Yes, your feet do sweat and yes, it’s natural for shoes to stink beyond a point – but what are you going to do about it? You can try and pretend not to notice, even when people around you are making their grimaces more obvious, or you can opt for some of these methods that can help you combat smelly shoes.

Before you get to work, you need to understand that shoes get their distinct stink because of the bacteria (brevibacteria) that breed within them. Brevibacteria consume dead skin and they produce methanethiol from amino acid methionine. Methanethiol has an unpleasant and cheesy odor, and this is what makes your feet smell (learn more about how to get rid of smelly feet). So basically, all you need to do is eliminate these microorganisms, and this will solve your problem.

Bacteria thrive in spaces that are moist, dark and warm, and thanks to the sweat glands that are present in your feet; the insides of your shoes serve as an ideal place for their growth.

The Baking Soda Method

Every evening, roll up your sleeves and coat your shoes with baking soda on the insides. Once you do this, seal them up in a plastic bag and store them in the freezer. Bacteria can’t withstand the cold, and any existing odor will be removed fully by the baking soda.

Don’t wear the shoes soon as you take them out of the freezer. Keep them out in the open for a while before you slip them on again. This will bring down their moisture content, and reduce the chances of brevibacteria breeding in your shoes again.

The Rubbing Alcohol Method

You can opt for this method if you don’t have the time (or room) to freeze your shoes overnight. Apply a coat of rubbing alcohol along the insides of your shoes and place them in ventilated space for a while. Rubbing alcohol removes the bacteria quickly, as it evaporates fast. If you think your shoes are quite moist after this method, apply some baking soda on their insides, as this will soak up the remaining moisture.

Preventing Shoe Odor

There are a couple of preventive measures that you can opt for, to make things easier. Keep your feet clean, and dry them properly once you wash them. Moisture tends to accumulate in the region between your toes, so ensure that you use a good towel regularly. Antiperspirants can also help in this regard, and talcum powder can be used to soak up the moisture from your shoes.

Never wear wet shoes, and leave them out to dry for a long time before you use them again. Stuffing newspapers inside your shoes is a good idea that can help drain off the excess moisture. In case your shoes are wet, think twice before tossing them into the dryer because this may ruin them. Your shoes need to be cleaned regularly, so make this a part of your daily or weekly routine.

The good news is that smelly feet are definitely curable; at the very least you’ll be able to cover up the smell so that it’s not noticeable. You may even be able to get to the root of the problem and solve it altogether. Check out the different tips below to get started on the path to having good-smelling feet!

Causes of Smelly Feet

The reason for your smelly feet is actually quite simple. Your feet sweat – there’s no way around that. Sweat discharges waste from our bodies, and there are many types of bacteria that feed on this waste. The bacteria use organic acids to help break down the waste, which in turn, results in a very potent odor that can stink your feet up something awful.

Natural Remedies to Get Rid of Smelly Feet

One of the oldest and most effective remedies for food odor is taking a salt bath. You don’t literally need to get into the bathtub, but rather just soak your feet. Add some salt to a mixture of warm water and grab a seat. Let your feet soak for a good 20-30 minutes in the salt water. When you take them out, you’ll notice your feet are extremely dry; this is a good thing, the salt soaks up all the toxins and what not that are present in your feet’s sweat glands. Don’t rinse your feet off – just let the salt do its job and dry you up.

Cleaning your Shoes

Since we know that sweat is a direct contributor to foot odor, your shoes can be doing you lots of harm. Because your shoes house your feet for most of the day, it’s only logical that they’re being sweat on and are absorbing a lot of this smell while they’re being worn. You may start to reduce the smell of your feet through different methods, but your shoes can still smell!

The best way I’ve found to fix this problem is with baby powder or cornstarch. Sprinkle the powder or cornstarch in your shoes before you put them on and after you take them off for the day. Do this every few days and then monitor the smell. The powder will help to absorb some of the sweat and even do a little bit of “covering up” if the smell starts to seep out.

Try Different Socks

Ditch the synthetic socks and go for something more natural like cotton. Socks that are made out of synthetic materials tend to cause more sweating in the feet than socks made out of natural materials. So go to your local clothing store and pick up your new socks, and give them a try. Monitor the smell and take note of whether or not your feet are still sweating (or sweating as bad as before) over the next couple of weeks.

Store-Bought Products for Smelly Feet

Since smelly feet are a very common problem all over the world, there are a number of over the counter (OTC) products sold to remedy the problem. Simply put: some work, some don’t. You always need to be cautious when buying products to remedy a health issue – many times the makers of the product are relying on the fact that you’re in a desperate situation and are willing to “try anything”. That being said, some reputable and effective products include Odor-Eaters, Gold Bond Medicated Foot Spray and Lavilin Cream.

How to Get Rid of Bad Breath With Clean Teeth and Gums

Proper brushing and flossing can help keep dental plaque down and helps to reduce bad breath because odor causing bacteria resides in dental plaque and in the spaces between our teeth and gums caused by plaque. Brushing and flossing after meals is very important to help reduce odor causing residue to form in our mouths. Also, dental checkups help to maintain healthy teeth and gums and reduce gum disease that causes bad breath. Your dentist will also be able to tell if your halitosis is caused by oral or medical problems.

