What To Do If Your Shoes Smell

Use Fabric Softener Sheets

Deodorizing shoes call for the strong stuff. Tuck a new dryer fabric softener sheet into each sneaker and leave overnight and your shoes will be smelling fresh as springtime by morning. Just remember to pull them out before wearing the sneaks.

Its also a great idea to deodorize places where you store your shoes, such as your gym bag. Drop a dryer sheet into the bottom of a gym bag and leave it there until your nose lets you know its time to renew it.

Heres The Best Way To Clean Your Feet

To clean your feet in the best way possible, experts recommend using a mild antibacterial soap and scrub brush to wash your feet at least once a day. This can be done in the shower as part of your daily routine. After washing, be sure to dry your feet completely, especially in between your toes. Any excess wetness between toes could cause bacteria to grow, leading to more problems with bromodosis.

Experts also recommend performing a dedicated foot soak once or twice a week, as it provides a deeper clean than mere shower scrubbing. For the best results, podiatrist Joy Rowland tells Cleveland Clinic she recommends soaking your feet in a vinegar and water bath or an Epsom salt and water bath.

For a vinegar bath, combine two parts water with one part vinegar and soak for 15 to 20 minutes once a week. According to Rowland, vinegar makes your skin inhospitable to bacteria. This treatment, however, should be avoided if you have open sores or cuts.

For a salt soak, Rowland recommends dissolving half a cup of Epsom salt in a tub of warm water and soaking for about 10 to 20 minutes. Epsom salt pulls moisture out of your skin, which makes it a less-inviting place for bacteria to survive, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Seconds Shoe Disinfectant And Deodorizer

Tester Smell Score: 5 out of 5

• Neutralizes odor without an overpowering smell
• Helps absorb moisture from wet shoes

• Odor-fighting prowess diminishes after 3 months

These amazing little bean bags received top marks from every one of our testers. Since the beads are activated by heat, we suggest tossing them in your shoes while theyre still toasty from a run for the best results. Even at room temperature, Gear Halos pouches wicked moisture, eliminated nearly all stink, and smelled clean and fresh. This actually smells really nice! one tester said. Its a pleasant, lightly floral scent with no trace of the cheese.

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Why Do Your Boots Or Shoes Stink Or Smell So Bad

Before going into deep, let us know why really our boots or shoes stench:

• The main reason is bacteria. The bacteria are basically everywhere in our surroundings including our bodies, clothes, shoes, etc. They feed themselves by consuming dead skin cells etc. if you un-knowingly do not take proper care of your shoe hygiene then you might just be inviting a bacterial growth at faster rates than usual, thus making your shoes bacterial breeding ground and hence ultimately making them smell.
• The second reason is sweat and dirt accumulation. Sweat and dirt mixture stick to the inside surface of your shoes creating a moist environment due to humidity on which bacteria thrive. This causes bad odor so you need to clean them every after some time.
• The third reason is fungus. Fungus is a plant that grows in dark and damp places, if any fungus happens to grow inside your shoe then you definitely have a problem with bad odor.
• The fourth reason is the leather or other materials used for making shoes. If your shoe material was not made from breathable material then it will probably make sweaty feet and that sweat will stay on your shoes until you clean them, both in winter and summertime.

Homemade Foot And Shoe Deodorizers

Once you make these shoe odor removers, you can store them indefinitely. Stash a bottle of the spray or powder in your closet, and maybe another in your gym bag. Then use it immediately after you slip off your shoes. If foot odor is a severe problem, you might also want to go soak your feet as soon as youre done.

White vinegar is a natural disinfectant. Tea tree oil kills bacteria. This effective shoe spray uses both to get rid of odors and the bacteria that cause them.

Shoe Deodorizing Spray

Combine 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar, and 5 drops of tea tree oil in a spray bottle. Shake well. Mist the inside of your shoes, or apply the spray to a cloth and wipe the shoe interior. Avoid getting the spray on the outside, visible part of your shoes. Once youve sprayed them, let your shoes air dry before wearing them.

Baking soda is a natural deodorizer, and tea tree oil kills bacteria. Using cornstarch helps keep this shoe powder from clumping. Store it in an air-tight container so it remains effective.

Deodorizing Shoe Powder

Combine 3 tablespoons baking soda, 1 tablespoon corn starch, and 5 drops of tea tree oil in a small container. Lightly sprinkle this deodorizing powder inside your shoes after you take them off. Let it sit overnight to absorb sweat and kill odors, then shake the excess out of your shoes before wearing them.

