The question is this (and I am paraphrasing)...
Even after hanging my booties to dry out under a vent every night they “still smell like a rabid iguana in heat took a poopoo in them”. Is there some trick that anyone uses to keep them fresh?
Booties are like some sort of freak of engineering... nothing else, (besides a port-o-potty...and dog gas), can smell so consistently bad. They are basically ok just out of the box but the second they get wet it is like a mustard gas chemical plant...it is uncanny.
Anyway I usually leave mine out in the garage, or in the back of the truck, and just take shallow breaths when I put them on.
Any of you guys have some bootie secrets? (throw them up on the comments if you do)
37 comments:
Get a shoe dryer from Ebay. bought one. no more nasty smells.
As crazy as it sounds, I find that if I hang mine upside down - think sole up and toe elevated - so that all the moisture drips out , there's no smell. Seems too simple (and slightly counter intuitive to the principals of evaporation), but I'll swear by it.
ROFLMO. The dog gas thing is so true.
just put a capful of clorox into each bootie before rinsing well with h2o and hang dry (toe elevated if possible). this works for a while and may need to be repeated a couple of times during the winter depending on how much water time you log....
I find that it's best to just rinse them thoroughly with fresh water and ring them until all the nasty water drips out. I think drying them under a vent makes them smell worse (like putting a used wet towel in the dryer...nasty). Maybe a little spray of Febreeze in there will help?
The real trick is to leave the booties turned inside out until you need to put your feet into them. when you get out of the ocean turn them inside out and leave them inside out - complete (almost) reduction in the tender foot smell.
Avoid using anything harsh or with chemicals (your feet juice are hard enough on the booties)
Soak them for a few hours in warm water w/white wine vinegar. Then RINSE them off real good and hang upside down.
Felipe
I like the shoe dryer idea...I turn them inside out right after the session and leave them in the sun. Now if you were doing 2 sessions a day, I would use a gas mask.
Here's my 2cents worth...Booties stink for two reasons: 1) They never dry out unless you make an effort to dry them, and 2) They never get "washed."
Hanging upside down to dry is essential. I bought a bootie hanger similar to the one at this link: http://www.cetaceacorp.com/equipment-hanger-p583.html But you can fashion one out of a wire coat hanger and it'll work just fine. After the initial wetness has drained out (that is, they no longer are dripping) finish drying by hanging in a well ventilated, warm place, preferably not in the direct sun as neoprene hates UV rays.
Washing: I would recommend against using Clorox which is bleach. Bleach is very hard on neoprene and the various types of lining, and can drastically shorten the life of your booties. Instead try using a product meant for cleaning wetsuits, booties etc. I use O'Neill Wetsuit/Drysuit Cleaner and Conditioner for all my neoprene stuff. Just follow the directions on the container. If your feet tend to stink, so will your booties, so if you have smelly feet you'll have to wash your booties more often.
I've had my current booties for two full winter seasons here in NorCal and can do a full nose in bootie inhalation with nary a gag or retch.
I agree about the sun...my seams are coming apart (this is the 2nd season).
But being in an office after my sessions, there is not a lot of places I can hang a dripping wetsuit and booties to dry.
I thought wetsuit shampoo was a ridiculous idea until I finally tried it. Once in awhile I wash all my suits with it and they go from icky and worn-out looking and smelling to brand new looking and smelling. Its great. I use the mcnett one.
Just like after a day of skiing, get those babies on a boot dryer. They are cheap and work super well. They slowly pump out warm air and viola! the boots/booties are dry.
Why is this even being discussed? You live in Southern California...suck it up and don't wear booties you pansies! Try surfing a winter swell in the north east and then you'll know why they make booties and gloves.
When the water and air are both under 50, then pull out the booties. Until then, grow some balls you SoCal kooks.
Use 'Sink the Stink', it's awesome and one bottle lasts a long time. It's made especially for wetsuit material, I stick all my various gear in it.
http://www.sinkthestink.com/
Hey Noreaster, go get on a sloppy storm swell and quit bitchin at us because you're just jealous.
Ha Noreaster, funny. But air temps are under 50 right now, water mid 50's. And when your blood is as thin as a CA Sun God, you get cold easily!
1) Listen to Zappa's Stinkfoot
2) I'm always curious - do the people who complain of booty stench also have problems in general with foot odor? My feet have never had odor problems, shoes or socks, and neither do my booties. But, I rinse my booties out, then hang them up outside and toes up. Outside is important I think, and I have a place beside the house next to the fence where they are out of the sun. They never have bootie stench.
Office Space guy - get a big tub, take a couple of gallons of water for post-sesh, and rinse before you stash them away in the car all day.
lol at the responses...
after rinsing them off with water, i stuff the booties with newspaper, which soaks up all the water and keeps away any (most) odor. I'm on a 3rd season with one pair and they don't smell too bad.
