Cure for Stinky Feet

Hi T., My daughter had the same problem. THe smell was HORRID!!! What I tried and has seemd to help was, soak her feet in warm water with 4-5 tea bags. Sounds strange, but it totally worked for my girl. I justed used hot tap water, added the tea bags, let it steep for a couple minutes then had her saok her feet for 20-30 min for 5 days. I also washed her sneakers and tried to get her to wear a different pair of shoes every day, or at least rotate them out to give shoe a chance to dry out. Also, for ssanle wearing, get a spritzer bottle and put rubbing alcohaol in it and spritz her feet, let it dry before she puts her sandles on. Hope it helps. It did for us.
L.

I'm going to suggest the same thing Michelle L suggested, soaking her feet in tea. It was something I picked up from Dr Oz. Good luck!! H. B

Use aerosol deoderant. It works great. Also keep her feet dry and have her always where socks. Get rid of any of the shoes that are stinky and start new.

I have heard wonderful things about soaking feet in a pot of tea (just like Lipton). She will need to sit for a while...at least 30 minutes and maybe up to an hour.

Ah, almost a teenager..
Make sure she knows how to wash and dry her feet. Remind her to clean with soap and water between the toes. She needs to completely dry them.

If possible she needs to let her shoes dry completely out for 24 hours. This means more than one pair of shoes so she can switch them out each day.

She needs to wear clean socks each day.

In the morning, she can spray or rub on deodorant on the bottoms of her feet.

Another thing she can do is soak her feet.

4 regular tea bags

1 quart of water

Bring the water to a boil

Drop the tea bags in and the allow the water to cool

Have her soak her feet for 10-15 min.

We always use natural aluminum-free deodorant; in the summer we could use a little "extra help" so we take Nature's Plus Chlorophyll gel caps. This will work well for any type of body odor.

I buy my son synthetic running shoes with lots of netting and I wash them in the washer. They dry quickly too. I was buying my son some shoes last weekend and noticed how many leather shoes were out there with little or no way for air to circulate but I bet leather still smells better! The other thing I try to do is have two pairs of shoes he can alternate days with. I read somewhere that the foot can sweat up to 1/2 cup of sweat per day; makes it hard for shoes to dry out overnight.

One more idea; HEB sells their brand of cat litter with ZEOLITE a very absorbent mineral. If you have ever paid 12.99 at the pet store for ODORZOUT (30oz) it is the same thing. You could put it in an old sock or panty hose and stick that in the shoes at night it should help without the residue charcoal leaves behind.

HTH,
M.

note about the deodorant- of you put it on her feet, get the kind by Tom's of Main. It doesn't have aluminum in it. Your body absorbs everything you put on it, especially in the feet! My 6 YO has been wearing deodorant for over a year now and this is what we use.

My 2 YOs feet/shoes stink because they have mold. You might want to check her shoes for discoloration. And make sure, as someone said, to allow her shoes to dry thoroughly- alternate shoe use. You can put newspaper in them overnight to help absorb the smell and dry them.

If these don't work, something you may consider is a yeast problem. Some people smell because of yeast overgrowth. You can help with this by putting her on a strict diet with no yeast (this includes yeast breads) no refined sugar products and limited natural sugars (she can have limited fruit, honey, ect.) You can easily find information on candida, that explains yeast overgrowth and what to do about it. Once the candida is under control she can have some sugar and yeast again, but be careful not to let it get out of control. I pointed my MIL to the candida info and she said it has changed her life!

Hi T., I have heard of using tea and you can also use vinegar. Yep, it stinks but it works.

I had the same problem when I was younger, not very lady-like for a girl to have such stinky feet! Ha ha! I did what Doris L. recommended because my aunt recommended it to me. I started taking ZINC supplements, and when I bought new shoes, I never had foot odor again!!! It's an easy fix, and it can't hurt to try it!!! Good luck!

I always had super stinky feet growing up and finally in college I discovered the awesomeness of lightly powdering down my shoes in the evening. I used to get this foot powder at wal-mart, can't remember what it is called now but they have a wide variety in the foot section. Anyway, I would just sprinkle some powder in at night and the problem was totally taken care of. Now several years later, I don't even have the problem anymore. Sometimes I slip some in my hubby's work boots, because I always keep it around if I am going to wear sandals in the heat, really just for comfort. Hope that helps, of course making sure she washes her feet really well is important too:)

My husband said his dad use to make him soak his feet in pickle juice and water.

Athlete's foot powder spray. Or just deodorant foot spray. In the foot care aisles of the pharmacy section at Walmart, Kmart, etc.

My husband works with a pediotrist and they tell patients to put deorderant on their feet. Not between their toes just thier feet and it seems to help the problem

Ahh I know her pain. I'm almost 25 and still have stinky feet. I've tried powders, antibacterial soaps. Finally I have resolved to this. Wash and dry feet, then put deoderant on them. Fresh WHITE socks everyday. And buying insoles with some sort of antimicrobial sheild that say "no foot odor" on the package.Bacerteria is whats causing the stink. So I would spend the extra money and start with a fresh pair of shoes and insoles.