Deodorizing Foot Soak

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Arm & Hammer Odor Busterz

Tester Smell Score: 4 out of 5

Searching for a foot cream worthy of Oprahs feet? Check out Footnanny, the brand that earned a spot on her 2020 List of Favorite Things. Made from tea tree oil , this cream helps absorb moisture and keep sweaty at bay, while also providing natural anti-fungal and bacteria-fighting properties. And, theres no additional harsh chemical additives. Simple ingredients like shea butter, cocoa seed, and aloe leaf provide vitamins A, C, E, and F chamomile helps soothe redness and irritation and essential oils deliver a refreshing scent. If Oprah runs another marathon, we expect shell be treating her feet to this cream at the finish line.

Try Activated Charcoal To Eliminate Odors

Activated charcoal is another shoe odor eliminator to try out. This method is especially good for shoes that are still wet after getting rained on or coming back from the beach or lake.

Activated charcoal is usually sold in tablet form and can be found at any health store where vitamins are sold, but if you cannot find it locally your other option would be to order them online.

Place several tablets inside each shoe before putting them out to dry or away for storage.

The activated charcoal will absorb all odors and help to absorb some moisture, too. So, once your shoes are dry just remove the tablets and put your shoes back on!

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Odorless Shoes Again In No Time With Washing

Another method you can use for getting rid of the smell in your smelly shoes is to wash them. This can either be done by hand or in the washing machine.

To wash your shoes to remove the odors, you can follow these steps:

• Use a regular detergent and add about 20 to 30 drops of your preferred essential oil to the load for your shoes.
• Place your shoes in the washing machine along with other clothes so they get clean.
• Alternatively, you can wash your shoes with dishwashing liquid, and scrub them by hand in the sink.
• Air dry your shoes or dry in a dryer for maximum shoe deodorization.

It is best to not wash leather shoes, and stick to just your gym shoes for the wash cycle. Fabric shoes will do great in the washing machine, or soak in the sink. But you should never submerge leather shoes in water. This will not only damage the leather but also deteriorate the overall construction of the shoe.

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But lets not get ahead of ourselves: The most important part of solving foot odor is being educated on foot odor. After all, knowing what is causing the problem is often the first step to solving it. Fortunately, youve found yourself at Smelly Feet 101, a crash course in the causes of foot odor and the treatments actually proven to make a difference.

To learn more about how to get rid of smelly feet, check out the proven stinky feet remedies and expert foot odor advice below. Hear that bell? Smelly Feet 101 is now in session.

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Youve Gotten Rid Of The Smell Now Its Time For Upkeep

• This should go without saying, but keep your feet clean. When youre in the shower, actually focus on washing them, instead of just letting them chill in the remnants of the soap that runs down your leg. Your feet have over 250,000 sweat glands on your feet, so its easy for them to get stinky real quick.

• Just like brushing your teeth before bed or shutting off the lights before you leave the house, make deodorizing your shoes part of your daily routine. Leave a small bottle of baby powder or essential oil near the entryway to your home. Once you get in from a long day and kick off your shoes, give a gentle spritz of your remedy of choice and spend the evening satisfied that youll start the next day literally on a fresh foot.

Lightfoot Foot And Shoe Deodorizer

This natural spray will do a tremendous job of removing odor from your shoes. A concoction of pure anti-Bacterial essential oils will help remove the most resilient foot and shoe odor without any exception.

The spray contains the power of peppermint, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, and thyme. Even a little spritz can go a long way. You can potentially use this bottle for hundreds of sprays.

While the spray is powerful, it is safe and gentle for your feet. You can directly spray it into your shoes to get that refreshing effect.

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How To Solve One Of The Stinkiest Summertime Problems

Don’t just cover up the smell of stinky shoeseliminate the odor at its source!

Summertime is all fun and games until someones smelly shoes are stinking up the house! It happens in a predictable cycle: hot temperatures lead to sweaty feet, and sweaty feet leave behind moisture in shoes causing unpleasant odors.

But dont give up on those smelly shoes just yet, because today Im sharing the best and most effective methods for eliminating odors in shoes. If youve been wondering how to get the stink out of shoes, youve come to just the right place!

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The secret to removing odor from shoes is to deal with the moisture issue. Many people simply try to tackle the odor itself by using a deodorizing spray, but that only covers up the smell. By drying out the moisture, you can cut the smell off at the source by killing the odor-causing bacteria.

There are a few different ways to do this, so Ive included a few different options for you in this post. Use whichever method you like best, or whichever method you can do using stuff you already have at home.

Heres to a stink-free summer! 🙂

What Makes Feet Smell Bad

Lets get technical: The actual medical term for stinky feet is bromodosis. While the name might be a bit intimidating and clinical, the cause of bromodosis is actually quite straightforward. The condition could be caused by a build-up of sweat, which creates an ideal environment for bacteria growth on the skin. And this bacteria is believed to be one of the sources of those bad odors youre smelling.

