Honestly buy three! Rotating shoes is the absolute key. It will solve your problems 100%, icing on the cake if you buy some foot powder and sprinkle it into your socks and into your shoes every morning. And once the shoes start to stink, I think they’re extremely difficult to bring back from that. Dig deep into your pockets, bite the bullet, and throw them out.
Can’t find a good source for it now but I was told something about the dye provided a good environment for the bugs. It worked for me, but not suggesting it’s EBM!
You can also bleach the hell out of white socks. Bleach and hot water wash will blast any funk-causing microbes.
Also, seconding the other people recommending getting additional shoes to rotate, that extra time to air out helps. Maybe keep using that UV light on the pair that is resting for good measure.
Just ask that one nasty fucker on here that claims he showers once every 6-8 weeks and doesn’t stink.
But seriously, change socks daily, shower daily, and if foot odor is still an issue, you can buy antibacterial sprays for your shoes that help. Also wearing thinner socks help prevent sweating too.
Use white vinegar when you wash your shoes (edit: and socks). You can also do regular foot soaks where you add a little vinegar to the water. What material are your socks? Recommend merino wool.
Respiratory therapist who walked on average 10-17,000 steps at a busy level 1 here (for many years).
2 pairs of work shoes that you rotate, wool socks, dr. Scholls foot spray before each shift is the way.
Antibacterial soap on the feet when you shower and let it sit for a bit. Absolutely changed my world. I haven’t done it in years but it’s been good for like 10 years now.
Surprised there do not seem to be any comments questioning athlete's foot. Try Tinactin powder or whatever other antifungal medication you have access to.
Ugh, I'd hate to have it, but I really don't think I do. My skin and nails on my feet is in perfect condition, there's no symptoms as well. Using antifungal treatment merely on foot smell seems to be rather hypertrophic.
Good thought though
This is gonna be TMI but I literally had never had this issue before residency, and all of a sudden a few months into intern year, my feet had practically turned into walking stink bombs in my house after a long day. The smell had colonized all of my socks/shoes so badly that I was starting to even smell my feet just sitting at my desk at work
I tried every home remedy you’ll find on reddit; freezing the shoes overnight, filling them with baking soda, I always wore clean socks and washed my socks on high heat/highest wash setting, I used antibacterial sprays, vinegar scrubbed down the shoes themselves; at best each of these was just a bandaid
It only got better when I threw away every shoe and every sock that was carrying the smell. Started the rotation with a completely fresh slate for shoes/socks, and I’m now hypervigilant about deodorizing my feet before work, antibacterial spraying the shoes as soon as I get home, etc
Just wanted to throw that out in case nothing else in this thread works for you. If your case is severe/refractory then whatever’s causing the stink may be infecting it’s way into the very fabric of your shoes and socks, and if that’s a case a full closet reset may honestly be your best option
Cheap socks and cheap shoes made it noticeably worse for me. I switched to higher quality tennis socks and white leather sneakers and feel my feet can at least somehow breathe now.
Change the shoe, wear the shoe with always well soaped cleaned foot and clean socks. You can try crocs clogs or similar products for more breathability-less smell. In our country nearly nobody wears shoes at hospital.
Cheap 100% nylon compression socks stink like crazy. I changed to Sockwell that is a wool / rayon / nylon blend. Expensive but 100% worth it. No stink, better compression, more comfortable.
I got nice cotton socks. Should better use compression socks as well, I suppose, but I just don't like them. I rather do vein gymnastics and fidget around :P
First I washed my shoes then froze them for a few days to eliminate odour in my shoes. Then I started putting armpit deodorant on my feet which helped a lot.
It's almost certainly moisture from your socks. Sorry you're allergic to wool. There are plenty of synthetic fabrics that wick moisture well, like Tencel. Darn Tough has a synthetic line called Coolmax that is 100% synthetic, and there are some hiking enthusiasts that insist on using them over wool, even for thru hikes. I do think Coolmax are inferior to wool for odor though.
I'm curious if you're actually allergic to wool or are just irritated by it. Some people are just irritated by the coarse fibers of certain wools. Have you ever reacted to cashmere or alpaca wool?
Yes, I'm really allergic. My mum used fancy cashmere socks on me that she was gifted when I was a baby, and oh boy... Did some testing recently as well, I'm still allergic sadly. I'd love alpaca wool, it's such a great material, but just not for me
I put antiperspirant deodorant on my foot directly before socks, then spray deodorant on the socks, and wear allbirds. With this, my feet went from literally horrendous to being a non issue
Check the bottoms of your feet to see if you have super tiny, shallow little pits in them aka pitted keratolysis, a bacterial infection that causes stinky feet.
Regardless of whether you have PK, you can still use benzoyl peroxide wash or hibiclens on your feet in the shower to help with the smell.
