe box and stylish uppers, with adjustable straps across the forefoot. Not only will this hide your bunion, but it will accommodate it without irritating or placing pressure on it.
You can also look for sandals that have embellishments, like a double row of crystals or a flower, that can draw the eyes of observers instead of them looking at your bunion.
Bunion Sleeves
Bunion sleeves sit right against the big toe joint, providing a protective layer of cushioning between your big toe and the shoe.
Aside from cushioning and protecting your toe, the bunion sleeve—also known as bunion cushions or bunion gel pads—can hide it. They’re easy to slip on, are often either see-through or neutral color and can be worn with most shoes.
Not only will this help you disguise your bunion, but it will reduce the pressure that’s placed on it and provide great relief from pain.
Use Decorative Shoe Clips
Decorative shoe clips have been used to help turn an ordinary shoe into a vintage fashion statement, and now they’re going to hide your bunions!
Shoe clips are available in a variety of shapes, sizes, styles, and colors. You can jazz your shoes up with an elegant bow, a flower, or colorful rhinestones to disguise your bunion.
The best feature of decorative shoe clips is that you can use them on any type of shoe, which increases your wardrobe exponentially!
Wear Mules
Mules are versatile and trendy shoes that can be worn throughout the year and often go with any outfit!
These easy-to-slip-on shoes come in a variety of styles—round or pointy-toed—with uppers that are made of different, comfortable materials. Many mules will also feature an elasticized vamp that can accommodate swelling and your bunion.
You can wear these shoes when you’re at the beach, at a bbq, or even at a pool party where you may find yourself wanting to cover your feet up quickly.
Foot Concealer Makeup
For those times when your footwear won’t be able to hide your bunion, you can use concealer makeup to disguise it!
The concealer makeup is easy to apply and can be used to cover up varicose veins, blisters, scars, corns, foot veins, spider veins, and bunions.
You will have to use the concealer across all parts of your foot that will be visible so that the color is uniform, or blend the concealer in with your natural skin tone so that it looks natural.
The concealer will take away the redness of the skin around the bunion, as it evens out your skin tone.
If you contour your makeup on your feet to enhance your instep, it can draw attention away from the bunion and make your feet look thinner.
Foot Jewelry
If you like to wear jewelry, you can choose some stylish and eye-catching foot jewelry to draw eyes away from your bunions.
You may choose to wear an ankle bracelet or a toe ring. Wearing a piece of jewelry that’s pretty and that you really like can help you to feel more at ease, and if your feet do attract glances, it’s much more likely that they’re simply admiring your jewelry.
Sandals With Socks
If you like the thought of wearing sandals but you are still uncomfortable with your bunion being visible, you can always try wearing sandals with socks.
This will hide your bunion effectively, but take care to choose the best socks for bunions to avoid chafing or discomfort.
Some people may not be comfortable with the style of wearing sandals with socks; however, there are ways to make it look better.
If you’re wearing sandals with long pants, you may be able to wear longer socks. But if you’re wearing them with shorts or a skirt, you should choose no-show socks.
Try to get socks that match your skin tone if possible. This will blend right in and make it look almost like you are barefoot in your sandal. Otherwise, choose plain socks that won’t draw attention to themselves.
