I wanted to know how I can protect my feet but mostly stay barefoot. Currently trying to develop callouses that are thicker. But I was wondering if there were other things like a thin sandal that just suctions to the bottom of the foot, etc.?

you could always bind your feet with something, leather strapping would probably be your best bet.
much like a professional fighter has his hands wrapped before a fight

Isn't that what flip-flops are for? I don't want to be totally barefoot all the time. Your feet need some sort of protection outside.

Become a hobbit

leather soles yo

When I garden or remodel I tape up the area of my hands taking the abuse. Perhaps you could put duct tape on the soles of your feet at the pressure points? Building calluses is really the best thing to do though...
Very, um, unique question..
Beyond duct tape, for something more waterproof, maybe you could use the liquid bandaid stuff, like NewSkin or nail polish to coat your soles.
I gotta ask, what on -earth- are you planning?
~prep

You are better just walking barefoot for a while and take being uncomfortable and the slight pain so your soles harden up naturally.

A few layers of supaglue - smeared over your soles and built up over a few hours. Rockclimbers often put dobs of supaglue on their fingertips then file the resulting build-up into sharp points - apparently it helps them find and grip on to really tiny crevices. Don't think I'd like to trust my life to supaglue several hundred metres up in the air, but in an emergency situation without shoes, I'd give it a go.

I REALLY want to know what you're up to!

to the 5-fingers sole shoes. Gonna have to try a pair out.

Protecting your feet is key to a healthy active life in my opinion. Without them working correctly your in trouble.

You know these endurance athletes that fall victim to thrashed feet? Makes sense to me that part of there training should include walking around barefoot and toughening up those soles. Maybe we all should.

If I could choose, I'd pick rock hard soles over bulky muscles any day.

[edit on 18-8-2009 by The Undertaker]

I hate shoes, unlike most girls. I may not be the fastest runner out there but I can beat any one in a barefoot race on sharp gravel. Really, go barefoot as much as you can.

In a survival situation, the feet are usually the third most injured part of the body. One and two and the fingers and hands, usually from a sloppy axe chop or blistering.

I am not exactly sure what you mean by wanting to protect your feet but remain looking like your barefoot. Perhaps if you told the purpose behind this we could figure some more stuff out for you.

I would always recommend having a good pair of shoes suited for whatever environment you are going into. Boots are my footwear of choice. Living in south Florida, tropical and swamp areas, I tend to wear boots that go above the ankle, that dry fast, and have a deep tread. For in camp I wear a pair of Teva's, which allow my feet to dry and still provide the tread I need.

What exactly are you looking to accomplish by having "shoes" that still appear to be barefoot?

Ok, receiving multiple requests on what am I up to, which I shall answer. Basically alot of shoes, socks, sandals, etc. just feel uncomfortable on my feet. For one, I have wide short feet (Won't put a picture up to save yer dinners. Unless I get curious requests). Heck, in Americorps they had to special order boots for me and I wouldn't be surprised if the military had to special order them too. Continuing on, I find myself most days rather dealing with the pain of walking on the hot ground then putting shoes on, they're just that odd feeling to me. So those vibrafive fingers would just be uncomfortable (I don't like anything between my toes. Also with shoes or sandals, whenever something rubs on my ankle bumps, by the end of the day they always feel raw (to curb any comments, yes I do wear socks). During highschool I asked the doctor about it and he nicely told me I was mental. So basically my goals are
-something that doesnt go between or touch my toes.
-doesnt rub my ankles
-doesn't feel loose or fling around/off (Like flip flops)

Looking through ideas, I'll continue work on my colusses. I'll also try out the supaglu (Although I'm afraid it'd melt in the heat of california) Will try bathtub stickers, though I dont know how I'll get them to stick (maybe supaglue) Also the liquid bandaid, nail polish, etc. seem worth looking into. But again, the melting. Maybe duct tape/handwrap. But it wont completely cover up and will be odd on my toes. Obviously I'm focusing on the bottom of my feet.

Also another question that came up, "Why in the survival section"
-well there's not really a health section and even if there was they'd just say it was mental just like my HS doc.
-survival section is made up of people who can think outside the box. Meaning more options that are more interesting then usual.

Thank you for all your posts as of far.

Moccasins

You can even make them yourself easily enough, so that they fit your feet right. They are about as close to being barefoot that you can get.