Have a long shoe horn at home

Any man who has pairs and pairs of shoes, particularly lace ups should have a shoe horn at home, at the office and if possible, in his car or briefcase too. This is to ensure that the shoe's counter (that part that wraps around the back of the foot) isn't stressed of bent out of shape when you slip your foot into the shoe. Keeping this part of the shoe in good nick is important if you want to see years of service from your shoe. I've seen many men destroy pairs of shoes because they simple force their foot and heel into tge shoe. Some shoes may be easy to slip in and out but some, like the more closed up formal balmoral oxfords are harder to just slip into. So a shoe horn comes in handy.

The first shoe trees were mostly made out if animal bone. Then wood and metal. These days we see plastic ones being sold in most departmental stores. Now unless you order online, shoe horn made out of bone is quite hard to find here in Malaysia. Wood and plastic easier. Plastic being the easiest and you can find these in various lengths in most places.

But plastic will have the tendancy to get brittle and may snap after awhile. Try wood instead. Or metal. Speaking about metal I once held a foldable pocket sized one made out of stainless steel on sale at the Brioni store here at Suria KLCC. A beautiful piece made for travel, foldable and small enough to slip in one's pocket. But its foldable holder was delicately wrapped in alligator leather. Which is why that tiny thing cost RM1,600.00. That, and because it was sold at Brioni.

Anyway, good for travelling but not good as the one you should keep at home. For the house, get a nice long wooden one from the Klang Valley's finest shoestore, PLal Store. It may not be the finest shoe horn out there but a wooden one is interesting too with its carved  shape and wood laquer as well as texture. There is a bit of leather at the end for one to hang it up too. Its length is an added bonus to people who do not like to bend over much whilst putting on their shoes. Be it due to having a wide girth around the waist or old age, making it harder to bend over or squat whilst putting on one's shoe. Those over the age of 40 more so. You can just sit on a chair and use the lengthy shoe horn to assist you to put on your shoe with ease.  And it costs under RM40.

So have the longest shoe horn for the home. It is a shoe accessory that every man should have.