Smelly sandals/feet help

[sammylady37]

Hello,

I have a pair of fitflops that are lovely and comfy, but when I wear them my feet stink to high heaven. I tried putting the sandals in the freezer overnight to kill bacteria, I’ve liberally sprinkled them with bicarbonate of soda, ive scrubbed them. The weird thing is there’s only a smell when I’m wearing them... if they’re sitting on the floor they’re fine, if I sniff the bloody things they’re fine, but when I’m wearing them my feet get really really stinky. To the degree I can smell them when sitting down and I’m sure others can smell them too. It doesn’t happen with any other sandals/shoes, I normally have nicely fragrant feet, but these are a disaster.

Can anyone shed any light or suggest any solutions please??

I can't help solve it but the smell is from your feet heating them up unfortunately.

But why doesn’t it happen with all my fitflops then? It’s just this pair, and as luck would have it they’re the most comfortable of all the ones I have and quite neutral so they go with lots of things. Very frustrating!

Take a freshly cut piece of lemon and rub it on your fitflops. All over every bit that touched your skin. Let dry, then dust with talc. Do this every time you wear them, and again afterwards. Obviously this will eventually make them sticky, so you'll also have to wash them regularly. But you might find that they need less and less frequent lemoning.

You can also rub fresh lemon all over the soles of your feet, including between your toes, followed by talc, before wearing the fitflops.

Lemon juice is an excellent natural deodoriser, but it has to be freshly cut lemon. Pre-squeezed juice doesn't work.

They're not all made from exactly the same material - some are more porous than others, and if you're wearing them a lot because they are the most comfortable they may have absorbed more sweat.

Ughhhhhh OP I have exactly the same problem with my favourite pair of FitFlop sandals. Its not you or your feet it's the bloody soles of the shoe. I used to work at FF HQ and went through hundreds of pairs of sandals (product testing) and this was a common issue. Waiting with anticipation to find a remedy!

"Do this every time before you wear them"

Important omission!

Maybe try some shoe deodoriser spray? There are some for trainers which are super strong.

Put them in the machine at 60

I had this exact same problem with some Merrill sandals, I ended up binning them unfortunately. Never had the problem before or since with any other sandal or shoe.

I have no fresh lemons in the house so can’t try that method this evening- the smelly sandals are in the washing machine as I type! Fingers crossed.

BTW if you're wearing the sandals day in day out, you don't need to lemon them before and after. Just once for every wear, plus washing, should be fine. It's only if you're leaving a few days between wears that I find I need to do both before and after.

I have this problem with my Teva sandals, and some of my Birkenstocks. I don't lemon my Birkenstocks, I lemon my feet instead.

I washed my stinky birkies at 60. I was worried it would ruin them but took the risk as they were gross. They are fine and dont smell now

The ones with cork and suede soles?

Might be worth buying another pair if you wear them everyday

Yeah theyre cork so i worried theyd disintegrate but figured it was worth trying before chucking them, and apart from the varnish going a bit white, theyre fine.

I have a pair that do this too. Weird. Must buy me some lemons

I wipe my fitflop sandals with detail every evening. Was worried it would degrade the soles in some way but have been doing it daily all summer and no issues so far.

Have you tried rubbing a crystal deodorant all over your feet? Try Pitrok over damn feet straight after washing, then pat feet dry or air dry. I've converted to it as my armpits got so sore from all the chemicals in deodorant. I occasionally do my feet too.

Dettol. Not detail.

I washed them at 60 yesterday evening and left them to dry overnight and today. Walked round the house in them when I got in from work and so far so good, no stinky feet! Will try them for the day tomorrow and see how I get on.

Thanks for all suggestions!

Halo Sportswash is very good at deponging ingrained pongs. It might be more effective than regular laundry detergent.

(I avoid it because, unfortunately, I'm allergic to it.)

Success! Wore them all day today and my feet are as fresh as a daisy! Thanks for all the suggestions.

I have a pair of Doc Marten sandals, a bit like the Arizona birkies. I noticed that when it was really hot my feet started to smell. I've never had smelly feet! They don't smell at all when I've worn rubber flip flops in the heat, but my skin is in contact with the footbed most of the time. I ended up walking round in bare feet at work some days!