Do you know what your size is in a women’s shoe? It’s partly easy to tell. I will give you the benefit of my experience with getting the size wrong and getting it right. Right has been a lot better. Read on and benefit from my mistakes so you don’t give your cash the boot. Ouch! Did I say that?

In a fairly general sense, a woman’s shoe is two sizes larger than a man’s. I wear a 10 in a man’s shoe and that makes a 12 fit pretty well in a lovely black pump. That’s it! Just add 2 and get the woman’s size.

Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that at times. I was never more painfully aware that shoes come in various widths than when I started to buy my own heels. It seemed that my size 10 medium man’s shoe translated into a size 12 wide woman’s shoe. Most of the time. Whoever builds women’s shoes is certainly not an engineer or there would be better consistency.

Here a few notes:

In the case of heels with long pointy toes, width can be critical and you not want a medium if your foot is a wide. I bet you did know that your toes can talk. They can.

You can get away with a half size or so smaller than your proper size if you buy a pair of sling backs. The same is often true of sandals.

Generally, your sizing will be fine tuned by the style of the shoes.

Be careful width mules and slides – shoes with open heels. If you are like me, one or both feet just don’t come down in nice straight lines and you will walk right off the side of the heel. Bummer; they are cute shoes but I can’t wear them.

Find out what your women’s shoe width is by trying on some pairs in a Payless or in a similar store. Do not find out by buying pricy shoes on-line.

Do not assume that you will wear exactly the same size in all styles and all brands. I have found that I can always wear a 12W in comfort. However, many times I can wear a 12M just as well. The reason why that is important to me is because of style availability. By no means are all styles available in a 12W although I am more likely to find a pair in 12M. My point is that, if you have a large foot, you will find that the world of women’s fashion will drop the width variations in some styles as you reach the larger sizes but that you still might wear the shoe of your dreams. I have probably doubled the style inventory available to me by knowing that little trick.

A final note: Big feet can mean big prices. For some odd reason, mainline shoe styles often seem to end at 10 (8 in your manly foot). Larger sizes are available but it is harder to find them in a reasonable price line. I don’t know why. I will keep looking for you and post some links as I find them.

For tips and shopping suggestions, visit my blog at http://crossdressershopping.com