11 Solid Tips to Tackle Stinky Skates: How to Dry, Disinfect & Clean
Stinky skates can ruin your skating exprience, make others around you uncomfortable, and put you in socially embarrassing situations when you take off your skates after a long skating session. So in this article, I am giving you all the tips that I have learned and used to keep my skates from reeking in an easy-to-follow manner. To tackle stinky skates, you want to ensure that your skates and your feet remain dry at all times. To allow this, wear moisture-wicking socks, air-dry your skates after every use, pull out your insoles, and store ice skates in a clean, dry environment.
Building a routine around skate drying and staying disciplined is critical to prevent your skates from stinking in the first place. But even if your skates are already stinking, implementing the tips given below and then staying consistent with your post-skating routine is key.
Why do ice skates stink?
Before I share with you all the tips to prevent or tackle stinky skates, let me quickly explain why skates stink. Understanding this would help you make wiser decisions and you would be less likely to simply throw your skates into the locker or let them sit in your skating bag.
Bacteria and Fungi are the two primary factors that cause stinky skates. Let me quickly address both-
Bacteria: There are multiple bacteria that live on the foot of our bed. When we sweat, they thrive on it and begin to throw away waste in the form of stinky acid.
Fungus: Fungi also thrive in moist and warm conditions. Thus sweaty feet and shoes are excellent grounds for foul-smelling fungi to thrive.
For the record, our foot has about 125,000 sweat glands and our soles have the highest concentration of sweat glands in our body.
This means that keeping our feet sweaty or the skates wet from the sweat can easily turn them into a massive breeding ground for bacteria and fungi.
So keep your skates dry. How? Read the following section for all the tips.
How to tackle stinky skates? Solid Tips to Dry, Disinfect, and Clean Skates
Always wear socks
So many people skate barefoot. Even the famous ones. But sweating barefoot allows for a quick transfer of sweat to shoes. It means that you will find your skates stinking faster than ever and getting them to dry out completely will be a far bigger challenge.
- If you have always been sweating barefoot and are sick of the stinky skates, it’s time to make a switch now.
- If you always use socks, make sure you use thin socks that wick moisture away from your feet.
- Wear a pair of fresh, clean socks every time you step on the rink. Do not wear dirty used socks.
I always wear super thin, moisture-wicking socks. The ice skating socks that I swear by are-
Dry your skate and the blade with a towel completely after every use
You must dry your skate with an absorbent cloth after EVERY use. I have seen many people just toss their skates into their bags – with soakers or skate guards on without wiping down the boot. But you do not want to do that if you want to keep your skates from stinking.
So after every use,
- take your foot off, loosen out the lace, pull out the tongue
- Wipe the inside and outside of the boot completely with a clean, dry absorbing towel. (Pay particular attention to the lining, stitches, and joints)
- Next, wipe down the blade completely. The moisture on the blade can develop bacteria. Even though the blade never really gets stinky as the inside of the boot, it is best to get rid of all possible bacteria immediately after a skating session.
Quick tip: You can use the blade towel to wipe out your boot as well. I do that and it works great. But wipe your boot before the blade and not the other way round.
The towel that I always carry with me to wipe down the skate and the boot is
Quick tip: I have seen some skaters use the car cleaning cloth to wipe their blades. Please avoid that as it leaves behind strands of damp threads on the blade and gets too hard to use after a few uses.
Spray your skates with an anti-microbial
Anti-microbial sprays meant to disinfect sports equipment arrest bacterial growth. They are excellent at tackling stinky skates. But in my experience, they are far more effective when used after wiping down the insides of the skate.
The spray that I carry with me is
To get the bad odor out of your skates, use the spray on
- the insides right up to the toe
- on the liners and stitches
- laces and lace-holes
- exterior boot surface
You could even use the Instant Cool Athelete’s Foot spray on your equipment to cut down the stink.
Quick tip: Avoid Lysol sprays. They tend to damage leather causing faster wear and tear on your skates.
Always use soakers on the blade after skating
I know blades hardly stink but you don’t want bacteria anywhere around your skate. So a good post-skating routine includes comprehensive drying of the boot.
So after you are done drying the boot with a towel, and spraying a disinfectant, you must cover your blades with soakers to get rid of all moisture and dampness of the blade.
