How To Remove Shoe Odor
No matter how hygienic you may be, your feet (or your children’s!) will still produce an unpleasant smell, especially if you wear closed-toe shoes all day, every day. If your daily routine includes a lot of walking and moving around, naturally, your feet will sweat. If you’re one of the unfortunate people whose feet sweat more than others, then you’ve experienced the nasty surprise of feet stink wafting through your home.
Moisture in your shoes promotes bacterial growth, which in turn causes that familiar odor. Not only does moisture stink up your shoes, but it also ruins them. To avoid this, you must keep your shoes and feet as dry as possible -- but if you find that impossible to do, then these solutions might just work for you!
How to Remove Odor from Shoes
Baking Soda
• It’s common knowledge that baking soda can be used to remove odors from almost anything. Pour baking soda and a few drops of your favorite essential oil in each shoe, place them in a sealed ziplock bag and leave it overnight to absorb foul odors and moisture. Dump it out in the morning.
Sunshine
• Moisture is your enemy when it comes to getting rid of the stink. Place your shoes out in direct sunlight to dry them out and prevent nasty bacterial growth. If you don’t get a lot of sun in your area, then placing them near a heater may do the trick as well.
Freeze Them
• Surprisingly, sticking your shoes in the freezer can help remove odor from shoes -- but of course, sticking them in there straight away may cause more problems than solve them! Place them in a sealed freezer bag and leave them there overnight. The freezing temperature will kill bacteria that cause nasty odors.
A Bar of Soap
• Yes, soap can be used as an odor eliminator for shoes. Place them inside your shoes to absorb odors and leave behind a fresh, just-got-out-of-the-shower scent. Try this if you have a couple of spare soap bars lying around somewhere!
Activated Charcoal
• Using charcoal shoe deodorizers is one of the best ways to remove unpleasant odors from shoes. Activated charcoal makes an excellent shoes odor eliminator because it naturally absorbs stink and moisture without powders. You don’t have to resort to weird gimmicks that might not even work. One great product that uses activated charcoal is the Shoe Ninja. The Shoe Ninja is made from micro-porous activated bamboo charcoal that can be reused for up to a year -- just leave them in the sun to re-activate for a few hours.
Compared to using baking soda that leaves a powdery mess behind, you can just leave the shoe deodorizer inserts in any pair of shoes, forget about them, and use your fresh-smelling shoes the next day.
The Shoe Ninja can also be used in gym bags, boxing gloves, luggage, and more. This saves you time and money that you can use to go shopping for new shoes instead.