A smell to knock your socks off!

Let me introduce you to my best friend, Rebecca. I’ll paint you a picture of ‘almost’ perfection; this is a girl who has been a sickening size 8 all her life! Has long dark tresses of hair which perfectly fall over her beautifully constructed cheekbones. She is of average height and has an amazing way with fashion and make-up; you know the kind of girl that would look fab in a bin-bag!

OK… do you hate her yet? Yes? Good!

So in true 100% People style, we believe that nobody’s perfect right? Right… so what is Rebecca’s biggest flaw?

It’s her feet! They stink! And I don’t mean they just smell a little bit funky. I mean the stench is so bad that I gag, turn green in the face and hold my breathe until clean air can be located, which is usually in another room! The worst thing about this unfortunate whiff of a problem is she honestly doesn’t seem that bothered by it… in fact most of the time she doesn’t even notice the stench, until she spots me vomiting down the side of the sofa!

Believe me she really is an attractive woman, she’s got a great job, a lovely house and is an all round wonderful person. Yet, she comes to me now and again (Agony Aunt Daisy to the rescue again!), whining at the ever lacking presence of a boyfriend. It is at this point my eyes begin to slowly wander down to those pongy feet and I start to wonder…?

Rebecca’s smelly feet have been the topic of many a conversation over the years and I’ve always believed the main reason they smell so bad is that she never wears socks. However, even when the girl is wearing a dress and a pair of tights her feet still reek to the heavens. So as we’ve dedicated a whole month to BIG Feet here on 100% People, I’ve decided to dedicate a whole blog to the causes and treatment of Smelly Feet, in the hope Rebecca will read this and treat the reek!

My first discovery was Smelly Feet is actually a medical condition! Bromhidrosis is the correct term, and is used to describe people who perspire and excrete body odour excessively. Now I wanted to find out why our feet smell; I mean yes we all know that feet sweat… and I suppose if we’re being logical, we use deodorant daily on sweaty arm-pits so why not on our feet?

According to many experts our feet produce up to an egg cup of sweat in any one day! And in people who excessively sweat this amount could be more! So for someone who is on their feet all day (Rebecca is an estate agent by the way) this perspiration has no place to escape and evaporate. This is the point not-so-friendly bacteria come out to play! Bacteria’s biggest desires in a new home: must be warm, dark and moist. Bingo! We have a sale! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Bacteria you are the proud new owners of this sweaty shoe. Puts a whole new light on the woman who lived in a shoe right?

So OK, we have bacteria and we all know bacteria is bad. As the bacteria settle into their new home they begin to breed. The more they breed, the more the house they call home begins to smell. The outcome: a perfect pair of smelly feet!
So what’s the solution? Other than becoming a bare-foot hippy and changing your name to Moonshine, there are a few simple things you can do to prevent the whiff getting out of hand.

Wear socks! -  Just make sure they’re made of natural fibers, as these are more likely to absorb moisture. Man-made materials such as nylon don’t. The more sweat builds up around your foot, the more bacteria will breed on the foot itself. Oh and wear a clean pair everyday!

Smarten Up! – Trainers are made to accommodate a sweaty foot. However, usually the materials they are made from are more likely to cause your feet to sweat. So try not to wear trainers day-in-day-out.

Wash those tootsies! – I did a little survey of my own, and it seems very few people actually wash their feet! People stand in the shower, wash their hair, armpits and all the necessary dangly-bits but for some reason leave out their feet, in the view that they just clean themselves! If you know you are prone to sweaty/ smelly feet begin a routine of washing your feet twice a day. It also helps if you use an anti-bacterial cleanser. Just remember to moisturise afterwards to avoid drying out the skin.

Buy more shoes! – OK you might not need to, but you shouldn’t wear the same pair more than two days in a row. Shoes need a period of drying time, to allow sweat to evaporate.
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Product power! – There are hundreds of products out there to aid the fight against foul smells. Some work, some don’t. Give them a try, if you find something that works for you then great! If nothing seems to work then a consultation with your GP or a chiropodist is probably the best course of action.

So there we have it, our feet, along with their 250,000 or more sweat glands are prone to a bit of whiff! Some whiff more than others, some look gross and some are just massive. Again it brings me back to the 100% People philosophy, nobody’s perfect. No body indeed, each and every one that walks this earth, with foul or sweet smelling feet, is different. Refreshing isn’t it?