how do you wash your feet to get rid of smelly odor? I have been washing it with soap but it still smell. I tried washing it with a bit of bleach. it doesn't get rid of smell easily.
Buy a box of discount store tea. Common and cheap black tea is fine. Bagged or leaf are okay. Brew up strong batch a quart with ten bags and boil a long time. Let cool with the bags, leaf, still in. Strain out the leaves or remove the bags. Store in a sealed jar in the fridge.
Dilute a quart or so to a little over a gallon. You can use it lukewarm or dilute with hot water and use warm. Don't use so hot you hurt yourself.
Soak you feet in this brew for half an hour a couple of times a day. A good time to read the newspaper or watch TV. Don't wash it off. Just towel dry and move on.
Stored covered it can be reused for a couple of days.
The tannin in the tea shuts down your sweat glands and allows the natural flora to rebalance. Done twice a day for a week or so you should see real results and you can back off to once a day. As the flora normalize you can back off to once every two days.
Some people prefer to use the tea concentrate and to paint it on and let it air dry. This can be handy for trips where the whole soaking thing can be inconvenient.
Also it pays to look at footwear. Wearing the same shoes every day can make it worse. Rotating footwear so they can dry out can help. Natural fiber socks and changing them often can also help.
Foot odor is caused by bacteria from fatty acids deposited by our sweat. Our feet sweat throughout the day and the fatty acids they produce decompose making stinky feet.
The key is try and keep your feet dry. When I was working long hours underway I had to air my boots out every night and soak my feet warm water and antibacterial soap. I have never heard of using bleach but If I was sweating extra hard that day I would sometimes find time to switch out my socks.
might be a fungal infection too. Leads to stinky feet, after showering rinse with diluted vinegar, 1tbl to 1 quart or so, maybe a little more or pee on your feet after you wash all the soap down the drain (DW won't like that.) Soap is basic and leaves your skin alkaline. Your skin is designed to be slightly acidic. Urine and vinegar are acidic. Plagarized advice from my old country doctor.
-w (he who once had smelly feet, not so much anymore)
Registered: 08/28/04
Posts: 835
Loc: Maple Grove, MN
You also want to keep your shoes dry and clean. Most tennis shoes can be run through the wash on the gentle cycle with a couple towels. Take the insoles out when washing, or drying. And get a boot drier like the Peet to dry them out after washing or if you've gotten sweaty.
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