The simplest thing is to make her wear socks. I know that it is not always fashionable so look at her shoes. My son went through this when he was younger with the plastic sandles that made his feet sweat, but didn't allow them to ventilate. On those we used Lysol at night (it is the bacteria that stinks, not the sweat)when he took his shoes off. After a few days there was no more smell, but we continued to spray to help keep it that way. We have also had to use baby powder in the shoes at night. I put it in after the shoes are off for the night. It freshens the smell of the shoes and the next day adds an additional layer of absorption in the shoe. This I use for my husband primarily! :)
Good luck!

I know you have had quit a bit of advise so my guess is that your going to try tea bags well if that does not work try alfalfa and or zinc

you can find the all natural vitamins at
www.shaklee.net/healthydesire
best of luck

One thing to check on is her shoes.
Shoes that have man-made materials (not leather) can't breathe which means there is no air circulating in her sheos while she is wearing them.
Usually that happens with cheaply made shoes.
Check material of her shoes.( it might say on the tongue of the shoe.)

First, I would have her pediatrician check to be sure she doesn't have a fungus or bacterial infection of some sort. Then I would proceed with what my mother-in-law did for my husband. Every day, she mixed up about 1/2 cup of Clorox (or another name brand, but not the dollar store stuff that is mostly water) in warm water and he bathed his feet in that for 30 minutes every day.

This all took place long before I knew him. Apparently he was once a real stinker. Before I ever knew of this foot thing, I thought he was the least stinky man I have ever known! I don't know if it's related, but it's a fact.

I have a precious blonde little 11 year old with the same problem. She could clear a room by taking her shoes off!! Especially those soccer shoes! uggh. First -she most likely has synthetic shoes which makes the problem worse. Wash them. I haven't tried the tea trick (seems it might stain them) but just run them through the washer and let them dry in the sun. Go to the pet store and get a big jar of the charcoal filter granules (my jar says "activated carbon") that they have for fish tank filters and pour some into nylon pantyhose-type socks. (cup and a half or so in each- make them "foot size") Stick those little charcoal feet into her sneaks- may take a few days at first- and they really will quit smelling. Put them in every night after she wears them and they won't start smelling again. I have tried all the other tricks mentioned below -except for the tea- and this is the only thing I have found so far! Also- Uggs boots-which at first I thought was a total waste of money for kids- don't smell even if they wear them sockless like you are supposed to! My girls wear a pair out every year and I love that there are less socks to wash. They have them in the kids dept- and Ladies!- they run VERY large so if you wear an adult size 7/ 7 1/2 or less you can buy your Uggs in the kid's dept also. Good luck.

I was watching the TV show the Dr's the other day and they had a women on the show who was experiencing the same problem and they had her soak her feet in a tea bath. They used regular tea bags in a large container of water, like a foot bath. She soaked her feet for about a good 20 minutes and it worked to get rid of the odor. I hope this helps.

I dont know if it works but I have also heard to put stinky feet in tea. I guess others have heard that too. Good luck!

Cornstarch or baking soda are both natural deodorizer...you could sprinkle some into her shoes...

Baring that you could buy odor eaters for her shoes and cut them to size...

Good Luck... ;-)

A litle alum (you will find in the spice section) in her shoes. If you try the zinc use carefully, when her body gets enough she will throw it up.

You've received a lot of great advice so far. I didn't get a chance to read all the responses so forgive me if I am repeating anything.

Are you sure it is her feet that stink and not her shoes? Sweaty feet do make stinky feet, but if the smell is that bad that you have to crack a window in your mini van it is probably a fungus in the shoes. You may want to throw those shoes out. In addition to gold bond foot powder and tea soaks, you may want to put baking soda in her shoes at night. Start this with new shoes to prevent the fungus from building up.

Good luck!

Well bless her little heart. Just remember that her body chemicals are changing. This is just one more thing she is going to deal with...

I have 4 boys and definitely know STINK!! You can fight it from the inside as well as the other suggestions for topical fixes. She is probably deficient in Zinc. You can get a bottle of any generic Zinc from just about anywhere, Walmart, the grocery store, GNC or Vitamin Shoppe, etc...

Start her off with one tab morning and night for about a week then you can up it to 3 a day if need be (don't worry about her getting too much. She will expel what ever her body does not need)

Hope this helps! Keep us updated!

Thanks to everyone who replied, my little lady of 6 too has the stinky feet problem. It's such a drag to have a pretty little girl with such stinky feet when the shoes come off! I think it is hereditary, and she gets it from her dad! I always said she had brick feet like her dad when she was a baby! Anyways, great tips for both of them. I'm off to buy Zink and Tea and Tom's Natual Deo... THANKS!!

Simple... when she gets out of the shower dry between the toes extremely well. It is the moisture in between her toes that produces the smell. Keep area between her to dry and get rid of odor.