Lou's Women are calling time on the high heel

Oh how we used to love them - the four or even six inch heels that would make us look so much taller, slimmer and more glamorous.

My wardrobe floors are full of them - things of great beauty in colours to suit every outfit.

But sadly, a bunion on the right foot and balls of the feet that burn and sting if I dare to venture out in them, mean they are consigned to a life of darkness.

Some wedge heels provide a degree of stability that mean we can add a bit of height.

These days the best I can get away with are a pair of three inch high wedge, lace-up ankle boots - in a muted orange colour - on which I can even break into a comfortable trot if need be.

And I've become a great fan of Dr Martens - mine are pink, of course, with purple satin laces made by my friend Becky for my birthday.

It's hardly glamour - but they are edgy and fashionable.

The odd time when I put on a frock or evening gown for a special night out and grit my teeth to tiptoe out on a pair of stilettos, they are invariably kicked off when the dancing starts - bang goes that lofty, sophisticated look I set out to create.

And when I last put on my thigh high blue, bejewelled blue suede boots with a six inch heel, I came a distinctly unglamorous cropper en route to the Christmas disco.

So like Sarah Jessica Parker, many of us, as we get older, have to kick the heels into touch and settle for comfort, if not our slippers.

RIP the tantalisingly treacherous high heel.

Read more comments from Lou's Women - and add your own - below.

Feisty Gail Millard, from Bilston, says: "LOVE 'EM!!! Obviously not so much now but always for going out, makes me feel 6ft tall, my legs look slimmer and I walk more upright. And the bag to match of course! My mom taught me how to walk in them as she always wore stilettos in her youth. Unfortunately I never passed that trait on to my daughters (I wouldn't let them 'practise' in mine) so they can't wear them now."

Willenhall social worker Stacey Senior says: "I do love the idea of a high heel but unfortunately I have never really had much tolerance and often choose comfort over height! I am tall (5ft 9in) so I don't miss not wearing a heel and in fact I feel like I am towering over people when I do as I can be close to 6ft! If you thought about it for too long I think we might realise how crazy it is to want to stand on our tiptoes all day supported by a heel no wider than a pencil. Silly isn't it really but I do have a weakness for a pretty shoe!"

Wombourne conservationist Sheena Hamilton says: "I'm only 4ft 11in and used to wear high heels because they made me feel taller and more glamorous. I don't think they've damaged my feet but as you get older you don't feel the need to impress the lads and these days I wear flat shoes."

Zumba teacher Lou Thomas, from Kinver, says: "I never feel dressed up in flat shoes and as my husband is over 6 foot tall, I can enjoy wearing high heels when we go out. Not if we have to walk anywhere though. I find it impossible to walk in them and I get terrible cramp in my lower leg. I wear low heels for Latin American dancing, trainers for Zumba and wellies out in the garden ! I refuse to wear slippers – they make me feel old."

Ace tennis player Pat Bailey, from Halesowen, says: "I wish I could wear high heels I love them. When I see my niece wearing them I am sooooo jealous .. I say to her been there done that and sad I can't do it now. I don't have foot problems from wearing them .... Suddenly you just get out of the habit of wearing them your life changes and then you can't go back to wear them . I love 'em they look so lovely, sadly not for me now. I always used to say to my sister I have got all the shoes and you have got the name (Imelda as in Marcos)."

Britain's Got Talent star Jean Martyn, from Brewood, says: "I am becoming a low heel person, and love ballerina pumps. Still wear high heels for elegance, or as a fashion statement. Fortunately my feet haven't suffered from high heels."

Former Stourbridge language coordinator Irina James, now living in South Korea, says: "High heels? Never for me. Would break my neck!"