Gear Stench - Which piece the most?

[s4gobabygo 0]

i spray everything with odor aid and hang (in front of a fan when i have back-to-back games), but my skate stench is impervious to anything short of nuclear weaponry. all my other equipment smells totally fine, but i literally had to throw away my skates after last season because they were just so gross! skating barefoot i'm sure is a massive part of the problem, but i can never get comfortable in socks. they did last a while (4 winter and 4 summer seasons), but the smell is usually my reason for getting new skates.

[JoeyJ0506 192]

i spray everything with odor aid and hang (in front of a fan when i have back-to-back games), but my skate stench is impervious to anything short of nuclear weaponry. all my other equipment smells totally fine, but i literally had to throw away my skates after last season because they were just so gross! skating barefoot i'm sure is a massive part of the problem, but i can never get comfortable in socks.

Do you take your footbeds out after the game to aid in drying?

[s4gobabygo 0]

Do you take your footbeds out after the game to aid in drying?

yes. i have skin allergies, so i have to be extremely vigilant about keeping everything clean and tidy. for the skates, after every use i remove the soakers and insoles, unlace several eyelets to open the tongue way up, wipe out the inside with a wet towel, then spray the inside and the insole with odor-aid and hang (separately). they smell OK for the first few months, then they reach biohazard status, where they stay for the remainder of their useful life haha.

ive tried just about everything, including various sprays, silica packets, and even leaving an air freshener inside each skate, but i'm convinced it's just unavoidable. 8 seasons is like 250 games, so ~400 hours wrapped tightly around my sweaty bare feet... i guess i shouldn't be surprised that they smell like death.

[JoeyJ0506 192]

yes. i have skin allergies, so i have to be extremely vigilant about keeping everything clean and tidy. for the skates, after every use i remove the soakers and insoles, unlace several eyelets to open the tongue way up, wipe out the inside with a wet towel, then spray the inside and the insole with odor-aid and hang (separately). they smell OK for the first few months, then they reach biohazard status, where they stay for the remainder of their useful life haha.

That's rough. My skates really don't smell at all. It has to be the barefoot thing. As someone mentioned earlier the worst my gear gets is a popcorn-ish smell. Now my catching gear for baseball... whole other disgusting story.

[s4gobabygo 0]

That's rough. My skates really don't smell at all. It has to be the barefoot thing. As someone mentioned earlier the worst my gear gets is a popcorn-ish smell. Now my catching gear for baseball... whole other disgusting story.

haha i wonder why your baseball gear is such a different story from your hockey gear... do you treat it differently? is it older?

[number21 3]

ive tried just about everything, including various sprays, silica packets, and even leaving an air freshener inside each skate, but i'm convinced it's just unavoidable. 8 seasons is like 250 games, so ~400 hours wrapped tightly around my sweaty bare feet... i guess i shouldn't be surprised that they smell like death.

What about super thin liner socks for hunting/hiking? They might not be too difficult to get used to. Also have you tried drilling a couple holes in your outsole? That might help drain/vent when you're wearing the skates and let some additional air in while drying.

Do your feet stink in general or is it just the skates?

[JoeyJ0506 192]

haha i wonder why your baseball gear is such a different story from your hockey gear... do you treat it differently? is it older?

There is just no way of cleaning the stuff. It gets caked with dirt/mud, sweated in worse than my hockey gear, and played in when it's really hot outside. It all adds up to a microbial feast on my equipment. I honestly don't treat it anywhere near as well as my hockey stuff because there just is not any point.

[s4gobabygo 0]

What about super thin liner socks for hunting/hiking? They might not be too difficult to get used to. Also have you tried drilling a couple holes in your outsole? That might help drain/vent when you're wearing the skates and let some additional air in while drying.

ive tried all kinds of socks, all the way down to cut off stockings, but haven't been happy with anything but bare feet.

i drilled a few holes in the soles my last skates, but haven't done it yet to my one100s cause they're just so pretty, and it didn;t seem to do much in my last skates. i think the superfeet footbeds may also be a part of the problem... i don't think they vent too well. has anyone tried putting additional holes in their superfeet as well? that's an idea i've been considering...

