What to do for stinky, stinky feet?

Well, if you ever meet me at a Dopefest, I just know you’ll be thinking, “I hope she doesn’t take her shoes off.”

Anyway, I think I’ve inherited that most horrid of Dadtraits, the Stinky Feet. It seems to have gotten worse since I started carrying papers, but it could be age, hormones, or whatever else might cause foot odor.

Does anyone else, theoretically, have any ideas on how to treat this? I’d appreciate any input–winter is upon us and I hate having to worry about taking my shoes off when I go to class. (I’m taking massage therapy classes, and we go shoeless.)

Thanks,
karol

Your problem probably stems from the fact that your feet sweat more than normal and your shoes don’t get sufficiently dried out between wearings. I had this problem in HS, and what worked for me was rotating shoes so that they gotdried between wearings. Also, take a couple sheets of newspaper, sprinkle baking soda or activated charcoal, then roll it up. Stick in shoes overnight.
You might also want to try Gold Bond powder in your shoes (it’s medicated and will dry stuff out). My friends and I refer to GB as the “Thousand Elves”.

Anyway, good luck.

You might have a fungal infection. Get an antifungal ointment and use it; see if that makes the smell go away.

Any powder (such as medicated Gold Bond or Tinactin) that has zinc oxide in it. Works great.

Washing your feet ever night with hot water and soap and wearing a different pair of shoes every day of the week will solve the problem in most cases. 90% of the time stinky feet are caused by a buildup of shoe bacteria due to inadequate dry out times between wearings.

  1. Wash feet thoroughly

  2. Apply anti-fungal treatments as needed

  3. Go barefoot at much as possible (obviously, during the winter the opportunities will be limited)

  4. Apply foot powder prior to socks and shoes

  5. Do not wear same shoes/boots every day. If you can, go to a three day rotation and use drying technique mentioned in prior post.

The above works for most people. If not, you may wish to consult a doctor.

A nightly wipe-down with alcohol may also do the trick. I understand that foot odor (as well as underarm odor) is caused by bacteria. If you nip it at the source, no more odor!

Also, be sure to dry between your toes very well after your bath. The skin between your toes can get rather gross if you don’t. Don’t even think of asking me how I know this.

I used to get this problem a lot in my late teens–an absolutely wretched funk. Nothing I tried (in the US, that is) worked. Then, by chance, I stopped in to a drug store in Germany that had some great spray for foot fungus, or whatever (the details are sketchy, and in my limited German I tried to explain to the pharmacist what I wanted). I don’t know what it was, and it burned like hell, but I’ve never seen a product work better. Instant cure.

I know this doesn’t help, since I don’t recall the name of the product, but it does exist! Good luck…

As others have recommended, treating a fungal infection is you have one, clean socks everyday, changing shoes, etc. If you wear sneakers, switching to shoes may very well be one thing that will make the difference. I’ve noticed that when I wear sneakers for too long, my feet to begin to smell because they sweat more and in a sneaker there’s no where for the moisture to go.

Synthetic shoes seem to give stinkier feet.

Never wear shoes without socks unless you can wash them. Any shoe which you wear with bare feet will accumulate bad stuff in there. Generally, I find that using thick, absorbent, socks and changing them daily, is enough to have no bad feet odor. As well as washing the feet, of course.

As an aside I’ll say I once remember dating a woman who had terrible feet smell and it really put me off.

I find (and the woman that cleans after me) is that my feet do not stick. My Socks do howevre - i sweet intomysocks badly… once they are taken off and burnt there is not stick.
Hmm might help to wahs your feet now and then too.

I had a bad problem as a teenager until I stopped wearing sneakers and converted to ordinary shoes - that made a big difference.

Let the feet breathe heavily.

You could also try mineral salts. They come in a smoothed block (I found mine in the local Osco Drug Store in the deodorant section) that you dampen before applying it to your skin. You can also use it under your arms. Doesn’t prevent sweating, but does kill the bacteria that cause the smell.

The absolute worst is wearing sandals - and then they get slightly wet, eg from seawater - and then they dry, and then…

shudder

There are several spray-on foot deodorants and anti-perspirants about. However if all else fails and you can’t get your hands on one, and you have an important meeting and the odour is there, the best options (and you can try both together) are:

(a) wash feet with normal soap/handwash in public restroom and dry with tissue paper. (Worst comes to worst you could wash them through your tights/nylons/stockings/pantyhose).

(b) use normal roll-on deodorant or stick deodorant (or any underarm deodorant/anti-perspirant), rub it over the soles of them a bit. And inside your shoes if you’re really anxious. Again, you can apply it through tights.

So far, so good: I’ll switch to socks (oh, how I hate socks, but if I must, I shall), and once the snow is gone, I can switch shoes more regularly.
I do notice that it’s worse when I wear sneaks, so I’ve almost given them up until I can find some that suit me.
I tried spray on deodorant–ha! Not a sucessful experiment. But I might try the roll on and see if that helps, or the alcohol.
We have pounds and pounds of soap here, literally, so soap and water has never been the issue–I have to wash my feet every night as I go barefoot in the house and they’re always grimy by bedtime. Not sure about a fungal infection, but I always have a ready supply of powder on hand for the boys, so I’ll try that if othe measures don’t help.
I don’t know if I was clear enough–this is only a when-I-take-off-my-shoes type phenomenon. If I simply don’t wear shoes, my feets smell sweet, or okay, at least. It’s definitely a shoe-induced problem. Yet another reason to move to a mild climate and live out tohellandback so I can live barefoot.
And I have found, through much experimentation, the ultimate stinky shoe solution, if anyone wants me to post it.

Yes, please post!

The reason feet sweat is not heat, as many people think, but ventilation. If you wearsocks ans shoes which allow the feet to breathe you will reduce sweating to a minimum. Then make sure you wash the socks daily and use antifungal powder ocassionally and you should be ok.

One thing that can sometimes make a world of difference is to wear natural fiber socks. I suggest using only cotton or wool socks.