How to Naturally Deodorize Smelly Shoes? – All You Need to Know in 2024
I know several volleyball players feel discomfort while playing indoor or outdoor matches due to the foul odor of their shoes. In this situation, every man and his dog wants to know how to make your volleyball shoes smell better quickly and efficiently.
So don’t be pear-shaped; here is a guide for newbie players who cannot prevent lousy smell in shoes and are unfamiliar with the extra finest methods. Please look over the step-by-step instructions and make your Volleyball shoes smell better in 2024;
How to Make Your Volleyball Shoes Smell Better?
Following are the 08 proven methods to make your volleyball shoes smell better.
1. Dry Volleyball Shoes
Firstly, if your volleyball shoes are damp, place them outdoors under sunlight to dry completely. You can remove shoestrings for swift air out. After completing a volleyball match, you must place the shoes outdoors at home to dry because dry shoes remove maximum odor.
2. Pour Baking Soda
Once your damp volleyball shoes dry completely then take socks and pour baking soda into them, as baking soda is the finest method for removing bad smells. Then, tightly tie the socks and place them inside the volleyball shoes.
Don’t take off your socks after an hour. Instead, leave the socks inside overnight to allow the baking soda to absorb bad odors.
Alternatively, you can also sprinkle a small amount of baking soda inside your volleyball shoes. If shoes are smelly, then this technique is more helpful to absorb bad smells and make your volleyball shoes smell better.
Remember not to use baking soda on damp shoes. The next day, before wearing shoes, turn them and start shaking them to remove the baking soda completely. Also, take a dry-clean cloth and wipe the midsole completely.
However, it takes too much time compared to vinegar spray, essential oil, and fabric sheets. In fact, if you use baking soda, you need to place your shoes outdoors for 24 hours at most.
3. Use Fabric Softener Sheet
If you don’t want to sprinkle baking soda inside the shoes, select the finest fabric softener sheet for your best volleyball shoes. Once you come home and remove the shoes, swiftly place this dryer sheet inside the shoes and leave it overnight. This method makes shoes smell fresh and removes odors easily.
4. Use Soap
A soap method is the finest home remedy for killing bacteria with bad odor. Simply take your volleyball shoes, drop a bar of soap into each shoe, and place it outdoors for two to three hours.
Remember that if your soap is wet, don’t use it for volleyball shoes. Ensure soap bars are dry to further moisture buildup and order. The moisture will encourage bacteria and doesn’t remove the odor properly.
5. Use Clove Essential Oil
People only try to focus on removing the odor of volleyball shoes but forget the bacterial growth that causes infections in athletes’ feet. In this situation, using essential oil is a bite at the cherry for all players who continuously play matches or practice. Several crucial oils are available on the market, including clove, cedarwood, and clove essential oils.
According to research, clove oil is best because it eliminates heavy odor and kills bacterial growth swiftly. So, let your hair down. Just put a few drops of essential oil under the midsole of volleyball shoes and let it air out. Also, you need to remove the shoestrings to air out better. On the other hand, many people try to mix essential oils with baking soda or vinegar for better results.
6. Use Vinegar Spray
You can use vinegar spray to remove shoe odor with bacterial growth for quick results. Just take a cup of water and white vinegar in equal amounts in a spray bottle. After that, shake the bottle for a few minutes, then spray inside the volleyball shoes.
You can spray all around shoes, but they mostly come through the midsole and allow it to dry for a few hours. Do this to your volleyball shoes to make them smell better and fresher.
7. Replace the Insole
If your volleyball insole looks old and you’ve worn it for a long, then it’s time to replace it with new insoles. Many times, shoe odors are caused by smelly insoles. So, you need to replace the insole by removing the previous one to stop bacterial growth.
You can buy insoles specifically designed to make your volleyball shoes smell better. These insoles prevent smelly shoes due to their odor-fighting properties and avoid all foot-related problems, including aching feet and painful joints. For that reason, volleyball players prefer insoles to avoid bacterial problems.
But if you can’t remove or replace the insoles in volleyball shoes than you have solution below.
8. Buy New Volleyball Shoes
Now what if absolutely none of the above methods are working for you? Well, this is the time to get rid of stinkiness permanently and start fresh.
Although costly, a permanent solution to get rid of the stinky volleyball shoes is to buy new kicks. However, don’t forget to check our best volleyball shoe recommendations.
What Makes the Volleyball Shoes Smelly?
To prevent any problem, It is equally important to know the root cause behind it. In the case of smelly volleyball shoes sweat and bacteria are the prime culprits. Let’s discuss in detail
- Primarily, volleyball shoes become smelly due to the interaction of sweat and bacteria. When you engage in physical activity, your feet naturally sweat to regulate body temperature. The sweat from the feet gets absorbed by the socks and shoes, which creates a moist environment inside the shoes.
- Naturally, bacteria that reside on your skin, particularly Staphylococcus Epidermidis, thrive in warm and moist conditions. As these bacteria come into contact with the sweat absorbed by your shoes, they begin to break down components of the sweat, such as leucine- an amino acid present in sweat. This breakdown process by the bacteria produces organic compounds that emit an unpleasant odor, commonly recognized as shoe odor.