Dude, wear that stank like a badge of honor. If you have them in the back of the SUV you can weed out the wahinis from the land lubbers. I'm just hoping the same thing doesn't start to linger in my hood this winter. What are you doing smelling your booties anyway?
Hanging them upside down outside & inside out. I've never had a bad smellin' booties using this technique.
It's not the bootie...It's your booty
hahahahaaaahahahah
you guys are awesome
Personally, I have found the best way to delay (because you can never completely avoid) bootie funk is to ensure gravitational forces play in your favor. What I mean is that the water can only escape if it drips down and out of the toes and heel. Personally, I wedge a bootie into a rack in my garage so that the toe is up, the flat part for the bottom of the foot is at an angle to allow water to drip down, but not collect in the pocket made by the heel, and out the end. I'd estimate you can delay the time to funkage by at least 1,000% if you simply hang them toe-up at the right angle. But you have to do it everytime; leaving them sitting in your car, or on a pile in the ground is a sure-fire way to rapidly enhance the stench.
The other option is to cough up some cash for a proper bootie hanger, which you can find here at WetSand:
http://www.wetsandsurfshop.com/product.asp?locationid=1&ProdId=3147&CatId=2541
Again, I've found that over time, you just can't avoid the bootie funk until you turn them inside-out, and dry the inside properly. A little baking sode can't hurt either. It's actually pretty easy to turn them inside-out and dry after each session, but I worrry about the stress of doing that on the seams, so I wait only until the smell "canis flatulence" has gotten so bad, there is no other option.
I agree with anon.
Wear flip flops year round so your feet adapt to the cold air and you'll be fine.
I never wear booties south of SB.
All right, Adam, that's IT. You'll be hearing from my lawyer. Today I went into the local Sportmart...I walked right up to the lovely young female cashier and asked if she could show me a "booty hanger"....Escorted right out the front door....THANKS ALOT...
yes I'm a wus for the cold, if you notice in my snap there are mittens and booties. my "tough guy nor cal" pals laugh at me in the beach, but are quaking with their hands in their armpits after ten minutes, and seemed to only make it 30 minutes most days last week. yes my feet stink, yes I am stoked on it, my wife is complaining, and you guys all rule. I'm gonna turn my bleached booties inside out, stuff them with newspaper while I hang them upside down in the sun waiting till it's time to soak them in vinegar and scrub them with wetsuit shampoo so I can put them on my booties dryer rack. yes they smell that bad...
Wow! Lots of metro sexuals!
Thought they were gonna say get a pedicure.
Enjoy the manly man smell!
Similar to ice hockey gloves!
Coconutz!
That bootie hanger from wetsand is garbage, doesn't work. Cut up a plastic water bottle to make a cylinder and stuff it into the boot, this allows max air flow to avoid stanky mildew.
Rinse and leave inside out until your next surf.
I...uh...think....we should...uh...have a change in our booty smell. I like to be a Maverick when it comes to hanging booties out to dry. I actually supported hanging booties toes up before I was against it. We've got to stop those killers, murderers, and booty terrorists who are stanking up our booties. I did not have stench....with that booty.....I only smoked the cigar. I feel the booty pain (tense up your lower lip). It wouldn't be prudent at this juncture to stank up the booty. Uh...well....I don't recall actually stanking up the booty.
Spidah: that chick shouldn't be drawing out pre-conceived notions that everyone's out to hit on her. Especially if she works at a sports place. Helloooo... booty hanger... not to hard to figure out. I don't know what else it could be anyway.. So don't feel too bad. This is coming from a fellow female just trying to excuse her irrational and selfish behavior! :)
Booties suck anyway. I avoid them like the plague. All they do is bring me trouble... it takes you a month to get used to them and once you do it's already warm enough without them. then finally when you take them off, it feels like you're surfing in an oil spill! I would rather surf with feet feeling like wooden pegs for a few months than go through the trouble. ohhhhh well. Good luck everyone.
Was cheerupcheerio serious or trying to be funny? Meh.
She's freakin hot. Who cares about the content!
Myy Advice: Just don't pee in your wetsuit. I don't personally follow that advice of course. I let loose like a dutch porn star.
I thought peeing in my wetsuit was killed all the stinky bacteria in my booties. My booties don't smell even though I don't have an elaborate drying and washing scheme.
tried something new this morning, I'll keep you posted how it works out. after surfing I bought a jr deluxe burrito from el tarasco, sliced it in half, and crammed half in each bootie. hopefully tomorrow I will have delicious smelling booties and a yummy snack.
i suggest a booty douche. pour vinegar in the booty then shake like hell. should work.
I was built upside down.....my nose runs and my feet smell. As far as your stinky booties go, pardon the pun, but suck it up and resign yourself to having smelly booties. If you surf, they are simply gonna stink. Just be glad we have such hi-tech gear now, including my 5 mil O'Neill Mutants.
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