Smelly feet are caused by either excessive sweating of feet or shoe leather odor that sticks on to the sweaty feet, even after removing shoes. It is healthy to sweat as it assists in shedding off the waste and maintaining body temperature. But, some individuals tend to sweat at a high degree without any obvious reason and stale sweat begins to smell foul.
These individuals who sweat excessively are known to have hyperhidrosis and do require medical attention to manage it effectively. The chief cause of smell is the bacterial waste product formed, after ingesting the sweat. Prolonged covered feet that have high sweating tendency tend to build up bacterial excrete, which if not washed off soon after being formed, gives rise to cheesy foul smell. But, need not worry as there are various home solutions to tackle and treat these rotten smelly feet.
7 Important Home Treatments For Smelly Feet
Black Tea Therapy
The most popular therapy for treating smelly foot is black tea therapy. Brew two tea bags in 3 cups of water and soak feet for 15 to 20 minutes, every night on regular basis for one week. Tannic acid from tea will prevent excessive sweating from feet, by closing the skin pores and also kills away the bacteria causing the bad odor.
If feet still smells like before even after a week’s treatment, soak in for a few days more till the situation is improved. Henceforth, soak feet in tea bag water for once a week, and keep smelly feet at bay.
Epsom Salt
In half a bucket of warm water, add 2 teaspoons of Epsom salt and soak feet in it for 10 to 15 minutes. Do this every day before going to sleep and avoid putting on socks while asleep.
This cleans away all residual bacteria and toxic waste from the feet and ensures that sweat glands get dry completely during the night.
Dust Borax
Use borax as disinfectant to keep bad foot odor under check as borax helps in killing away the bacterial residues. Dust some borax into inner portions of shoes and once it disappears after a short while, wear your shoes and head for the day, without the smelling foot.
Homemade Foot Scrubber
Smelly feet can also be the result of callus formation over the feet. It is essential to scrub your feet on regular basis, to get away with formed calluses.
Prepare a powerful scrub using isopropyl alcohol (91%), sugar and water, keeping sugar quantity higher than water and make a thick mixture out of these. Use this mixture to scrub feet for 5 to 10 minutes, before the bath and get rid of bacteria, fungus or dead skin deposits from the feet.
Massage Feet With Ginger Root
Prepare a puree from one medium sized ginger root and steep it in one cup of water for 15 minutes. Then filter and strain the solution to get a smooth flowing ginger liquid.
Use this liquid to massage feet every night, before sleep and keep massaging for a period of 2 weeks to fully treat away the smelly feet problem. Antibacterial properties of ginger prevent the formation of bacterial waste over the foot, thereby treating the smelly issue.
Sage
Make use of dried sage leaves and put them inside the socks and shoes to absorb away the bad odor and leave behind a soothing scent. Alternatively, prepare a sage tea and soak the feet in it for 15 minutes to get rid of smelly feet.
Tannic acid of sage tea lowers the sweat formation and in turn the foul smell. One can also drink sage tea every night to fight back body odor.
Expose Feet To Sunshine
UV rays from sun kill away all smell causing bacteria from feet. Sit in sunlight, whenever possible and expose uncovered feet to direct sun rays for 10 to 15 minutes. It is absolutely fine if feet get tanned as they will be bacterial free too. Perform sunshine bathing for a week or more and experience the benefits of it.
Moreover, sun bathe your stinky shoes too as the bacteria build up in them also need to be removed, whenever possible. If exposing to sun is not always possible, at least let them get dry completely under the fan or blower, before wearing them again.
In addition to above useful home treatments, make sure to clean feet daily with soap and keep them open for a few hours to let them breathe properly. Moreover, make use of cotton socks instead of nylon socks as these absorb away moisture caused by sweating feet. Also, wear breathable shoes allowing feet to breathe through the day too.
Caution: Please use Home Remedies after Proper Research and Guidance. You accept that you are following any advice at your own risk and will properly research or consult healthcare professional.