Taping Your Feet

Join me as I demonstrate how I tape my toes, pad my feet and tie my pointe shoe ribbons. Here you will see some of the products I use such as paper tape, second skin and toe spacers. Check out my Pointe Shoe Accessories video to find out more about the products in this video.

I start with paper tape and tape my toes. You don’t need scissors to cut this tape as it is easy to tear. I use Paper Tape (micropore tape) made by 3M. Paper Tape Hack: I tear a piece and make a bandaid out of the tape strip. This way the tape isn’t sticking to a blister! Masking tape is a cheaper alternative! I tape all the spots (baby toe, middle toe and big toe) that get re occurring blisters).

I take a piece of second skin by Spenco (alternatively I use Gaynor Dots by Gaynor Minden) and trim it to size. Trimming it to size makes it less likely to move around. Second Skin/Gaynor Dot Hack: I keep one side of the plastic on the second skin and put the gel side down on the toe. This way the toe tape has something to stick to. I place it on my big toe nail and my middle toe nail as these nails often get bruised on my feet. I tape it down.

*you may not need second skin if you wear toe pads.

I trim a Gaynor Minden #4 box liner to cover just the front of my toes, avoiding the big toe and I cover the 4th and 5th toes just slightly. I have a specific way I do this so that the gaps inside the shoe are minimal and it keeps the block in the position I want. I find this method has been helpful for dancers if their shoes twist or sickle.

If I have a corn in between my baby toe I add a small spacer by Bunheads.

Tying your shoes:

Outside/Inside method. Take the outside ribbon around foot finishing off on the inside of the ankle, then take the inside ribbon around foot going under the first ribbon (this ribbon will need to be a little longer than the outside ribbon), finishing off on the inside of the ankle at the top. Tie the knot at the top and then pull it through to the bottom and tuck it in. This method allows you to run your fingers through the ribbons seemelessly and I find that it prevents ribbons from bagging or getting locked in a position.

Ready to warm up!