Your legs host millions of bacteria that proliferate in sweat, including dead skin cells. Substances secreted by these bacteria are those that produce the unpleasant smell. As soon as you put your legs in a pair of shoes, it causes a sweat that provides a favorable ground for the bacteria. An untreated mycosis may also be responsible for the unpleasant smell.
People suffering from diabetes, heart disease and generally older people are particularly susceptible to fungal infections and odors, due to poor blood circulation.
There are plenty of remedies for serious trouble to come to neutralize odors and perspiration. For starters, change your socks twice a day and apply a deodorant.
A foot deodorant:
Deodorant will neutralize the smell of sweaty feet. Vaporized it or apply it before you put your socks and shoes. Wash your feet daily with warm water and antibacterial soap or deodorant.
Hot air:
After bath or shower, dry your feet with a hairdryer for hair, set to a minimum. This treatment is aimed especially for people who have a fungal infection (taken from the pool, gym locker room, shared showers, etc.) or a nail mycosis. Helps prevent infection and reduce humidity.
Powder your feet:
Powder your feet with talcum powder or foot powder before taking your shoes. The powder absorbs sweat responsible for the unpleasant smell. Sodium bicarbonate neutralizes odors and absorbs moisture and corn flour.
Change socks at least once a day:
Wear alternatively at least two pairs of shoes and keep the freshness pair on a ventilated place, for at least 24 hours. Select (as much as possible) shoes or sandals with holes that let the foot breathe. Go as far as possible in your bare feet and dispose of house slippers.
Massages with perfumed oil:
The essential oil of lavender helps eliminate bacteria, while releasing a pleasant smell. In the evening, before bed, rub and massage your feet with a few drops diluted in olive oil and then put your overnight pair of socks. Warning! Make sure your skin does not react to this essential oil.
Advice from grandma:
1. Bathrooms with walnut. Walnut leaf has antiseptic virtues, they ease tired feet after a hard day’s work. Simmer two walnut leaves in a pint of water. Leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain, then add cold water in the hot liquid. Pour mixture into a bowl and add a handful of coarse salt. Take a foot bath (ankle), for 20 minutes. Wipe your feet, then rub them with lemon juice.
2. Bathrooms with thyme. Boil a pint of water. When starts to boil, add two teaspoons of thyme and let simmer 10 minutes. Place the cooled, filtered, and then make a foot bath for half an hour. Repeat the process daily until disappearance of smell.
3. Baking soda baths. In two liters of hot water add a cup of vinegar and a tablespoon of baking. Made two feet bathrooms per week in the evening.
4. According to the grandmother’s old recipes, sage leaves thrust in wool or cotton socks to regulate perspiration and eliminate foot odor. Equally effective are baths with decoction of leaves and flowers of sage (2 tablespoons per liter of water). Take foot baths for 20 minutes, then rinse with warm water.
5. Boric acid powder. Have the powdered boric acid crystals in the form of powder, then apply in the morning on barefoot, especially between boots. Hold this treatment for two weeks.