Calloused and soft feet - a myth of ticklishness?

[MatthewC1]

People keep on saying that just because feet are softer, that means they are more ticklish. And when they are calloused, they are less ticklish.

I do not agree with this at all, in fact I think this is just a myth.

I've had a couple of girlfriends with extremely tough soles because they went our barefoot a lot. They could walk on rocky terrain, hot asphalt, stony ground, etc without a problem. Yet a slight tickle to their soles rendered them a ticklish mess - in fact if I recall, it was one of the most ticklish places on their bodies. On the flip side, I've also had girlfriends who probably had the softest, babyish feet you've ever seen. And not a even giggle no matter how much I tried to tickle them with what ever technique. I really think it comes down to the individual and not the thickness/roughness of skin, because everyone is different. Each individual has their own reactions to various sensations, whether it be with baby soft skin or skin as hard as a horses hoof (which ironically enough, can be sensitive too in a few spots - if you ever worked with a farrier you would know this).

Another debunk to the "calloused skin is not sensitive" myth is that the ball of my foot is pretty much a rough spot, but my arches are a lot softer. Yet I am extremely ticklish on the ball, much more so than on the arch or even in a super soft spot like under my toes.. I also find it interesting that sometimes light strokes on harder patches of skin elicit more ticklish laughter, and not hard strokes. The same goes for soft skin - sometimes I find light tickles do nothing but heavy tickles are the way to go there.

I think at the end of the day, it depends on the individual and possibly the way their nerve endings react to different kinds of stimuli because it is different on an individual basis. You're either ticklish or you're not, with rough calloused skin or smooth, unblemished skin.

Thoughts?

 

[Journia]

I agree. It has nothing to do with pedicures and all that materialistic junk. Sure it looks good, but I have met some deathly ticklish women whose feet were harder than rocks. I mean literally, I could smack them together, and a spark would fly out, lighting kindling.

 

[Budweiserbob!]

It's more of an assumption than a myth. =/

 

[Bashiku]

Hey people have to earn some money from us too... and they can't all do videos so the do pedicures 🙂

 

[sadi]

Yeah, I think it all depends on the person and how their nerves respond. Not the state of their feet, though one may be more aesthetically appealing than the other.

 

[Batman]

I think it depends pretty much on the person. For example, I had a gilrfriend that used to walk barefoot and lost the softness on her soles, but was ticklish as hell on her feet. And on the other hand, I have a friend that walks barefoot all the time since she was a little kid and that sort of made her feet unsensitive to tickling (she's the kind of person that just sits down and relaxes when gets her feet tickled).

 

[shinzaraki]

actually if a womans foot is calloused only the middle would be soft if they have high arches. but if not then yeah stone hard (i hate that)

 

[db_131]

Actually calloused feet would be less sensitive due to the fact that callouses are extra dead skin on top of the live skin. It is possible that a person with callouses would be more ticklish due to vibrations caused by your finger(nail) so that the ticklish feeling would then be spread all over the area where the callous is located. A person's ticklishness depends on a number of things more specifically how close the nerves are to the top of the skin. Also women or men who get pedicures and have soft feet tend to have developed a way of deterring anyone from tickling them if they can hold their laughter for a long enough period of time the tickler would stop. Thus they have an immunity

 

[highwing]

It depends on the sensitivity of the skin. While generally softer skin is more sensitive to touch, ticklishness isn't usually greatly effected by tougher skin.

 

[Frost King]

I think it more depends on the sensitivity of the feet but i think hardness on the feet may block the feet from being ticklish soft feet are more ticklish but like i said some girls are ticklish on there feet and some are not

 

[Budweiserbob!]

There be some truth behind this assumption, me believes. (That's Bristolian talk 😛)
Now, there may not be a direct link between Callouses and Ticklishness, but there is a direct link between Callouses and sensitivity.
Callouses are just the hardening of skin, often occurring when the skin is put through a routinely physically tough task. Now, when the skin hardens, you feel less pain than if the skin wasn't hardened because the nerve endings are deep bellow the callouses.
Now, if we assume ticklishness depends on how sensitive you are, this proves that callouses weaken the ticklish sensation.

... well, that's my bodge job of an explanation. 😛

Now, if my theory is correct and the women you know are as ticklish with calloused feet... imagine how ticklish they are with perfectly smooth skin. 😉

 

[diego1]

Agree

There be some truth behind this assumption, me believes. (That's Bristolian talk 😛)
Now, there may not be a direct link between Callouses and Ticklishness, but there is a direct link between Callouses and sensitivity.
Callouses are just the hardening of skin, often occurring when the skin is put through a routinely physically tough task. Now, when the skin hardens, you feel less pain than if the skin wasn't hardened because the nerve endings are deep bellow the callouses.
Now, if we assume ticklishness depends on how sensitive you are, this proves that callouses weaken the ticklish sensation.

... well, that's my bodge job of an explanation. 😛

Now, if my theory is correct and the women you know are as ticklish with calloused feet... imagine how ticklish they are with perfectly smooth skin. 😉

I agree with Budweiserbob
In my experience with girlfriends, calloused soles are usually less sensitive and ticklish
I know there might be exeptions but I know dancers and gym teachers with beautiful but calloused soles. I can keepts tickling the hard spots with n reaction.
Its hard because I love female feet and tickling but in general these ladies soles are mostly unticklish (arches are the exeption because they do not have contact with the floor)
Diego

 

[simplegoat]

I use to have fairly rough feet until I randomly decided to try using a pumice rock on my soles. Now they are ridiculously smoother and insanely more ticklish.

 

[GroovyBaby]

I think it's true... I used to have very calloused feet from walking around outside with no shoes all the time. I couldn't feal anything barely.. You could pinch my sole as hard as you could, and i could barely feal it. lightly stroking I wouldn't even feal it.

 

[vellicator]

the myth

I have to agree with MatthewC While Living in rural PA a lot of girls/women went barefoot and not just inside the house during the summer months. When the opportunity presented itself I would run a finger along thier soles and I was amazed to see how many would say their feet were very ticklish and to stop it !

V

 

[TheGodfeather]

I know one show that can clear this up. . . MYTHBUSTERS! They are always looking for ideas, and maybe Cali would be able to test it. . .