How to get rid of foot odor?

Smelly Feet, No More!

Your feet smell bad, you have already tried several methods without any one being effective and you still do not know how to get rid of these bad smells. It is all the more important for you that your partner, your spouse now blames you ... This situation reaches you deeply and you want to put an end to it or at least try to strongly limit the smell of your feet.

Having smelly feet does not mean that you have poor personal hygiene (even if in the case of poor hygiene or non-existent stench will quickly reveal itself), but particularly drastic hygiene will allow in most cases remove these bad smells.

The solution is simple and inexpensive because it is called vinegar. Simply take a foot bath every 2 days and take care of your feet by removing the excess skin that is there and then rehydrate because the vinegar treatment will dry out your skin.

In my previous job I had to wear safety shoes all day, Summer and Winter. So I knew this problem and I will guide you to get out of it.

You are ready ? Follow me !

How to kill bacteria and prevent their proliferation?

We have already seen in previous articles, the bad smells are not caused by the sweat or the dirt but by the bacteria which feed on it and reject smelly gases: that is where the bad smells come from.

I urge you to read this article on UV Sanitizers or the one on Homemade Odor Absorder for Shoes.

The fact is that if you let the bacteria settle, especially in your shoes, the efforts you make on the hygiene of your feet will be useless.

What you need to remember is that your feet need to breathe. They need air.

Why is it necessary to remove the thickness of skin from your smelly feet?

We must first understand why our skin is so thick under our feet. You must have noticed, but our feet absorb the weight of our body when we walk. If this is not the case for you, it is because you are walking on your hands! ;)

Our feet protect themselves from pressure, friction and blows by producing a lot of skin cells. As this skin develops rapidly, the upper layers become conducive to the proliferation of bacteria and fungi.
The problem, as far as we're concerned, is that bacteria and other fungi love to feed on our dead skin and hide in it.

Fungi and bacteria are not just on the surface, they are mostly safe between 2 layers of dead skin. This is why it is difficult to overcome and it is necessary to destroy their habitat.
In other words, we will remove successive layers of skin by bathing and care of our feet. All this is not going to be done in a few days, be patient.

Is vinegar really effective against smelly feet?

Of course, for several reasons:

Vinegar contains acetic acid that will help soften dead skin for easier removal. It is therefore more aggressive than water and will allow us to remove more skin in less time. Your treatment will be faster!

Then vinegar has 2 great and essential properties:

1. It is antiseptic, so it will act as a disinfectant and kill our bacteria!
2. It is antimycotic or antifungal, which will also destroy the fungi!

It does not make coffee though ... :(

So you can easily understand why vinegar is going to be very useful for making our feet look new.

How to properly use vinegar to clean your feet?

Vinegar is not to use anyhow. Not that it is dangerous, but despite its low price, you simply do not want to spoil it in a useless way.

For our foot baths, we will not use pure vinegar. We could have but it is not really useful.

Prepare a basin of hot water. Not too hot either, you do not want to cook your feet! You need to feel the heat for 20min to 30min because this is the time you will take for your foot bath.

A basin usually contains 5 liters or about 1.3 gallons.

To have the right dosage, you have to pour 2 glasses of vinegar in it. This is not to be followed exactly, so do not worry if you only pour a glass and a half or 3 glasses.
This gives you an idea: about 2 glasses for 6° - 8° vinegar.

Note that a foot bath salt (salt, soda) will have the same effect on the skin, the concern is that the salts are bacteriostatic, that is, they do not kill bacteria but only prevent their development . As proof of this article in the well-known scientific journal Nature about a dormant bacterium found in a crystal of salt 250 million years old!

How to remove dead skin from our feet?

Now that your feet have taken a bath, it's time to get down to business: remove excess skin! This is called exfoliating. Dry your feet and remove your skin immediately. If you wait too much the skin will be hardened and everything will have to be redone.

If you're very lucky, a layer of dead skin will easily peel off by hand, like when your skin is peeling.

Otherwise you will have to use a pedicure skin remover. There are two types: manual or electric. Personally I opted for a manual but also spent a lot of time on my feet ... Your choice.

Only remove what comes easily! Do not try to remove a skin still very attached, you could hurt yourself. It would be a pity especially with all these bacteria around!

Once the dead skin layer is removed, add some moisturizer. Indeed the vinegar and abrasion of the rasp will have attacked and dried your feet.

Repeat every 2 days or 3 times a week, until you can not remove any dead skin.

Note that there are creams that can take off your dead skin, or even exfoliating foot mask if you want a faster result. Not knowing if they are over-the-counter in your country, you can always see with your doctor.
From this moment on, you will find that your feet already feel much less bad than usual.

How to maintain your feet once the dead skin removed?

It's been a month since you continued your treatment and you have overcome your dead skin and your feet do not feel the cheese: bravo!

It will now be necessary to maintain them.

Bacteria and fungi do not know the rest, we must now prevent their return.
For this I suggest a very simple thing: after bathing or showering, pour a little vinegar so as to moisten your washcloth and rub your feet.

Once a month, a vinegar foot bath and use your skin remover if necessary.

That's all !

I have been doing this for a number of years and I have no more problems with bad foot smells!

If you want to go further, you can still buy charcoal soles. This can help if you produce a lot of toxins in your sweat.

Conclusion.

Today we have seen the beneficial effects of vinegar on bad foot odor. We have also seen a complete treatment that you can perform at home without resorting to a complete pedicure. You have learned that vinegar is effective against odors and why it is useful in this case.

This method I did not invent for you but used it many years ago and continues since not to be ashamed to take off my shoes.

I sincerely hope that all this will be useful to you and will solve your problem as soon as possible.

Good luck to everyone !