7 Easy Tricks for Breaking in Your New Shoes ...

1 Hot Steam

People say it works like a charm but just to be on the safe side, don’t try it unless you’re 100% sure you’re dealing with a leather shoe. So, if your brand new “babies” are real leather, boil some water and hold them over those hot vapors until you feel them becoming slightly “moist” to touch. You know…kind of like your hair feels when there is a lot of moisture in the air. So, once you’ve managed to do that, wear them until they get completely dry. This easy trick is supposed to loosen them up and make sure you never have any trouble wearing them again.

2 Cotton Socks and Fabric Softener

Soak clean, cotton socks in fabric softener, squeeze the excess out, jam them inside the shoe and leave them like that until they get completely dry. Fabric softener is supposed to soften the inside of the shoe while the socks expand as they dry, stretching the shoe in the process. Now, in case you’re worried about possible stains, you can always replace fabric softener with regular, clean water.

3 Milk

This is one of those tricks our grandmas often suggest so, if you’re brave enough to give it a try, here’s how it’s supposed to be done. First of all, make sure the shoes are made from leather because it only works for this type of shoes. You’re still willing to give it a shot? Okay, now rub some milk in and leave them to dry. Once that’s done, the only thing you’re supposed to feel is comfort, at least according to the girl who told me about this. No stains, weird smells or anything of that sort.

4 Freezing

Use plastic bags to make something that looks like those water balloons kids play with. Stuff them inside the shoe and leave in the freezer overnight. Ice is bigger than water, it has more volume, so to speak. So, as the water in the bag begins to freeze, the whole “balloon” will start growing bigger stretching the outer shell (read: your shoe) enough for it to finally fit right.

5 Alcohol

Locate that critical spot inside the shoe and rub some alcohol in it. This trick is supposed to help soften up that specific spot that has been giving you troubles and since you’re supposed to put the alcohol inside the shoe, there is no reason to worry about possible stains. Cool, huh?

6 Potato

WARNING! This method sounds very weird to me and I’m definitely not brave enough to give it a shot. However, a lot of women swear potato has a magical, shoe-softening property so I guess it wouldn’t be fair to let my dislike of the method get in the way. Anyways, let’s say you’re brave and you have an ill-fitting pair of dark, preferably totally black (read: hard to stain) shoes to stretch. All you have to do is peel a medium-sized potato and let it spend the night inside your shoe. Potato juice is said to soften the leather, making it easier for you to wear those troublemakers.

7 Water

Best ideas always come unexpectedly and that’s exactly how I’ve managed to find the “cure” for my unbelievably tight satin&canvas strappy sandals. I was too scared to try any conventional methods due to the delicate nature of the fabric and just decided to live with the fact that being stylish often has rather painful consequences. That was until I got surprised by one of those tricky summer rains. My feet (and sandals) were completely wet and since I had no other choice but to keep going, the poor things dried on my feet. And guess what? They never caused me any problems again! You can use the same trick on your canvas shoes. Just replace “rain” with “tap water” and make sure you don’t put any foot cream before you wear them. My sandals were brown so dirty rain didn’t ruin them although I did have some problems to remove stains caused by the fore mentioned foot cream.

Do you have any other ideas on how make the process of breaking in new shoes a little easier and less painful?

Top Photo Credit: sⓘndy°