Freeze the funk out of your shoes this summer

Summer, that time of the year where sweat is sadly inevitable and the strength of stinky body odors increases tenfold. Stinky feet can be a problem for boot wearers in winter, but in the summer, even the most breathable slip-ons can get stuck with the funk. For people in Japan, who are often required to remove their shoes at work and social functions, it’s a real cause for concern. Luckily, we’ve discovered a way to counteract the nasty foot smell without drowning everything in specialized deodorants. Thanks to instructions found on the how-to online resource, eHow, we know to just stick our stinky shoes in the freezer! Skeptical? See the full article to learn how it works.

At first, we too were uncertain of the effectiveness of this anti-odor freezer method, so we decided to test it out on the smelliest pair of ladies shoes that we could find. These well-worn flats smelled so bad that they had infected the entire entranceway with their funk. The owner had already tried a variety of ways to eliminate the odor, including a run through the washing machine, and yet they still retained that strong, ripe scent. We pity the other shoes in the entranceway for having to sit near them; the smell was that bad. Honestly, as unlikely as the method seemed to us, freezing these shoes was really their last hope for being stinky-free, and if it worked on them, we could be certain that it would work on just about anything.

Removing the odor is a three-step process:
1. Make sure that the shoes are absolutely dry.
2. Place them in a Ziploc or other plastic bag.
3. Leave them in the freezer overnight.

▼ There was a sad lack of Ziplocs at our disposal, so we wrapped each shoe in a regular plastic bag.

▼ There was plenty of space for them beneath the octopus balls

Morning came for our certified smell tester, and so too the moment of truth. We removed the shoes from the freezer and brought the frozen footwear to our nose… Nothing. No smell whatsoever.

Wary of jumping to conclusions we decided to wait for a while and do a second smell test, just in case the lack of fragrance was a result of the lingering cold. An hour later, with the flats thoroughly thawed, we sniffed at them again… Still no smell! The freezing method really works!

Bad foot odor is generally caused by bacteria living in your dark, damp shoes. These bacteria can’t survive in cold environments, so sticking them in the freezer for a few hours kills most of them off, an the odor with it. If by chance the smell still lingers after freezing, leaving a bit of baking soda in the shoes overnight should do the trick. Odor eating enzymes like the odor removers found at many pet stores can also work wonders on your shoes, but is only necessary as a last resort. Most foul odors can be eliminated with a simple night in the freezer. So, make some room for shoes between the ice cream and the frozen pizza, and forget worrying about stinky feet this summer!

Reference: eHow
Photos: RocketNews24

▼The sad and stinky entranceway.

▼We sniffed out the culprits. These shoes may look harmless, but their terribly smell is a force to be reckoned with.

▼ One night in the freezer, and the smell was completely gone! It’s a miracle!

[ Read in Japanese ]

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