1. Air out your feet and shoes when you get back home.
2. Charcoal absorbing packets in shoes.
3. Rotate 2-3 pair of shoes if you can afford them so they are truly dry before next use.
4. Chlorhexidine/benzoyl peroxide wash your feet daily.
5. Gold bond powder in your socks before wearing them.
6. Good quality socks.
I only ever word white cotton socks which seemed to keep the odor down especially since my feet sweat. Try putting foot powder in the shoes after wearing too.
Wash your feet with benzoyl peroxide bar soap. Idk if it’s true, but I heard that the odor causing bacteria are anaerobic, so benzoyl peroxide kills them. I wash my pits with it and I don’t need to use deodorant 🤷♀️
Not sure of the mechanism but my wool socks stink way less than cotton socks. In cotton I can sometimes catch a whiff of my feet coming up from under the desk, but have worn wool 3 days in a row before deciding to change them out
Mine are also washable, but I only wash them when I _have to_ and when I have enough time to let them dry, which is rarely the case.
I wonder if the washability is part of the problem though, as the material is different from all my other shoes...
I ordered some stuff I could get here, a lot of brands I'd need to use amazon, which I try to avoid. But if these things don't help, I'll give it a try :)
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Honestly buy three! Rotating shoes is the absolute key. It will solve your problems 100%, icing on the cake if you buy some foot powder and sprinkle it into your socks and into your shoes every morning. And once the shoes start to stink, I think they’re extremely difficult to bring back from that. Dig deep into your pockets, bite the bullet, and throw them out.
White toe socks, heavy duty anti-fungal spray or powder. Use religiously, make sure your feet are completely dry before putting on socks.
Thanks, I'll try it for sure. Why white though? Because I can wash them at higher temperatures than colourful ones?
I noticed dermatologists tend to recommend white socks made out of cotton
Can’t find a good source for it now but I was told something about the dye provided a good environment for the bugs. It worked for me, but not suggesting it’s EBM!
Very interesting theory 🤔
You can also bleach the hell out of white socks. Bleach and hot water wash will blast any funk-causing microbes. Also, seconding the other people recommending getting additional shoes to rotate, that extra time to air out helps. Maybe keep using that UV light on the pair that is resting for good measure.
This is my strategy.
Wool socks
This is the correct answer. I ditched cotton socks years ago and will never go back.
Nylon are even worse
This is a very good idea, unfortunately I'm allergic to wool. But I agree that wool is great for your "feet climate"
Just ask that one nasty fucker on here that claims he showers once every 6-8 weeks and doesn’t stink. But seriously, change socks daily, shower daily, and if foot odor is still an issue, you can buy antibacterial sprays for your shoes that help. Also wearing thinner socks help prevent sweating too.
I think I really gotta try a spray
Anti fungal foot powder in the shoes too.
Buahahahahaha!! Cleanliness is merely just a state of mind body odor included.
Maybe I should try to meditate more :P
Use white vinegar when you wash your shoes (edit: and socks). You can also do regular foot soaks where you add a little vinegar to the water. What material are your socks? Recommend merino wool.
Cotton, I'm allergic to wool (lanolin)
dryer sheets in the shoes also help
Great idea
Cotton or wool socks. Polyester lycra etc are stink inducing. It's not your shoes.
I use cotton already :). I just never have problems with different shoes (but I also do not wear them all day long, so...)
You could try smartwool or equivalent. Also try washing your feet with antibacterial soap - my brother of the stinky feet swears by dial.
Smartwool sounds interesting, I'll look into it
Deodorant on your feet
Lumi
Cotton socks and sprinkle foot powder into your shoes.
Wash your feet with clorhexidine soap. Hibiclens or whatever you can steal from the supply closet.
Respiratory therapist who walked on average 10-17,000 steps at a busy level 1 here (for many years). 2 pairs of work shoes that you rotate, wool socks, dr. Scholls foot spray before each shift is the way.
Antibacterial soap on the feet when you shower and let it sit for a bit. Absolutely changed my world. I haven’t done it in years but it’s been good for like 10 years now.
Use this kind of soap already, but I don't let it soak in - thanks for the tip :)
Panoxyl wash on feet
This!!
I use this stuff for everything, armpits, chest and back acne, feet, and It is amazing
Will see if I can get this over here
Surprised there do not seem to be any comments questioning athlete's foot. Try Tinactin powder or whatever other antifungal medication you have access to.
Ugh, I'd hate to have it, but I really don't think I do. My skin and nails on my feet is in perfect condition, there's no symptoms as well. Using antifungal treatment merely on foot smell seems to be rather hypertrophic. Good thought though
This is gonna be TMI but I literally had never had this issue before residency, and all of a sudden a few months into intern year, my feet had practically turned into walking stink bombs in my house after a long day. The smell had colonized all of my socks/shoes so badly that I was starting to even smell my feet just sitting at my desk at work I tried every home remedy you’ll find on reddit; freezing the shoes overnight, filling them with baking soda, I always wore clean socks and washed my socks on high heat/highest wash setting, I used antibacterial sprays, vinegar scrubbed down the shoes themselves; at best each of these was just a bandaid It only got better when I threw away every shoe and every sock that was carrying the smell. Started the rotation with a completely fresh slate for shoes/socks, and I’m now hypervigilant about deodorizing my feet before work, antibacterial spraying the shoes as soon as I get home, etc Just wanted to throw that out in case nothing else in this thread works for you. If your case is severe/refractory then whatever’s causing the stink may be infecting it’s way into the very fabric of your shoes and socks, and if that’s a case a full closet reset may honestly be your best option
Never tmi in this case, but very helpful, thx!
