Hi,

I happen to have to use shared showers once in a while.

What are the ideals shower shoes, the kind that the military use for bootcamps? Are they just plain cheap flip-flops? I've read that their shower shoes, mandatory to prevent slipping (with all the soap and water) and the spread of athlete's foot, should be the slip on type with a rubber bottom, no sandals or beach shoes are allowed. (What are beach shoes?)

So if I go to Walmart or Old Navy and buy plain cheap flip-flops, how do I know if the soles are rubber? Should I try to find dedicated shower shoes? What do you use?

Thanks
Frankie

I've always used flip-flops or nothing at all in public camp showers and I've never had an issue...or a fungus.

What are you going to use them for? If it's just for general everyday use, I have just a regular pair of shower shoes like I had in the military except they have Corona written on them now.

It's for a center were we are about 40 men to share showers. I go there for a couple of days every two months. Last time I slipped and I already had athlete's foot. And it's a good idea to put in a bug-out bag in case you have to evacuate in a public shelter, and also for occasional camping trips and gym, public swimming pool, etc.

BTW, are flip-flops enough to prevent ancylostoma infection (hookworms) at the beach?

Frankie

No idea about the hookworms.

But the flip-flops are just keeping your feet off the shower floor, nothing else. So anything that you can wear, into and out of the shower, on your feet, and have them survive for multiple trips, that's it. Ones bought in Walmart should be fine.

For me, the cheap flip-flops you can buy from Walmart, Target, or wherever are ideal for use in public showers. I used them in college and could easily replace them when they got gross, as anything that regularly touched bathroom surfaces at my college was apt to do.

Another option is a cheap pair of slip on water shoes. I always liked them better than flip-flops; they stay on your feet better and you can run in them if need be.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I looked for it at the mall but I'll have to wait until mid march when the stores start selling summer gear. I'll get the all rubber flip-flops from Old Navy that are about $8.

Of course I found the popular (but hideous) Crocs brand plastic shoes (they are to your eyes what second-hand smoke is to your lungs), but they are bulky (yet lightweight) and too expensive for the type of usage I have in mind. The bright yellow would be an excellent signaling device though.

I heard that hook worms could be good for you! I don;t know of the validity. I can't find it but it was interesting. Something about immunity's that you wouldn't normally get and it doesn't harm you? I don't remember. Well mabye it's just the fact that i have literally worn flip-flops sence i was old enough to wear shoes, but I can run if flip flops just as quikly as any other shoe without that annoying flip-flop sound.

I don't know, this sounds like a myth. Basically there are two types of harmful hookworms, the human hookworm and the canine hookworm.

The human hookworm was eradicated in the U.S. You catch it by stepping on soil contaminated with human feces (but you have to stand on it for a while for the worms to enter your body, not just walking). So the larvae penetrate your skin and enter your bloodstream. Then these friendly little fellow enter a journey toward your intestines: they reach your heart and then end up in your lungs, you cough them and they migrate to your trachea and are swallowed. Then the adults mature in the small intestine, they hook there and feed, and their eggs pass out in feces and the cycle goes on. And you suffer from iron deficit.

In the case of canine hookworms, more common these days and they can withstand colder temperatures, they penetrate your skin but don't reach bloodstream. Instead they get lost because they are not in their natural host and they give you the "creeping eruptions", pretty nasty but less harmful then the human hookworm.

Frankie