According to Cleveland Clinic, foot odor happens when the bacteria that live on your skin and in your shoes eat your sweat. This process produces an acid byproduct that smells unpleasant. Since your feet have more sweat glands than any other part of the body, meaning bacteria thrive on them, its no wonder that feet are notorious for being, well, stinky.

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Got Extra Soap To Reduce Shoe Odor

One way to reduce the odor in your shoes is to use a bar of soap. Soap can absorb odor and also kills bacteria that cause shoes to smell.

Some people find it helpful to keep a bar of soap in their shoes for extra deodorization when they are not wearing them or have to put them in storage for long periods.

This method works great with all the different types of shoes including the following:

• Sneakers
• Leather shoes
• Fabric shoes

Also, do not be concerned about the soap dissolving since your insoles are probably damp from you wearing them all day, the bar of soap acts as an absorber. It will absorb both smells or odors and moisture.

Use Ammonia And Vinegar/baking Soda

Ammonia is another powerful ingredient for eliminating unpleasant smells. All you need to do is follow the steps outlined above , but use ammonia instead!

• Step 1: Mix baking soda with water until you have a thick paste.
• Step 2: Apply paste to shoes and allow it to sit overnight.
• Step 3: Brush off any excess powder in the morning.
• Step 4: Spray ammonia onto shoes.
• Step 5 : Then allow them to air dry overnight.
• Step 6 : repeat until they are odor-free.

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How To Get Smell Out Of Shoes

Smelly shoes can be unpleasant. You take off your shoes, and suddenly the room is filled with a nasty stench. If there are several people in the room, it becomes easily embarrassing. So you are very curious about How to Get Smell Out of Shoes.

Thankfully, there are several effective ways to avoid bad odors in the shoe and get rid of the smell if it has already occurred. We have gathered here our best tricks to keep the shoes fresh on the inside.

How To Remove Shoe Odors With Straight Baking Soda

With this method, the baking soda comes in contact with every part of the shoe, and the bacteria that cause the odor have nowhere to hide. This method works well with cloth shoes, but be cautious with leather and suede shoes, as a buildup of baking soda can cause these materials to become brittle. With suede and leather shoes, you are better off using baking soda sachets.

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Place The Sachets In Your Shoes

You can place these sachets in your shoes each time you take them off. Tennis shoes, sneakers, and walking shoes used for exercising are especially prone to collecting odors. Keep the sachet in the shoes until you wear them again.

Variation: Fill the toe of a sock with baking soda and tie it off. Leave sock sachets in your shoes overnight to absorb odors. This can be part of your ongoing routine for any athletic shoes you wear regularly.

Why Do Shoes Get Smelly And How To Fix It

You might be surprised to learn that shoes arent responsible for creating bad smells its the sweat from our feet that causes them! Body odor is caused by bacteria that thrive in warm dark spaces with little airflow such as shoes.

This means if we want to eliminate smelly shoes then we need to attack this problem at its root cause, which is excessive moisture beneath the soles of our feet.

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Why Do Shoes Smell

The smells emanating from your shoes are caused by bacteria that thrive on the sweat and dead skin built up in your shoe.

After climbing, if you throw your climbing shoes in a bag, you effectively seal in all the sweat, moisture, skin cells, and warmth, creating a perfect environment for bacteria to party. The bacteria eats the delicious sweat and replaces it with their waste experienced as a nasty odor that just seems to get worse and worse, and worse.

So the real smell problem is: the bacteria and all the stuff it eats .

Now, there are A LOT of different methods climbers use to get rid of or hide the smell. Many are herbal remedies while some are more urban myth. Weve attempted to include only solutions that will work for all shoes, synthetic or leather, instead of proposing methods that may wreak more havoc on shoes .

What Medical Conditions Cause Smelly Feet

Certain types of fungal infections, like athletes foot, can also possibly lead to bromodosis. Athletes foot usually begins between the toes, which is a common location for bacteria to collect on your foot due to the dark, moist environment.

Those who have hyperhidrosis are also extremely likely to experience foot odor, given the nature of the condition, according to Mayo Clinic. Hyperhidrosis is a condition that causes a person to sweat excessively even without exposure to heat or exercise. Those with hyperhidrosis can often drip sweat without exposure to any sweat-inducing activities.

Some people diagnosed with cancer can also experience bromodosis due to hormone changes from the illness itself or from treatment. Some cancers in particularlike non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, mesothelioma, bone cancer, and liver cancerhave been found to cause patients to sweat more, according to Cancer Research UK.

People with diabetes sometimes experience foot problems, which can include troubles with foot odor, according to Everyday Health. These issues should always be reported to a doctor, as foot conditions can be especially serious for those who have diabetes.

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