Help! My skates smell awful!

icedancingnut31 · Jun 24, 2009

I have a problem with my skates, that they smell really bad. My feet sweat for some reason and when I take my skates off they are soaked with sweat. I wear mondor knee highs which are made of lycra and nylon and are designed for skating. Also they smell. What can I do about this? I have tried stinkeez which are cloth animals that smell like vanilla, cinnamon or mint that go in your boot but then my skates smell like a mixture of feet and vanilla, which is pretty gross. Any advice??

jjane45 · Jun 24, 2009

I use a small fan to dry my skates as soon as I get home from skating, hopefully it does not kill the life of leather. Also heard about dryer sheets, dried tea leaves, baking soda, dried orange peels, etc etc... I am really curious, too!

i love to skate · Jun 24, 2009

Lot's of pro shops sell some form of Skate Boot Disinfectant Spray. I find this works really well. I'm sure if you go in and tell them your story the staff will be able to give you a product or offer you some advice.

Tammi · Jun 24, 2009

Do you keep them in your skating bag? When my skater was in a Riedel boot, we were advised to be sure to take them out of the bag and give them a chance to dry out. For some reason, they just tended to retain the sweat and they smelled bad no matter what I tried. When we switched to Jackson boots, we had absolutely no trouble with sweating or smelling.

icedancingnut31 · Jun 24, 2009

Tammi said:
Do you keep them in your skating bag? When my skater was in a Riedel boot, we were advised to be sure to take them out of the bag and give them a chance to dry out. For some reason, they just tended to retain the sweat and they smelled bad no matter what I tried. When we switched to Jackson boots, we had absolutely no trouble with sweating or smelling.

No. I keep my Riedel Gold Stars in a locker at my rink. I am a full time college student so I keep my skates in my locker so I don't have to drag them around to class. I used to have Jacksons and when I took them off the insides felt like I had poured water in them and they smelled worse than my skates now.

Tammi · Jun 24, 2009

Wow, that's funny we had the totally opposite experience with the same exact boots. Hope you can find what works with yours.

jp1andonly · Jun 25, 2009

the locker would keep the moisture in. Have your feet checked for athletes feet. Buy some powered footpower for smelly feet. My other half has horrible smelling shoes. Ever since he bought the powder, the foot smell has gotten A LOT better. It even seems to help prevent stinky feet (I believe its by dr.scholls)

silver.blades · Jun 25, 2009

If you have to keep them in a locker, make sure that they're open a far as they can so they'll dry out faster.

mskater93 · Jun 29, 2009

You should use powder on your feet BEFORE you skate to try and keep them as dry as possible.

Skate@Delaware · Jun 29, 2009

My daughter skated in Jacksons and she had really stinky feet (even her sneakers reeked)! What we ended up doing was removing the bed liner/foot pad (just pull it out so it sticks straight up) and spray a bit of a homemade mix of:
- 1/4 c. grain alcohol (this is usually the 150% proof stuff) in a pinch you can use rubbing alcohol (good if you are under age)
- 10-15 drops tea tree oil (it will smell very strong)
--mix well
-add 1/4 c. water
--pour into a spray bottle, pump a bit of that into your skates and onto the foot bed, and onto your feet. Tea tree oil is a natural disenfectant. If you find that it is too strong an odor for you, you can use lavender oil instead (use the essential oil only). This concoction will not ruin your skates at all. You can also spray your stockings and socks, sneakers, etc.

Wash your feet daily, use anti-fungal spray or cream as well. Some people harbor lots of fungus and it smells more.

vlaurend · Jun 29, 2009

You can try simply replacing the thin insole inside each boot with an Odor Eaters (or similar) insole. Just replace them regularly. Worked for me. But I also avoid wearing nylon tights because I hate the way my feet sweat and feel slippery inside the boots. I wear thin cotton socks, which breathe much better than nylon. If I have to wear tights to compete, I wear the over-the-boot type so I can still wear short, thin cotton socks under my boots.

icedancingnut31 · Jun 29, 2009

vlaurend said:
You can try simply replacing the thin insole inside each boot with an Odor Eaters (or similar) insole. Just replace them regularly. Worked for me. But I also avoid wearing nylon tights because I hate the way my feet sweat and feel slippery inside the boots. I wear thin cotton socks, which breathe much better than nylon. If I have to wear tights to compete, I wear the over-the-boot type so I can still wear short, thin cotton socks under my boots.

I can't get insoles for odor. My insoles now are superfeet, a special model of them which is designed for figure skates. They were like 100$ and custom designed and fitted for my feet and I love the way they feel, so I don't want to get new ones

Skate@Delaware · Jun 29, 2009

icedancingnut31 said:
I can't get insoles for odor. My insoles now are superfeet, a special model of them which is designed for figure skates. They were like 100$ and custom designed and fitted for my feet and I love the way they feel, so I don't want to get new ones

You can wash your insoles. I wash my Jackson insoles (since I skate barefoot and they get really grungy).
THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR NORMAL JACKSON INSOLES, you might want to ask Superfeet Store for washing instructions:
Fill a sink with warm water (not hot) and swish some dish soap into it.
Immerse insole. Let it get wet
Take it out and drain the water
Take a scrub brush and lightly scrub the insoles
Rinse each one under running water
Blot each one with a fluffy towel
Place on dry towel overnight to dry. DO NOT place on a radiator, heating pad, or any other warm surface to dry they will be destroyed. DO NOT place in the sun they will be destroyed. You can do this monthly. It helps as well.