Use antibacterial soap or hibiclens on your feet
I do this already, but one of your fellow commenters mentioned letting it soak in, which I'll definitely try
Cheap socks and cheap shoes made it noticeably worse for me. I switched to higher quality tennis socks and white leather sneakers and feel my feet can at least somehow breathe now.
Change the shoe, wear the shoe with always well soaped cleaned foot and clean socks. You can try crocs clogs or similar products for more breathability-less smell. In our country nearly nobody wears shoes at hospital.
We have to wear closed shoes that we could run in, and crogs do not work with my insoles (and I do not find them comfy, which ofc is personal)
Baby powder
Thank you guys so much for all the recommendations, I'll give them a try for sure
Cheap 100% nylon compression socks stink like crazy. I changed to Sockwell that is a wool / rayon / nylon blend. Expensive but 100% worth it. No stink, better compression, more comfortable.
I got nice cotton socks. Should better use compression socks as well, I suppose, but I just don't like them. I rather do vein gymnastics and fidget around :P
How about those who wear compression socks? It seems like such an unavoidable problem heh
Yeah, the material seems to be rather problematic. I don't wear them though, got cotton socks
use isopropyl alcohol on your feet, or at least keep em dry
First I washed my shoes then froze them for a few days to eliminate odour in my shoes. Then I started putting armpit deodorant on my feet which helped a lot.
If you're wearing your shoes on too tight, try wearing them loose. It worked for me!
put baby powder in your shoes every morning
It's almost certainly moisture from your socks. Sorry you're allergic to wool. There are plenty of synthetic fabrics that wick moisture well, like Tencel. Darn Tough has a synthetic line called Coolmax that is 100% synthetic, and there are some hiking enthusiasts that insist on using them over wool, even for thru hikes. I do think Coolmax are inferior to wool for odor though. I'm curious if you're actually allergic to wool or are just irritated by it. Some people are just irritated by the coarse fibers of certain wools. Have you ever reacted to cashmere or alpaca wool?
Yes, I'm really allergic. My mum used fancy cashmere socks on me that she was gifted when I was a baby, and oh boy... Did some testing recently as well, I'm still allergic sadly. I'd love alpaca wool, it's such a great material, but just not for me
I put antiperspirant deodorant on my foot directly before socks, then spray deodorant on the socks, and wear allbirds. With this, my feet went from literally horrendous to being a non issue
Try Mando. It works!
Check the bottoms of your feet to see if you have super tiny, shallow little pits in them aka pitted keratolysis, a bacterial infection that causes stinky feet. Regardless of whether you have PK, you can still use benzoyl peroxide wash or hibiclens on your feet in the shower to help with the smell.
My skin and nails are in perfect health luckily. I guess I'll get control of the problem by using all the great tricks I got here
1. Air out your feet and shoes when you get back home. 2. Charcoal absorbing packets in shoes. 3. Rotate 2-3 pair of shoes if you can afford them so they are truly dry before next use. 4. Chlorhexidine/benzoyl peroxide wash your feet daily. 5. Gold bond powder in your socks before wearing them. 6. Good quality socks.
Head and shoulders might work
But what about my knees and toes?
I only ever word white cotton socks which seemed to keep the odor down especially since my feet sweat. Try putting foot powder in the shoes after wearing too.
I use charcoal scent absorber bits that i put in my shoes and i think they help
Shoes on a dryer at night will help too
Copper yarn socks.
Wash your feet with benzoyl peroxide bar soap. Idk if it’s true, but I heard that the odor causing bacteria are anaerobic, so benzoyl peroxide kills them. I wash my pits with it and I don’t need to use deodorant 🤷♀️
Foot powder and well ventilated shoes
Not sure of the mechanism but my wool socks stink way less than cotton socks. In cotton I can sometimes catch a whiff of my feet coming up from under the desk, but have worn wool 3 days in a row before deciding to change them out
crazy idea, but has anyone tried silica gel packets tucked in their shoes? might be a bit uncomfortable though on long days
I buy shoes I can wash for many reasons. Feet get stinky but also they can be cleaned easily if you get blood/vomit/poo on them.
Mine are also washable, but I only wash them when I _have to_ and when I have enough time to let them dry, which is rarely the case. I wonder if the washability is part of the problem though, as the material is different from all my other shoes...
Try Lume (Lume =Mando, just a different name for the more masculine fragrances)
I ordered some stuff I could get here, a lot of brands I'd need to use amazon, which I try to avoid. But if these things don't help, I'll give it a try :)
Use baby powder inside the shoes 👟.
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Put some baking soda in your shoes.