Getting Rid of Halitosis With Tongue Brushing and Scraping

Brushing your tongue should also be a part of your brushing and flossing routine. Most bad breath is caused by residue on the tongue, so to eliminate as much of this residue as possible, brush your tongue with your toothbrush or a special tongue brush. Start at the back of the tongue and move forward. Tongue scraping with a tongue scraper has also been known to be effective and seems to reduce gagging in the scraping process.

Using Mints, Sprays, Gum, or Lozenges to Eliminate Bad Breath

The thing about using mints, gum, etc. is that when used with daily brushing and flossing, they are an added bonus. They help cause saliva which breaks down and cleanses odor causing bacteria. Make sure you are using sugar-free.

Avoiding Certain Foods Will Help to Stop or Reduce Halitosis

Avoid alcoholic beverages, sugary drinks, sugar-rich candies, sugary foods, smoking, and chewing tobacco just to name a few. However, drinking plenty of water keeps you hydrated. Dry mouth helps bacteria grow and causes halitosis.

Our goal should never be to drive the people we care about away. Having bad breath will drive people away and will also take away our confidence. Daily oral hygiene and avoiding certain foods, and drinking plenty of water will ensure you are doing everything possible to keep halitosis away and the people we love close by.

Mints – The Classic Fresh Breath

It may seem obvious, but an overdose of mints can go a long way to freshening up that old stale cigarette smell coming from your mouth. While it won’t always completely mask cigarette breath, it usually tones it down to a level where people do not really notice. mints are a cheap, easy and readily available way to clear up cigarette breath, whether in chewing gum or candy form! Mints are my personally preferred way of getting rid of the cigarette smell temporarily even if it doesn’t manage it completely.

Spicy Food

If you are taking some one out for a meal why not make it a Mexican or Indian, these foods easily mask the smell of smoke. The good news is that if you are taking a date out for one of these meals then you won’t be able to smell each others garlic breath either! Of course taking a date to an Indian can also have other unpleasant side effects so it can occasionally be a bit of a gamble. Some people prefer the smell of garlic to the smell of a cigarette though!

Oral Hygiene

It may seem obvious, but good brushing of the teeth, daily mouth wash and tongue scraping can greatly reduce the smell of cigarettes on your breath. Unfortunately the saliva you produce will bring the smell back, but good oral hygiene should massively reduce the strength of your cigarette breath!

Quit Smoking

This is the only real way to permanently solve your cigarette breath problem, and even then it may take several years for the smell to completely disappear. The money saved from buying cigarettes and the whiter teeth may help you move towards this idyllic solution however!

All in all getting rid of cigarette breath can be a huge challenge, with quitting smoking cigarettes the only real way to achieve it. Fortunately if you combine the above tips when needed you should be able to mask your cigarette breath when you need to!

Taking up Residence

On their human host, body lice move onto the skin a few times daily to feed off the body’s blood. They also lay their eggs and leave their waste matter on the skin and clothing. Their presence can cause intense itching, bug bites, scabbing, crusting, and rash.

Because they nest along seams and parts of clothing that adhere to the body, the skin near waistbands, on the shoulders, buttocks, abdomen or under bra straps are most often affected. Scratching the affected areas can lead to infection. Rarely, body lice can act as vectors, transmitting other diseases, including relapsing fever, typhus, and trench fever.

How Body Lice Spread

Body lice spread through contaminated clothing and through direct contact with infected persons. They’re more common in crowded conditions and in conditions of poor hygiene. Robust, body lice can survive for up to 30 days without contact with a human host. An adult female louse can lay as many as 10 eggs daily and 300 or more eggs during her lifetime. Having a short life cycle, freshly hatched lice can reach adulthood within 9 days. When female adults begin reproducing, the infestation can worsen. For this reason, it can be difficult to get rid of body lice without thorough cleaning and scrutiny. Insects as well as their eggs and larvae must be destroyed.

Getting Rid of Body Lice

In infestations with body lice, affected individuals must shower with hot water and soap. Clothing and bedding must be thrown out or washed in hot water, drying these items in a hot clothes dryer (more than 122 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 30 minutes) or by pressing the suspect clothing or bedding with a hot iron. Alternately, the clothing and bedding can be boiled for 5 minutes or dry cleaned.

When clothing and bedding are thoroughly washed, no further treatment may be required.

Chemical Lice Removal

In areas difficult to clean, such as mattresses, chemical powders can be used. Effective dusting products include 10 percent DDT, 1 percent malathion or 1 percent permethrin. These products should be used cautiously, and inhalation should be avoided. Direct contact with DDT should also be avoided.

