- Fill the boot with baking soda in an old sock and let it sit overnight. Then shake out or go through the inside with a vacuum cleaner, wipe and dry.
- Use hydrogen peroxide to thoroughly wipe the inside of your shoes, especially at the seams.
- A solution of potassium permanganate (6-8 crystals per liter of water) - similar to peroxide.
Many microorganisms live on the skin. They love warm and humid environments in which they reproduce at a staggering rate. How stunning, says the "horror story" of biologists: if the microbes did not die, they would cover the planet with a meter layer in 2 hours. Or so.
Some of our roommates emit foul-smelling, by human standards, substances. The conditions in shoes are not quite ideal for them, but they have enough smell to develop. The more humid - that is, the more your feet sweat - the more micro-skunks multiply.
Three rules to combat shoe odor
- Eliminate the smell already fixed in the shoes.
- Reduce foot sweating.
- Block the multiplication of microorganisms.
Each of the points should be repeated regularly.
How to get rid of shoe odors
If there is no time or you cannot wash your shoes, use an odor absorber.
- Rock or sea salt. Pour in unnecessary socks and place in shoes overnight. The most budgetary option, enough for several months.
- Silica gel. Its bags can be collected from boxes with new shoes, bought in the form of balls or in bulk as a filler for cat litters. Enough for at least a year.
- Odor absorber with activated carbon granules.
- Absorber with helium. Eliminates odor twice as fast as other absorbers. Contains an extract of algae and lemon extract, which gives a pleasant scent and kills bacteria.
- Ozonizer absorber. It not only eliminates unpleasant odors, but also has a detrimental effect on microorganisms. Ozone is also toxic to humans, so we recommend using it on the balcony.
How to reduce sweating feet
If your feet are sweating too much, make baths for them with decoctions of plants rich in tannins. These are oak and willow bark, black and green tea, sage, galangal, chestnut leaves and bark. Tannins fold protein molecules in the sweat glands of the skin and thus block their work. For the effect to take hold for a long time, the baths need to be done for 10 days, 20 minutes each.
Sometimes doctors advise using Teymurov's paste. But it needs to be applied at night, and sleep in socks. We doubt that it is more pleasant than relaxing over a fragrant decoction of herbs for 20 minutes.
The quickest way is to use antiperspirant deodorants with aluminum salts. They act in the same way as tannins. Apply them to your feet before going outside.
Perhaps your skin is normal, and the impression of excessive sweating is due to the wrong socks and shoes. All artificial materials, except for special ones, retard evaporation from the skin. Therefore, socks for normal conditions should contain no more than 20% synthetics. For increased physical activity, use functional sports socks that wick away sweat. And wear less shoes that are poorly ventilated. All efforts will go to waste if you spend 8 hours in the office in winter boots.
Note: "How to choose tights for the winter so as not to look like a grandmother"
Remedies for microorganisms
Fighting microorganisms on the skin is a futile business. Take surgeons, for example. Before the operation, they scrub their hands with a brush and soap for 5 minutes, and then generously lubricate them with an antiseptic. The study found that very quickly there are more germs under the gloves than before washing. They are restored from the pores in the skin.
Still, bacteria can be contained with essential oils of lemon, eucalyptus, rosemary, pine, cedar, thyme, and sage.Lubricate the skin of your feet with them before shoeing. The main thing is that people around you do not have prejudices about any smell from feet.
It is more important to kill germs that have taken root on the inside of the shoe. Use ultraviolet shoe dryers or volatile germicidal liquids. The second includes pharmacy hand sanitizers and essential oils - put cotton pads soaked in them in your shoes.
But the main thing is to change socks every day so that microorganisms and their food do not accumulate on them.
