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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Polly Hudson

Shoes on at home or shoes off? If you care about your health, it’s a no-brainer

Shoes on the doorstep.
‘Can you be a Shoes Off household while avoiding Shoes Off household energy?’ Photograph: Jana Richter/Getty Images

It is a truth almost universally unacknowledged in the UK that wearing shoes in the home is gross. More than gross, actually – there’s scientific evidence it could have serious health consequences and even, if you want to come over all dramatic about it, be life-threatening. And yet I can count on the fingers of no hands the people I know who ask me to remove my shoes when I visit.

Until now this has been an uncomplicatedly divisive subject: you were either a Shoes Off household, or you weren’t. But a secret underground movement is gathering pace – the Shoes On households who wish they were Shoes Off, but are worried about the uptight implications of rolling out that policy. Can you be a Shoes Off household while avoiding Shoes Off household energy?

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