Therefore, the combination of sweat providing a conducive environment for bacterial activity and its break breaking contributes to the development of smelly volleyball shoes.
Regular cleaning, proper foot hygiene, and utilizing odor-reducing techniques can help prevent and manage shoe odor effectively.
06 Ways to Prevent Volleyball Shoes Bad Odor?
The best way to avoid stinky shoes is to prevent them from getting smelly. Here are 06 practical and easy tips that prevent the accumulation of smell inside your shoes.
1. Wear Clean Socks
Several players never notice that socks matter most in removing lousy odor inside volleyball shoes. When low-quality socks start sweating and come into contact with the midsole, they produce a horrible smell. Therefore, you need to buy a quality pair of socks for volleyball matches because that makes your day right as rain.
2. Always Clean Feets
It doesn’t mean you can remove odor and kill bacteria inside your volleyball shoes to prevent athlete’s feet or fungal infections. You need to maintain proper foot hygiene. Firstly, clean your feet properly with a cleanser or soap.
After cleaning your feet, you need to fully dry them with a clean, dry cloth because damp feet encourage bacterial growth. That’s why you wear socks once between washings.
3. Clean Your Shoes Regularly
Regular cleaning of volleyball shoes is pertinent to keep them smell-free. Regular cleaning will remove the dust, debris, and bacteria from your shoes. However, it is important to understand and consider the manufacturer’s guidelines and precautions regarding the cleaning and washing of your shoes.
If your brand allows you to machine washable, it’s an off-chance moment for every player. But please don’t put shoes into the washing machine directly; please place the volleyball shoes inside a pillowcase, then put them into the washing machine. After that, place your wet shoes outdoors under the sunlight.
4. Sunlight
Every man and his dog find the easiest and fastest way to remove odors from shoes. That’s why sunshine is a bite at the cherry for all beginners who want to get a better smell without using fabric softener sheets or soap.
Just place your volleyball shoes under the sunlight and leave them for a few hours. The sunlight properly dries out your moisture-laden shoes and kills bacteria for free without buying fabric softener sheets.
5. Use the Shoes in Rotation
Rotating the use of your volleyball shoes helps to prevent the shoes from getting stinky. This is because the rotation of shoes among multiple pairs allows them to dry up completely and reduces the chance of odor buildup. Moreover, shoe rotation also has the benefit of increasing the lifespan of volleyball shoes.
6. Never Wear the Shoes Without Socks
Your feet are in direct contact with the shoe insole. The sweat from your naked feet can accumulate inside the shoes which creates a damp environment for bacterial growth and odor.
The sweat coupled with the feet’ warmth provides an ideal environment for bacterial growth. Resultantly, the bacteria on your skin infiltrate directly into the shoe’s interior and develop odor within the shoes.
Moreover, the sweat and oils from your feet can also cause staining and wear on the interior lining of the shoes over time. This can make it more difficult to remove odors and may result in a lingering smell even after cleaning.
Most importantly, this may also lead to the risk of developing fungal infections such as athlete’s foot.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Essential Oil to Remove Volleyball Shoes odor?
Put a few drops only inside the midsole of volleyball shoes to remove odor, and then leave your shoes for a few hours. But purchase only Clove essential oil due to its foremost properties because they provide extra freshness, kill maximum bacteria, and remove odor swiftly.
What’s the way to remove odor in Volleyball Shoes?
Baking soda and sunlight are natural ways to remove foul odors from shoes. Just sprinkle baking soda inside the midsole and place your volleyball shoes under the sunlight for a few hours. But if you only use baking soda, then you need to place it outdoors for 24 hours. To my mind, if your shoes are damp then place them under the sunlight for 2 hours.
Can I Wash My Volleyball shoes?
Firstly, look over the care tag of volleyball shoes. If your brand allows you to, don’t directly put them in the washing machine. Please take the pillowcase and put it into the washing machine. After that, place it outdoors and wait for it to dry completely. This method is helpful for every man and his dog who wants to make their volleyball shoes clean or prevent bad odor from bacterial growth.
How do I deal with volleyball shoes that start to smell after heavy use?
Keeping them dry and using odor-absorbing sprays or inserts can help. Regularly airing them out after use is also key to preventing bad smells.
To Conclude
The above methods and tips are right as rain for beginners who don’t know how to remove odor and avoid smell from volleyball shoes. Still, every man was confused about which method was off-chance and efficient for my volleyball shoes.
I believe using essential oil is a perfect method to kill bacterial growth with a fresh smell compared to other methods. Because that’s 100% researched and tested officially. Otherwise, if you don’t budget to purchase essential oil, the sunshine method or baking soda is the foremost way to remove odor efficiently. However, if none of the tricks work then go for a new kick and
References:
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/athletes-foot/symptoms-causes/syc20353841#:~:text=Overview,include%20an%20itchy%2C%20scaly%20rash
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7081113_Foot_odor_due_to_microbial_metabolism_and_its_control
