Stinky Feet - Help Needed

[Parvathi 2]

I figured since there are so many Moms here, surely someone would have a suggestion or practical advice for this.

My dear beautiful daughter, bless her heart, can clear a room with her feet. If she wears anything other than bare feet, flip flops, or Crocs (those rubber clogz with holes in them), her feet take on a life of their own. After school when she gets in the car, I have to roll all the windows down. The dog doesn't even want to play with her shoes LOL.

She's going away to camp week after next for a week - first time ever - and I'm really nervous that her stinky feet are going to be a source of embarassment for her. How can I get rid of this horrible smell?

Cheers for any help!

[La_madam 20]

my youngest son who is 12 hasthe same problem, I use a foot powder in his shoes and I spray his feet with a foot odor spray.. I know for my son I have to literaly stand in the bathroom and watch him wash his feet with soap and Water, he seems to forgetto wash that particulat part of his body. Maybe you can get her a new pair of shoesfor her camping trip that will take thesmell away for a week or two anyways.

[Teresita 0]

La Madam has the answers.....yessss. Wash and powder. Since she will be at camp she probably needs to wear tennis shoes so it would really help for her to wear footies. My nieces socks and shoes would run around the room when she took them off. Found out she would wear the same pair of socks for who knows how long. ewwwww....shoot them, they are trying to get away

[paula 4]

Is it her shoes that stink?

This is the BEST practical solution that Ive ever heard of - and it works!!!!

Saturate 2 papertowels in Lysterine mouthwash. Stuff each towel in each shoes and leave over night.

You may have to do this 2 nights in a row, but IT WORKS!

Ive had to do this to my 10yr olds shoes many times.

If its just her feet that smell, then I would try the powder. Let us know what happens, ok?

[Wheetsin 714]

Oh my, a good friend of mine in college went through this, and we went through it with a cousin of mine too. One day my friend was over and took her shoes off and I told her to put them back on, or put them outside, because it was really bad. She didn't believe me, and then our dog came over, smelled her shoe, and started growling and baring its teeth at it. She believed me then!

You know what? In both cases the main reason was because they were just standing in the shower, and not actually washing their feet. Both of them figured the soapy Water running down their feet was enough, not realizing that the soapy Water can't get under their feet and wash things off. :couch2:

With my young cousin, she too was re-wearing her socks. Eww. But in her own admission, "If they started to get crunchy, I could just put them in the dryer for a few minutes and they'd soften right back up." I mean - EWW.

I think in both cases the good washing (antibacterial or exfoliating shower gel would be great) is what fixed the problem, but preventatively they both also, for a short time, (until they felt confident the washing was fixing the problem) put regular deodorant on the bottoms of their feet, sprinkled their shoes with baking soda, and kept things called "Stinky Pinkies" in their shoes overnight (I think they're just breathable papercloth bags with baking soda or charcoal or something in them).

So get a good antibacterial or exfoliating shower gel, a fairly rough washcloth (these mesh things don't have enough abrasive qualities for good showering, our skin still needs something that can get the old skin off), or maybe even a pumice stone, and have her start washing the bottoms of her feet morning & night if you can, but definitely at least once a day (morning is best IMO, because then you're putting fresh feet into the shoes).

BTW, I don't know if you can get the odor out of the new shoes. We never could with my girlfriend (umm - per her smelling them, not me!), but with shoes she bought from them on there was never a problem. Oh, and BTW again, even her flipflops were stinky, it's just that the stink has the opportunity to diffuse, and in tennis shoes it doesn't.

[Teresita 0]

....... put regular deodorant on the bottoms of their feet......

I never heard of that.....that is smart. It has to be the sweat with the flip flops that makes them stink......I like that. I will have to share that.

[KariK 0]

Here's an idea, go shopping for new shoes buy them for her. Then both of you go get a pedicure together. After the pedicure have her put her new shoes on and throw the old ones in the trash. Then go buy her some foot scrub to use daily in the shower. Also make sure she is wearing COTTON socks not synthetic ones. And clean socks everyday! And bleach her socks when you do wash.

[Devana 0]

Tea tree oil works wonders. Aside from all the foot care, put some drops of oil in the shoes. It has natural antibacterial properties and manages to keep shoes and boots fresh. An Aussie friend told me about this and it's amazing.

[Wheetsin 714]

The only thing I'll add to that - try a little bit of it at a time. My skin reacts very poorly to tea tree oil, even if it's diluted with carrier oils, and even if I don't come in direct contact with it.

And by poorly I mean it "burns" me.

[leatha_g 4]

No leather, either. No bare feet in the shoes. Clean socks only and changed daily. In jr high, I was the world's worst for not wanting to wear socks. Not a good idea. She might even need to change socks during the day for awhile.

Been there, done that.. I don't envy you. :couch2:

[Jachut 487]

Ewan is the same, every afternoon I go nuts at him becuase he gets into the car after school and kicks his shoes off, eeew. His feet stink.

I have to wash his runners regularly and I have to supervise him washing (not only his feet, lol) AND he puts deoderant on his feet. The trouble i have with him is that he takes his shoes off at any opportunity so I always find him running round outside in his socks, and all his socks are wrecked. So the ends of the feet are out of them and he may as well be wearing no socks with his shoes, which as we know leads to stinky shoes and feet. One day he took his shoes off at my mum's and we all folded because the only bit of his socks that were left were the ankles, his entire feet were bare. But the deodorant helps.

He's such a grot, sigh. I thought all the kids came home black with dirt with just little pink bits where they'd rubbed their eyes clear. Till I picked him up early one day and actually went into the classroom and NONE of the other kids looked like that.

I'd probably buy her a new pair of shoes to take too, and put odor eaters in them, although Ewan wont wear those.

[Parvathi 2]

Thank you everyone!!! I'm going to try all the suggestions lol, til I find one that works.

Jacqui, Jaz is the same with being a grot. She changed schools this year from an all girl very strict school to a coed alternative school. They don't wear uniforms and they come home absolutely filthy. The school really believes in letting a kid be a kid though, so I won't complain - she absolutely loves it. But don't worry, its not just Ewan lol. He'd probably fit in there brilliantly :couch2: