…or at least they smell that way.
I’ve been working extra hard this past two weeks - moving - and it was sweaty work. My shoes, in the process, have become lethal weapons, violating several chemical weapons’ treaties. They can be smelled, literally, from several feet away.
I tried putting little “burritos” made of paper-towel wrapped baking soda in them and removed mayby 10% of the stench.
The shoes are new enough I want to keep them.
Any good way to de-stench my shoes?
-B
Are these athletic shoes?
If so, fill them up with water amplified with liquid soap (I use laundry soap, but dish soap will do), and let them soak for 15 minutes or so. Rinse with a hose, perferably with a prssure nozzle attached.
Turn upside down to dry. This should take care of it.
If these are shoes other than athletic ones, I don’t know what to say.
You can always re-sole them, which isn’t that costly. In my stankfoot experience, the soles harbor most of the horrendous odors. Hopefully you didn’t get the winter-rot, a fungus which a Texan friend of mine insists happens quite frequently when wearing the same shoes while excercising for quite some time. The smell, I’ve heard, is cadaverous.
Why nut bung them in the washing machine (if they are machine washable)
Take the laces out fdirstr.
Yes, they’re athletic shoes. Leather New-Balances so soaking to wash seems like a bad idea.
Why don’t you try one of those “odor-neutralizing” sprays they make for household use? I’ve been using one to clear out the little room where my four cats void their bowels, and it seems to do the trick pretty quickly.
Yes, I would recommend a but load of Lysol or some other disinfectant spray. We used it all the time at the skating rink I worked at. If the insoles are removable, you can either wash them or replace them. New Balance are pretty nice shoes though, I don’t know how they’d do in the washing machine.
That should be butt load of Lysol, but I guess any adjective describing a liberal amount could be used.
Try putting some bicarbonate of soda in them. It will absorb the bad odor.
I think the problem is more than a bit of baking soda can handle. I had the same problem, as described in this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=304461
If it’s like my shoe problem, you’ve got some sort of fungus in your shoes, and a water based answer will NOT be the solution.
coffee grounds. i was reading in heloise the other day and… What?
Well, it could be worse. You could have this kid’s shoes.
Look for a product called a Thai stone. Here’s a link to one brand, but there are others.
This is the only product that works for me, and it works 100% of the time.
I use Odoban to get dog pee out of my carpet. I’ll wager it can kill what ails your shoes, too.
Are you sure you’ve used this in your shoes? How do you apply it? This is your generic “natural” deodorant stone, which is actually made of similar stuff as regular deodorant, a type of aluminum salt.
Actually, I misposted, in a way. This won’t kill the odor once it’s already in your shoes. But it will stop the odor from occuring in the first place.
I use this stuff for my feet because I don’t want to put a waxy regular deodorant on them. You just wet the stone and rub it on. Enough of the salt gets on/in to stop the wee beasties from proliferating for a whole work day. I use the regular stuff on the pits, btw, b/c the amount of sweat under the arms will overwhelm the Thai stone if you’re working very hard. At least, that’s my experience.
They say that a major cause of that sort of thing is too-tight shoes. Anaerobic bacteria and all that.
You say your shoes are new; if you are young enough, your feet might have grown a bit since last time you bought shoes. If you went and just bought your old size, guess what.