[number21 3]

The yellow superfeet (newer hockey ones instead of the grey ones) have holes in them already.

[s4gobabygo 0]

The yellow superfeet (newer hockey ones instead of the grey ones) have holes in them already.

yea i use the yellow ones, but they only have a small cluster of holes in the middle... i was thinking about putting more holes in areas where my feet don;t make contact (maybe between toes?)

and to answer your earlier question, my feet stink in general. most of my shoes are fine... i'm guessing because they're better ventilated than skates.

[number21 3]

It was just an off thought, but there are lots of home remedies for your feet. Other than that i am out of ideas.

[OpenIceHit42 2]

My gloves are the worst. Unfortunately I live in a 1 BR apartment and really can't let my gear dry except the following evening when I'm home from work.

[Chadd 916]

My gloves are the worst. Unfortunately I live in a 1 BR apartment and really can't let my gear dry except the following evening when I'm home from work.

If I were to move into an apartment again, I would get a Rocket Dryer. One of my guys had one when we played in a tournament and his stuff was dry in very short order.

[bradd94 5]

If I were to move into an apartment again, I would get a Rocket Dryer. One of my guys had one when we played in a tournament and his stuff was dry in very short order.

From what I hear that's the way to do it. Pro Odor Eliminator or high end Febreze + Rocket Dryer.

My gear that smells the most is easily my gloves, but it was my pants until I replaced them (and now have to try to sell them).

[Vet88 674]

I use the Farrell padded compression shorts under my girdle and it doesn't matter how many times I wash them, these things clear the changing room really fast after a game......

[hunt3rsean 44]

Probably either my shin pads or my gloves. Neither smell that bad in comparison to some teammates of mine, but for me they are the worst. I take very good care of my skates so I always remove the insoles and get them out of the bag to dry out immediately. The rest of my gear does tend to stay in my bag for a day or two. It's laziness above anything else. But I will run the gear through a sanitizing wash about every other month. The only pieces I don't are the gloves and the shin pad shells. I don't even soak my gloves in water, but will spray them down with a Lysol or anti-bacterial Febreze spray. It helps, but they still tend to stink a little.

[althoma1 575]

My Farrell Shoulder pads - I always air everything out or put it in my Shock Doctor blower. I also have a boot and glove dryer. The Farrell shoulders are very comfortable and mobile, but get all bunched up if I put them in the shock doctor so don't dry as fast as other things in there and if I hang them on a hook they collapse upon themselves. I try to spread them out over a few hooks and spray them down, but have to give them a good wash at least every couple months or they really start to stink. The rest of my stuff doesn't really smell much if at all including the Farrell padded compression shorts that I use for refereeing (they dry out faster than the shoulder pads when you hang them up).

When I used to wear more traditional pads I never had an issue with those smelling. I'll deal with a bit of extra cleaning though in order to maintain the comfort and mobility of the Farrell pads. I've tried on the CLs which I know are sweat resistant and likely wouldn't smell (they're also lighter), but I just find the Farrells to be more comfortable and mobile (especially with the big shoulder caps taken off).

[syinx 139]

It's weird. I wear an Adidas Power Web Shirt http://www.adidas.com/us/product/mens-training-techfit-powerweb-short-sleeve-tee/TB620?cid=W40163&breadcrumb=sxZu2Z1z139m2Z1z13xgiZ1z13071.
It does wonders for my sweat. I don't know - I probably don't sweat nearly as much as most guys anyways. But it does a really good job as an absorbent, and my shoulderpads and elbow pads still smell new after a 6 months of constant use.

I don't know how much this is common practice, but I've always worn cotton underwear as well as a full compression jock short, as well as the knee-length Bauer skate socks.
So the only piece of gear that really smells at all in my case are the skates, and only because I wear them almost every day when I do public skates in between games.