When your shoes begin to stink, there are actually many ways you can stop them smelling within a reasonable space of time. Foremost among these is to get a good shoe deodorizer spray, something like that offered by Salt Lake City’s ShoeFresh, which can keep your shoes smelling fresh for up to three months after a single spray. But is there anything you can do to stop shoes smelling in the first place?
All shoes will eventually smell, but that’s not to say you can’t slow the process somewhat by practicing certain techniques and habits that can prevent your shoes smelling too bad – and thereby lessening the job of the freshening them up (or making it less frequent). Many of these techniques can actually be considered an essential part of proper shoe care. Others, however, you might be somewhat less familiar with, but they can be useful for preventing the buildup of odor in your footwear.
Why Do Shoes Smell
The foul odor that builds up in shoes after extended periods of wear can be blamed not actually on sweat, but on the conditions within your shoe that it creates. Sweat is actually odorless, but after a day’s sweating inside an airtight area (as most shoes are), it creates the perfect moist environment for the growth of bacteria, and it is from here that the smell comes.
This is the reason so many shoe smell remedies involve the use of desiccants, which are substances designed to absorb moisture. Of course, a really optimal shoe smell solution will combine moisture absorption with a gentle fragrance to not only get rid of the bad smell but also add a fresh one.
Tips to Keep Your Shoes Smelling Fresh
So if you want to do something about smelly shoes before they become unbearable, there are a number of handy tips. And if you want to get your shoes smelling fresh for months, there’s always ShoeFresh. Anyhow, here are the preventative measures:
Practice Good Foot Hygiene
Sounds simple enough, but what does this actually entail? Seeing as it is actually your feet that create the smell and not the shoes, taking proper care of your feet might be a good place to start. Simple things like being sure to dry out your feet after a wash (and before inserting them into any shoes) can deprive bacteria of that much needed dampness. Wearing cotton or wool socks will also prevent the buildup of moisture.
Alternate Your Shoes
Shoes need to be given an “airing out” almost every day if they are to remain fresh. This can prove pretty difficult if you wear the same pair of shoes every day. Alternating shoes is a great way to give your shoes that much needed airing time. And after all, it’s an excuse to buy more shoes!
Use Anti-odor Insoles
Now widely available, anti-odor insoles are usually composed of absorptive and naturalizing substances that combats foot odor precisely where it begins. Rarely very expensive and with a good range to choose from, insoles for almost any shoe can work wonders for stopping odor.
Try to Sweat Less
Sound impossible? Not actually. Many things within your control actually contribute to how much you sweat, from the amount of activity you do per day to things like stress and diet. If you feel like you are sweating excessively, perhaps look for an underlying cause.
All these techniques can be effective at stopping a pungent odor arising in the first place. Follow as many as possible, and you could already be looking at significantly less smelly shoes.
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