heads:- related word ????

I remember (30 years ago now) coming across the term "go-head" for the type of footwear that was just a rubber sole with a toe strap. I was offered two etymologies:
1) That you could only "go ahead", if you walked backwards, the shoe fell off.
2) That you used them to "go to the head", which could be mucky and slippery, but they could be rinsed.

Any one else remember this term? Is it still current? Comments on the origins?

Rod Ward