by Cyndi Frost

Created on: February 05, 2009

As a teenager I could was on numerous occasions embarrassed by smelly feet. This might not have been so bad if I had been a boy. But being a teenage girl who cheered and was a gymnast with smelly feet was a nightmare. I often had to remove my shoes to perform and at times you could see the look of horror on my fellow teammates and competitors faces as the powerful aroma overtook them.

I was always told to put on clean socks , wear clean shoes and for Gods sake wash my feet. I did all of these things but with no relief from the horrible stench of feet that whafted up in what would have been a dark green cloud had it been visible.

I tried lotions, special soaps and other over the counter remedies. These all helped the other problems that you experience as an athlete. I avoided athletes feet, bunions, calluses and a number of maladies that feet endure. My feet were by far the prettiest feet on my squad because of all of these products. That was if you could have seen through the green cloud of foot odor, to see them.

I went barefoot as often as I could to try to allow my feet to air out, wore odor eater insoles in all of my shoes, which in those days meant that pretty strappy sandles or dress shoes were not an option. The insoles did help but not enough to allow me to allow my feet to show or should I say not enough to allow me to not keep them enclosed inside tightly laced shoes.

I would see other girls in cute little flip flops or barefoot with their feet daintly propped in their boyfriends lap as he rubbed them and played with their toes. That may seem like a silly thing to notice but I was so jealous of those darn smell free feet.

Then I had a savior of a teacher that was from Germany. She told me of a remedy that cured my odoriferous deliema forever. She instructed me to make a foot bath of tea. Yes, tea. I was to make a really strong tea bath and soak my feet for 30 minutes each night. I did this nightly for 1 week. The tea dries up the sweat glands in the feet and helps to stop the odor caused by sweaty feet.

I was skeptical but after that week I have not had a problem with smelly feet again. If there is a time when I know I will be perspiring a great deal for days in a roll, I just take a relaxing tea foot soak. I still also use great foot products so that I continue to have pretty feet that I show off in strappy little sandles that I can kick off in a moment for a great foot massage. I will never to be embarrased by the aroma of smelly feet again.

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