As I mentioned earlier, I use this soaker-towel combo.
Quick tip: Remember to remove the soakers once you reach home. Leaving damp soakers on too long would only cause more damage than good.
Air dry your skates after every use
This is yet another non-negotiable step that you must perform after every single ice skating session to arrest the growth of the stink.
As soon as you reach home,
- pull out your ice skates from the bag
- place them out in the open
- loosen the laces and pull out the tongue as far back as possible and let them air dry completely
If your skates are already stinking horribly or if you have enough days between two sessions,
- pull out the insoles from the skates. It takes a bit of effort and you may have to use a screwdriver to lift up your insoles. Be careful not to damage these in the process. Leave these out to dry with your boots.
Quick tip: It may be tempting to use an artificial dryer to speed up the process. But it is best to let them air dry. Avoid heating equipment at all costs as it may severely impact the fit of your skates. If it is too humid where you stay, use a table fan or a dehumidifier.
Stuff drying bags or towels
Even after following all of the above steps, skates don’t dry out completely. You will find some amount of moisture or sweat remaining. To tackle that, you should stuff drying bags inside your skates. Here are a few options that work well
- baking soda bags: You can make these yourself. Add some activated charcoal to it for more effectiveness.
- Moso bags: If you don’t want to make a baking soda bag yourself, you could use the Moso bags. The size is perfect for ice skates and they easily last a couple of years.
Moso Air Purifying Bags – for sports gear
- You could stuff silicone gel bags. Make sure you replace these frequently. The Wisedry bags are perfectly sized for ice skates.
- Stuff a drying towel (completely fresh and dry, not the one you used to wipe your blades) inside your boot.
Quick tip: Make sure the stuffing bag or towel touches the toe end as that’s where most of the stink is generated.
Wash your insoles and laces every few months
We have already discussed a wide range of things you should do to prevent your ice skates from stinking and yet you would be surprised to see how your skates don’t feel new and fresh even after all that.
The only solution for this is to wash your skate insoles and laces every few months. I have known plenty of skaters who have never done this but when they did try this out – they made sure they stuck with it simply for how much cleaner and less stinky the skates felt after.
To wash your skate insoles,
- Take off your laces
- Take out your insole carefully
- Take some warm water and any liquid bleach-free soap/detergent.
- Soak your laces in the mix for about 20-40 minutes and then rinse with cold water and let dry
- Clean the insoles using the same soap & water mix. Rub the mixture on the insoles using a soft toothbrush. Let them air dry.
Do not insert the laces or the insoles without letting them completely dry.
Once they are completely dry, insert them in a fully dry boot and you would be surprised to see how drastically fresher your skates feel.
Store in dry cardboard boxes
Improper storage of ice skates when not in use could result in the development of mold or fungi. To prevent this from happening, store your skates in dry cardboard boxes.
To store properly
- get rid of all moisture from your ice skates i.e. go through all of the steps above
- put on skate blade protectors or cover your skates in a dry towel
- store them in a dry cardboard box in a cool and dry place
Additional Solutions to tackle stinky ice skates
The solutions listed below are all ones that I have never tried myself but have heard good reviews about from other ice skaters.
Putting your ice skates in a freezer
Apparently, this gets rid of the bacteria very quickly.
I am sure that this method would require you to dry out your skates completely immediately after taking the skates out of the freezer. If not, the change in temperatures could cause a build-up of moisture.
Getting the skates cleaned by professional cleaners
There are many professional cleaners who clean sports gear. Many hockey players use such a service regularly. These cleaners have sophisticated technology to get rid of all bacterial growth. The cleaning process is very thorough and leaves your gear completely dry and fresh. You could check in your area to avail of a service like this.
Having two pairs of skates
Using two pairs of skates can allow you to air dry your ice skates completely between uses. In fact, wearing skates back to back too often without letting them dry completely is the only reason why skates begin to stink or why the level of foul odor compounds rapidly. A solution to prevent this from happening is to alternate between two pairs of ice skates.
I have never done this myself as –
- skates are a bit expensive and having two only adds to the cost
- the fit of the two skates may not be exactly the same making it difficult to find a technique rhythm.
Additional reads:
– 21 solid ways to get better at ice skating
– What should a beginner wear for ice skating: A Full List
