Natural shoe deodoriser help wanted

[Hammock Hamster]

Hi all,

I know many here make there own naturally made household products(I'm thinking of you toddy, British red, Mr fenna etc...) and having recently picked up a pair of second hand boots I am after a way of removing some slight odours and any bacterial things lurking in them.

I could just grab some sort of spray from a shop but quite like the idea of making something myself.
I know backing soda held in some thin cloth (like a giant teabag) is good for general odour remover but am wondering what I can add for an anti bacterial element.
I have Rosemary growing in the garden at the mo along with mint, sage and thyme as well as plenty of dried herbs in the cupboard.

Any thoughts or tips for this would be gratefully received.

Hamster


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[British Red]

baking soda is probably your best bet. It removes odour very efficiently. Working inside shoes you cannot have anything too lumpy. I would personally also add dried lavender blossom in a ground up form and a couple of drops of tea tree oil.

 

[Macaroon]

This is going to sound very counter intuitive, but bear with me; cut a large onion into quarters and put two of the quarters into each shoe overnight, better still for twenty four hours, having taken the insoles out and washed them, then treated with lavender and tea tree oil in equal measure when dry. There really won't be any smell of onion left behind, onion is a really efficient absorber of odours and a good anti-fungal as well.

The treatment of the insoles is also anti-fungal and will give a pleasant smell to the shoes until overcome by the toxicity of your own feet. If you have it and can spray it, Isopropyl alcohol makes a good initial cleanser and
takes very little time to evaporate so you can do this first.

 

[mrcharly]

Tea tree oil is pretty good. I've used it with soap flakes to wash smelly clothing.

 

[Blundstoned Love]

onion is a really efficient absorber of odours

It certainly is. I have used an onion halved to help kill the smell in a freshly painted room - and it does not replace the smell of paint with that of onion.

A word of advice - throw the onion halves away.The first time I did this I used the onion in a sandwich afterwards. It tasted of Dulux Apple White. Not something that is going to appear on Masterchef any time soon.

 

[Toddy]

If they were mine, I'd open them up as widely as a I could, and then I'd use the hoover nozzle on them and really hoover them out.

Then I'd smell them and decide what needed done.
If its mildewy then it needs something fungicidal like tea tree.
If they're sweaty then it needs something that will wipe that off before I do anything else. If you can get hold of a spray bottle (keep a washed out cleaning spray one for useful things or buy one of those multi wee bottle holiday/travel pack things ) and put a couple of spoonsful of vodka into it with a couple of drops of essential oil and some water. Spray the inside of the boots and then stuff them with paper towels or newspaper. Leave that over night to absorb everything, remove the next morning and leave the boots opened out for the day to finish off airing.
If the sweaty smell is still there, stuff them with grass (the stuff sold in small blocks in places like B&M's for pets, is fine, besides you can use it for practicing your firelighting too ) and leave them for a couple of days, empty them out and then use the hoover again to finish the job.

…or you could just buy proprietory boot cleaner stuff from folks like Nikwax or Scholl.

If all else fails, soak a a cloth in diluted biological washing liquid and scrub the boots out with that, again stuff and then leave open to air dry.

Not really 'natural' but unless your boots are pure leather or felted wool, they're likely to have unnatural components anyway.

Grass is good for it; it's silica rich, yarrow is traditional, sphagnum moss is another goodie if you can get hold of it. Cedar wood is excellent, so is fresh cut pine (just make a couple of really bushy feathersticks and keep them inside the boots; mind to shake them out carefully before you put them on though).

Bicarbonate of soda, cut open onion, watergel crystals (put them into a cleaned out yogurt pot or the like and put that into the boot; if you just put them in freely they'll make a wet mess in the boot) all work too.
Just a bit more of a footer (no pun intended )

Best of luck with it

M

 

[Hammock Hamster]

Thanks all, I think I will give the baking soda a go for the smell (it's not hideous by any means) and a spot of diluted tea tree to cover any microscopic nasties.

I have my favourites boots which are turning a little ripe after a heavy winters use and may well give the onion trick a go!

Cheers, Hamster


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