HELP! My skates stink soooo bad!

[Sessy]

Hey seriously, I know skates stink but mine are just that much worse. I've only had them since october, but people in the dressing room sit further away from me when I take them out of the bag! My whole room smells of them, too!

I dry them, though not by the heating because I'm afraid that will damage the heatmold stuff in them (I have graf edmontons) but it doesn't seem to change a thing.

Please! There must be something I can do!

What if I pour alcohol in them, would that help and would that damage them? What about if I put them in the freezer, would that kill the bacteria without damaging the skates?

[Skittl1321]

I skate barefoot so mine get really really bad- really bad.

I've put baking soda in them and that helps get the smell out, but I can feel the grit on my feet, so I don't like that.

Then I got odor eaters from a drug store- they are little round balls with an odor neutralizer in them. They rotate so they are only open when you want them to be. I just drop those in my skates when I take them off- it's helped a ton.

Lots of the younger girls have a thing called "stink-eeze" which are stuffed animal looking things that go into your boots, they have an odor neutralizer in them. They are cute and made for skates- http://www.rainbosports.com/shop/site/department.cfm/id/D1CD8329-D610-7E99-DA1702708463B25E

I don't know if any of this is available where you live though.

[Sessy]

Yeah that's probably why mine smell so bad too (I skate in very thin nylons), plus my naturally *very* sweaty feet.

I tried the odor eaters, several kinds in fact and I'm using some natural chipwood cedar odor eaters or something like that, they seem to work best, but not nearly well enough.

Soda you say eh? I'll try that!

[Skittl1321]

Soda you say eh? I'll try that!

Baking soda- it's a powder (sodium bicarbonate). Just to make sure we aren't getting words crossed (before you go pour soda pop in there).

http://www.armhammer.com/basics/magic/#1

[Rusty Blades]

DON'T USE ALCOHOL! Leather and alcohol don't get along, neither to the adhesives used in skates!

I skate barefoot and powder my toes with foot powder - no sweat.

I open my skates and hang them to air in the house between sessions.

Been in them since April and they still smell new

[Sessy]

Baking soda- it's a powder (sodium bicarbonate). Just to make sure we aren't getting words crossed (before you go pour soda pop in there).

http://www.armhammer.com/basics/magic/#1

LOL well fortunately we don't refer to pop drinks as soda here so I best know soda as stuff my mom made me flush my sore throat with as a kid and as baking powder. :)

You mean to put it in dry right, not as a solution?

[Skittl1321]

LOL well fortunately we don't refer to pop drinks as soda here so I best know soda as stuff my mom made me flush my sore throat with as a kid and as baking powder. :)

You mean to put it in dry right, not as a solution?

Yes put it in dry. Or you might want to put it into a sock, and throw the sock in there- that way you don't have any "grit" on the bottom of the skate.


I wasn't sure what you call "Coke" there- but I had a moment flash through my head where you poured a can into your skate!

[dbny]

LOL well fortunately we don't refer to pop drinks as soda here so I best know soda as stuff my mom made me flush my sore throat with as a kid and as baking powder. :)

You mean to put it in dry right, not as a solution?

Over here baking powder is baking soda with added ingredients. Yes, put it in dry. You could take an old pair of nylon pantyhose and cut the bottom off. Put the baking soda in there to keep your boots from getting gritty.

[Sessy]

I skate barefoot and powder my toes with foot powder - no sweat.

That's not gonna cut it with me. I've actually been to the doctor with this a few years ago and nothing he gave me helped, not even sedatives, so his suggestion was to get the sweat pores sealed but I can't afford that yet.

But thanks for the heads up on alcohol, boy am I glad I asked!


Oh the sock idea is great! BTW, hm if I can put soda in a sock in there, I can put that sweat absorbent baby powder in there too, I guess I'll try both. Thanks!

[smelltheice]

the other easier alternative you can get is trainer deodoriser. It is available in the UK so I guess it will be available in the Holland either from a shoe shop or a sports shop

[smelltheice]

I know this is off subject but do you share the ice with Karen Venhuizen?