You can also take a washcloth that has been swished in water with antibacterial soap an wrung out scrub the inside of your skates. It's not really a good "washing" job but it does get some stuff out.

The problem with skates that are "heat-moldable" is the thin layer of plastic. It tends to keep moisture in which harbors bacteria & fungus which increases the amount of odor.

stevlin · Jun 29, 2009

Jeff Buttle also complains about smelly feet

World Champion of 2008 Jeffrey Buttle says that he has a smelly boot/feet problem too. It was talked about on Canadian tv. He laughed about it but I wonder if he did anything about it. Does he put his "smelly" skates on in front of the "Stars on Ice" fellow skaters? Or perhaps they all have smelly feet/boots too? Just being silly!

beep_beep · Jul 2, 2009

What about your tights?
Do you use them again the next day (or skating session)? Having a bunch of them and washing them frequently could help too.
May be you could wear some very thin and small cotton socks, I think it would absorb the sweat better... (like vlaurend said)

One thing that relly helped me was... getting regular pedicures. The dead skin that inevitably accumulates on the bottom of the feet is like a bacteria all-you-can-eat buffet!

That and regular moistursing along with some sports' foot powder solved the issue for me. And, oh yeah, let your boots dry out as much as you can before closing them in the locker.

icedancingnut31 · Jul 2, 2009

beep_beep said:
What about your tights?
Do you use them again the next day (or skating session)? Having a bunch of them and washing them frequently could help too.
May be you could wear some very thin and small cotton socks, I think it would absorb the sweat better... (like vlaurend said)

One thing that relly helped me was... getting regular pedicures. The dead skin that inevitably accumulates on the bottom of the feet is like a bacteria all-you-can-eat buffet!

That and regular moistursing along with some sports' foot powder solved the issue for me. And, oh yeah, let your boots dry out as much as you can before closing them in the locker.

I wear black under armor pants when I practice which I wash after a few practices since they're only an hour long. Cotton socks make my feat sweat more and I wear socks designed by mondor that are for skating. I also have no time to air out my skates since I go before class and I have to leave immediately after I am done so I won't be late to class. I also do get pedicures for my ugly disfigured calloused feet but my sweet sweat like crazy for some reason. One time my coach took my skates with her since I saw her again the next day (before I had a locker) and she said my skates stunk up her whole car and the odor remained for days. Needless to say she never took them again.

jjane45 · Jul 2, 2009

My skates improved a LOT since I started drying them out instead of throwing them into the car truck until the next session.
What about a small portable fan running on batteries?

Skate@Delaware said:
... spray a bit of a homemade mix of:
- 1/4 c. grain alcohol (this is usually the 150% proof stuff) in a pinch you can use rubbing alcohol (good if you are under age)
- 10-15 drops tea tree oil (it will smell very strong)
--mix well
-add 1/4 c. water

I like the smell of tea tree oil

Grain alcohol seems difficult to get, settling with rubbing alcohol for now. THANK YOU for sharing!

vlaurend · Jul 4, 2009

Febreze?

Ladskater · Jul 5, 2009

icedancingnut31 said:
I have a problem with my skates, that they smell really bad. My feet sweat for some reason and when I take my skates off they are soaked with sweat. I wear mondor knee highs which are made of lycra and nylon and are designed for skating. Also they smell. What can I do about this? I have tried stinkeez which are cloth animals that smell like vanilla, cinnamon or mint that go in your boot but then my skates smell like a mixture of feet and vanilla, which is pretty gross. Any advice??

Yikes!! Me thinks "something is a foot!" - sorry no pun intended, but could not resist. I have never really thought about this problem, as I never experienced it when I figure skated. I would imagine many Hockey players have the same dilema. Have you seen your Dr. about the problem? It could be athlete's feet.

Anyway, here is some info that may help:

http://www.footdynamics.com/who_we_are.htm

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=what+cause...rnature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/16/87.cfm

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Ways+to+Cu...516/10_ways_to_cure_stinky_rotten_smelly.html

I hope this info will help.

megsk8z · Aug 5, 2009

We have this stuff they sell at my rink called "Unique." It's about $15 per bottle and it really does de-stink! Lots of the hockey players use it and I have found it to be useful for removing blood stains, grass stains and the dreaded cat pee smell. I would spray some of this into my skates, then wipe them dry on the inside with a clean chamois. Air out.
Good luck.

Help! My skates smell awful!

icedancingnut31

jjane45

i love to skate

Tammi

icedancingnut31

Tammi

jp1andonly

silver.blades

mskater93

Skate@Delaware

vlaurend

icedancingnut31

Skate@Delaware

stevlin

beep_beep

icedancingnut31

jjane45

vlaurend

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~

megsk8z

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