How to break in your ice skates and avoid rips/blisters (can happen a lot at the ankles): -make sure your ice skates aren't too big/loose - your feet will move around and rip more easily than if they fit snugly - you can wear double socks - good especially if you're using rental skates (you can even get ice hockey skates then and use double socks if you're not planning on figure skating with them) - then the friction is more between the socks than between your feet and the socks / the skates. -some like to have a thin layer in their skates and might even just use dance tights underneath in their skates since their thinner than figure skating tights, and then wear another figure skating tights layer that is footless to keep legs warm. -you can put bandaids where you get the most skin sensitivity / rips and blisters - even before they start to blister/rip - it will help with the skin -some use bunga pads or gel socks to avoid rips/blisters or if they do get skin sensitivity and rip/blister -skate around in your skates, break them in before doing anything difficuly in them, like jumps

Great tips. If you're going to go with the double socks, you will probably want to pick skates that have less padding in them already (similar to rental skates, but a little bit of thin padding).