Essential oils are plant extracts that actually lack the “oily” texture or thickness of regular oils. However, their benefits go far and beyond ranging from cosmetic to culinary, medicinal, and perfumery uses. They have strong therapeutic characteristics that include but not limited to antimicrobial, antibacterial, deodorant and anti-fungal properties.
Accordingly, they are commonly used as formulas for eliminating fungi and bacterial agents that cause nail funguses and athlete’s foot.
In addition, they produce incredible aroma that hides and replaces bad odor in shoes. Below are some few tips and methods that you can use to apply essential oils in your shoe and eliminate the bad odor.
Shoe Spray
Let’s take a scenario of my sister who uses an essential oil spray to keep at bay bad odor that invades her waitressing shoes.
Throughout the year, my sister would come home from work with sweaty sneakers that stunk to high heaven. We tried everything including weekly washing and air drying but nothing seemed to work.
However, a friend recommended an essential oil-based shoe deodorizer and after further research I decide to lay my hands on it. Much to my surprise, it worked like magic.
Therefore, I can confirm with full confidence that essential oils shoe deodorizers or a home-made spray with the essential oils are excellent solutions to shoe odor.
DIY Essential Oils Shoe Spray Recipe
What You Will Need
- Essential oils of choice ( Good choices for odor elimination include thyme essential oil, eucalyptus essential oil, peppermint essential oil and tea tree)
- Water
- Rubbing alcohol
- Spray bottle
Instructions
- Transfer 2 cups of water into a spray bottle
- Add 200 ml rubbing acohol
- Add 12 drops of each essential oil of choice. You can reduce the amount if you intend to make a solution that does not have a strong aroma.
- Seal the bottle with a cap and shake well.
- Spray the solution into your shoes.
- Set the shoes aside so that the spray can spread inside and kill all the organisms responsible for bad odor.
Baking Soda and Essential Oils
Baking soda is chemically known as sodium bicarbonate. Since it has an alkaline pH, it neutralizes moist acidic air found in shoes that produce bad odor.
Essential oils improve the efficiency of baking soda. The two work together because baking soda is an excellent carrier of essential oils. It also holds mild antibacterial features.
Once added into smelly shoes, baking soda powder absorbs the humidity in the air, thereby damaging the favorable living conditions for the odor-generating bacteria.
- When using it with essential oils, use the appropriate ratio to form a light paste.
- Sprinkle a light layer of the mixture into the shoes.
- Shake the shoes for the mixture to spread well.
- Let the mixture sit in the shoes for about a day so that the stench can get absorbed completely.
- Finally, remove the baking soda residue from the shoe by shaking while in an upside-down position.
Foot Soaks
With foot soaks that contain essential oils, you can kill the bacteria and other micro-organisms responsible for causing bad odor in your shoes. The following remedy has been tried and trusted for feet and shoe odor elimination.
- Fill your bathtub with water and add about 15 drops of your chosen essential oils (Combine any of these; peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil or lavender oil). You can also add some Epsom salt or apple cider vinegar.
- Stir the water to mix all the ingredients properly.
- Finally, soak your feet in the water for roughly 20 minutes. Also, wash your shoes with the same water to kill any existing microorganisms.
Generally, essential oils have powerful medicinal properties and when used appropriately, they can help you say goodbye to bad feet and shoe odor. Follow the above steps and the pungent smells will be no more.
