The foot binding process was conducted by either older women in your own family or by a professional foot binder. It typically occurred from the age of four until nine, and there was only one way to achieve this, by breaking the bones in the feet and reshaping them to resemble hooves. 

Four to six was the ideal age because you could reason with the girls and help them deal with the pain. Foot binding would occur in a ritualistic ceremony accompanied by other traditions intending to ward of bad luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steps: 

 

1. The feet are plunged into hot water and the toenails are cut short.

2. The feet are massaged and oiled.

3. All the toes except for the big toes are broken and bound flat against the sole making a triangular shape.

4. The arch is strained as the foot is bent down.

5. The feet are placed in a tight ten feet long, two-inch wide silk strip.

6. The bindings will get loosened and re-tightened once a month until the girl has reached her early teens.