Commercial Topical Preparations

Several over-the-counter and prescription products are used to eradicate body lice. After mites are destroyed, symptoms and lesions can take up to 3 weeks to resolve. Treatment can fail because of drug resistance, incompletely applied therapy, poor absorption, and re-infection. The following treatments are available:

• Elimite cream, Nix, or Rid Spray (permethrin 5 percent) may be used in children over 2 months of age.
• Ovide lotion (malathion 0.5 percent) may be used in children over 6 years of age. Ovide can cause stinging when open sores are exposed to the lotion.
• Kwell shampoo or cream (lindane 1 percent) is generally reserved for stubborn cases resistant to other treatments due to the possibility of central nervous system toxicity, especially by absorption through open sores or excessive application. Guidelines recommend that Kwell only be used in individuals weighing at least 110 pounds.
• Precipitated sulfur, 6 to 10 percent in petrolatum, applied daily for 3 consecutive days.

Dosages

Older children and adults should apply permethrin to the entire body from the neck down; allow to dry and wash off after 8 to 14 hours. Repeat treatment in 7 days.

For infants and young children, permethrin should be carefully applied to the head and neck, avoiding the mouth and eyes, and then to the rest of the body, particularly body creases, fingernails, toenails, and umbilicus. Mittens can be put on infants to help prevent them from getting permethrin in the mouth or eyes.

Treatment Precautions

Treatments can injure the eyes. Avoid getting lotion in the eyes or rubbing treated hands over the eyes.
Lindane can cause neurotoxicity, including dizziness and seizures, in individuals weighing less than 110 pounds.

Covering Up Body Odor Won’t Get Rid of It

Spending an exorbitant amount of money on perfumes, body sprays and deodorants to cover up body odor is not the answer. Covering up the odor won’t stop it, and some perfumes, body sprays and deodorants can actually irritate pores and cause the odor to become worse. There is a condition called hyperhidrosis which causes excessive sweating and strong body odor- this is usually caused by bacterial growth. There are ways to combat body odor, regardless of the cause.

Daily Bathing and Cleaning

Daily bathing will help prevent body odor- obviously when dealing with body odor issues, sometimes taking more than one shower or bath a day will help. Use a good body wash that doesn’t leave a “perfumy”scent or sticky residue. Try to avoid bath oils, baby oils or lotions that are too heavy- these can cause you to sweat more, which will increase odor.

Use Baby Powder

Using baby powder, or another type of talcum powder under arms, in folds of skin or other parts of the body which sweat excessively, can help prevent sweating. These powders should be dusted on after a bath or shower, they will help absorb excessive moisture, and therefore cut down on odor and wetness. Avoid using baking soda or other harsh powders on your skin in place of talc, talcum powder is best because it won’t interfere with your body’s natural PH balance.

Stay Away from Antiperspirants

Avoid using antiperspirants, these will help get rid of body odor- but at the expense of your pores. These products clog pores and cause bacteria and toxins to stay trapped underneath the skin. Clogged pores in your underarms can cause cysts and pimples, and further irritate your skin and sweating problems.

Watch What you Wear

Avoid wearing fabrics such as satin, polyester, or other man-made fabrics. They are synthetically made and will keep your skin from “breathing,” which in turn causes body odor problems and exacerbates sweating issues. Cotton, wool and silk are naturally “breathing” fabrics which help your body to stay cool and dry- cotton also helps wick moisture away from the body- decreasing odor issues.

Keep your Bedding and Clothes Clean

Making sure to wash your bedding, towels, and clothing regularly and using a minimal amount of fabric softener will also help keep body odor to a minimum and help reduce sweating. This will also help keep your pores from clogging and bacterial build-up in pores as well.

Certain Foods Can Cause Body Odor

Eating large amounts of fish, meat, onions and garlic can also be a major factor in causing body odor. Avoid excessive amounts of these items. It’s also a well-known fact that alcohol and tobacco usage contribute to body odor. It’s a great idea to avoid these items, and to make sure to drink plenty of water. Refined sugar is also a big no-no when you’re trying to get rid of body odor, it increases bacteria and causes body odor to worsen.

Sweat It Out!

Allow yourself to sweat, sweat is the body’s natural way of detoxing! Strenuous exercise, saunas, even hot tubs will help you to sweat. Even when trying to avoid odor, sweating will help flush toxins from your body and will help clear your pores. Your sweat may smell really bad at first, but after a bit, you’ll find that your sweat is no longer smelly.

Keep in mind, that while body odor and excessive sweating are usually just an annoying and easily treatable issue- sometimes excessive sweating and strong body odor are symptoms of a medical problem. Kidney disease, liver disease, fungus infections and even just plain old poor hygiene habits can cause harsh body odor. If none of the above precautions work to control your body odor, it’s a good idea to see your physician to help rule out a medical condition as a cause.

Professional Treatments to Get Rid of Body Odor

If all else fails, there are treatments out there for body odor and sweating such as anticholinergic medications which will inhibit sweat glands and help control levels of the chemicals which control those glands in your body. There are also surgeries that will help with excessive sweating(and also control your body odor as a result)- discuss with your physician whether you are a candidate for any of these options.

Body odor is an embarrassing problem, but it is controllable and even preventable!