Now I would hazard a guess no one would have ever entertained the idea that shoes and feet are in the top ten dirtiest places. I mean we clean our feet everyday, right? While you might shower and wash your feet every single day, you put those clean dry feet right back into dirty shoes. When was the last time you cleaned your shoes? Most will say NEVER!
When is the last time one of your kids or your husband took off their shoes and you said. "Oh god, what's that smell?" You think something up and died on you or the cat peed so you go sniffing around and lo and behold you find the culprit....tennis shoes and your husband's smelly feet. In order to understand how shoes get so smelly, we need to actually understand what causes smelly shoes in the first place so the first thing you need to look at is the type of shoes you are wearing. Are they synthetic materials like rubber or vinyl? You should always wear either leather or cloth that can absorb moisture.
But the problem of how to clean smelly tennis shoes is to deal with what caused the odor to begin with....and that is the feet. The damp and warm conditions in socks and shoes, especially training shoes, provide the perfect environment for the growth of bacteria and fungus, which cause smelly feet. Athlete’s foot and other skin disorders also contribute to smelly feet.
So you have sweaty feet? The medical term for sweaty feet is called hyperhydrosis. It is very common in teens and young adults. Each of us has a set point for our metabolism. This set point is somewhat like the thermostat in our homes. Some folks have a higher set point than others. For some, this may be due to anxiety, stress, hyperthyroidism, hypoadrenalism or excessive fluid intake. For others, it's just their natural metabolic set point. Bromhydrosis is a condition that occurs with excessive perspiration and a foul odor. The distinctive odor of smelly tennis shoes is actually caused by bacteria helping to decompose the perspiration and dead skin cells on the foot and those that are left in the shoe. You are making cheese in your shoes without milk, just leather and human skin flakes.
Just to make sure you are keeping up here....you have clean feet. Your shoes have not been cleaned and contain each and every day's worth of perspiration and dead skin cells left behind....accumulating...take a black light to the insides of your shoe. The whole shoe lights up like it was radioactive.
Ok, so how do we solve the issue? Definitely not by drowning your feet in heavy odor-masking perfumes. After awhile, "peach banana sunrise" doesn't smell much better than "rotten toe funk".
Did you realize that here are approximately 250,000 sweat glands in each pair of feet that release nearly a cup of moisture every day? Bacteria jumps from your feet to your shoes, and from your shoes to your feet. So, when they come in contact eith each other (the feet and shoes) you contaminate the other.
You need to keep your feet clean and dry. Wearing natural fiber socks that absorb moisture, and only wear boots and tennis shoes for as short a period as possible. Don't wear the same shoe for two days in a row...you need to let them dry out totally. Wash you feet with antibacterial soap with a couple of squirts of Betadine (we put ours in a squirt bottle for the shower so we don't accidently spill the whole bottle). Dry totally. Use antiperspirant spray to control the sweat issue. Change socks and shoes more than once a day if you perspire a lot. After taking off your shoes at night, spray the insides of the shoe liberally with Lysol spray. Let it totally dry before wearing that pair of shoes again. Throw them in the washer with a cap of bleach water in the shoe. Take out the insole of the shoe and wash it at least once a week. Some people say that soaking your feet in a green tea solution works too. Doing all the above will keep the smellies and cheese away and prevent athletes foot and fungus toenails. If the above doesn't work, then it's time to see your podiatrist.
