That's the ironic thing: Your feet already get dirty wearing shoes every day. As your feet sweat inside shoes, that residue and bacteria build up on your feet until you wash them. Other residue and bacteria get absorbed by the material inside your shoe and stay there. Chemicals used to manufacture your shoes leach onto your feet.

As for the dirt picked up from going barefoot, our response is the old saying, "A little dirt never hurt anyone." It really is true. Barefooters have found that, even though their soles get dirty sometimes, dirt is harmless to the skin and rarely transfers off of the feet onto other surfaces.

By going barefoot, your feet stay much cooler and sweat less. That means you get much less opportunity for smelly feet, fungus and other ailments.