[Sessy]

I have like... twice. There's this ice rink up north, open in the middle of summer for a month and you can actually get ice there no matter what your level but it's crazy expensive so only the dutch top goes there but I decided I'd treat myself to it when it was like... 35 degrees centigrade outside, LOL. Good call too, cuz I got my backspin there.
I was way intimidated but she's incredibly sweet, gave me a ride to the train station once. She said she'd been in the hospital just before with some bad rash and swelling in her face. She's in the hospital right now, she's just recently been diagnosed with some auto-immune muscle disease which also often causes a rash and skin swelling, did you know?

[smelltheice]

I didn't know. I have only seen her on eurosport and she really stands out as being much more elegant than most. She has a superb talent and I think there is alot more to come from her. Will she be going to worlds do you know? I hope she will be ok

[Sessy]

No, she's out for the rest of the season and maybe (hopefully not!) more.

I agree she really stands out as a skater, she's also much better than the rest of our ladies seniors in competition, proven by the fact that she's ninefold national champion.

[smelltheice]

hopefully we will see her back in action for next season. Did you hear that Plushenko will back back in september for the next season?

[Rusty Blades]

Remember, if you are talking odour, that's bacteria and bacteria require 2 things to survive - warmth and moisture. To eliminate odour eliminate one or both warmth &/or moisture.

[Sessy]

So can I put them in the freezer? :lol:

[smelltheice]

I was thinking the same thing but didn't want to be cheeky:lol:

[Bill_S]

I wear socks, so my experiences may be different. I don't have much of an odor problem, but I DO use a foot powder in my boots occasionally.

Have you tried anything like this?

http://www.drscholls.com/images/product/medium/OD_ShoeShot_Deo.gif

There are other brands too, but their purpose is to absorb moisture and to inhibit bacterial growth.

[Award]

Yeah......the bacteria in there is creating those bad smells. It's necessary to use products that remove moisture and deal with the bacteria. Perhaps you might try rigging up two 10 cm x 10 cm computer fans hooked to a 12 volt power supply that runs from the wall socket. Then lay your boots down flat on the floor, put each fan about 5 cm away from the entrances to your boots, and aim each fan into the opening of the boots. The air will just keep blowing into there continuously and dry everything right out. You can run the fans for as long as you want.....like 12 hours. Probably a good idea to put some protective mesh on each side of the fans to protect fingers and skates etc from the fast and sharp blades of the computer fans. If you don't know how to rig up this kind of thing, then there may be commercial products that do the same thing. I like my computer fan idea because it's completely silent and quite effective too. I've been using this method for a few years now. You could also use just 1 computer fan only, and share the fan between the two boots, by laying the openings of both boots close together....in spread eagle fashion. The fan can then blow into both openings at the same time.

[smelltheice]

I prefer to wear cotton thin cotton trainer socks. They stop your boots smelling and absorb much of the sweat. Your boots will require to retain a bit of moisture on the inside or they will be like wood when you next put them on. If you wear a synthetic material next to you skin (Lycra, nylon polyester etc) then that will make your foot sweat like mad but also smell bad. I have the same problem if I wear synthetic socks. try getting thin cotton trainer socks (the ones that are like half a sock that only come up to your ankle) and see how they are. It really can make all the difference at not much cost.

[Sessy]

I used to skate in socks but I can't in my current skates, it hurts my feet. I agree about the wood thing...

I'll try the odor destroyer... I think I know a shop where they might have the sort of thing.

[Award]

My skates don't go woody, that's for sure. I guess it would go woody if they were air-dried with a fan for a really long time with a really high rate of air flowing into them (or baked in an oven like heat-molding). I just smelled my skates just before.....hardly any trace of smell. In the past, before I had began to use a fan-blowing method, I would not dare to even take a tiny sniff.

[Skate@Delaware]

I skate barefoot and the skates do stink after a while. I take the insoles out periodically and scrub them down with antibacterial soap then rinse well; air dry. In between washing, I spray them with a home-made spray (which contains tea tree oil which is antibacterial along with some other stuff) and air them out.

Leaving them in a closed up bag will really get them reeking in no time!!!8O