We all have them: a couple of pairs of shoes we absolutely love looking at but OMG they hurt like crazy! How do you break in your shoes so you can wear them as fast as possible? You probably know it: you’ve scored a new pair of shoes and you’ve fallen in love with them . After a few hours of walking on the shoes, however, the love is over and done for, because your feet hurt enormously! Of course, you would prefer to wear your new shoes all day long. Whether it is a pair of shoes that you have bought for a party, for work or for any other occasion, we prefer to wear new shoes immediately. And preferably also painless.
Unfortunately, the reality is sometimes that after you have worn your new shoes for a couple of hours, your feet will get incredibly sore. The result: feet with big blisters and a new pair of shoes that disappear into the closet.
Sometimes you have to walk into your new shoes and that can take some time. But fortunately there are a number of tricks you can use to speed up this process. In this article we tell you about eight tricks that will help you catch up with your shoes faster. So you can wear those new shoes as soon as possible all day without pain!
Precautions for new shoes
It is often recommended that new shoes should not be worn for a whole day, but that they should be built up. The first day about two hours, the next day four, and so on. Until the shoes are finally walked in and you can wear them painlessly for a whole day. This is actually the best way to walk in new shoes. But we don’t always have the patience for this.
There are a number of tricks you can use to make sure you walk in your shoes faster, which we will tell you right away. In addition, we have a number of tips for ‘precautions’ that you can take if you have bought new shoes and want to wear them all day long.
1. Blister plasters!
Walking in shoes
Get ready to go by taking blister plasters with you. If you have a blister during the day, you can at least put on a plaster to ease the pain. You can also put a band-aid on a spot where the shoe pinches in advance, so that the risk of blisters is reduced.
2. Deodorant rolling
There are a number of places on the feet where friction often occurs when wearing new shoes. The heel and toes are particularly sensitive to this. This friction then causes blisters. Are you going to wear your new women’s or men’s shoes for a whole day immediately? Then roll some deodorant in the places where there is a high risk of friction. Deodorant reduces friction, so you are less likely to have blisters.
3. An extra pair of shoes
Changing shoes
If you are going to wear your new shoes for a whole day, you may want to bring an extra pair of shoes with you. If your feet really bother you, it’s nice to be able to change your new shoes for a pair that’s already walked in. And that’s a lot more charming than stumbling around in pain for the rest of the day…
Walk in your shoes, you can do it faster!
A new pair of shoes can sometimes be a bit stiff and tight at your feet. Before you can walk on your new sneakers, ankle boots, pumps, ballerinas or entry shoes for a whole day without pain, you have to walk into the shoes. With the following 8 tips you can speed up the process of walking into your shoes so that you can wear your new eye-catchers all day long as soon as possible.
1. Wearing socks
White Sneakers
By wearing thicker socks in your shoes, the shoes stretch a little. It’s not very charming for the ladies to wear a pair of pumps with thick sports socks when you’re on the street, but you can wear these women’s shoes at home for a few hours with thick socks in them, for example in the evening. Do you want to go out with socks? Then try a pair of glitter socks. This way you can take off your shoes a little and you are also very fashionable.
Men can often wear their new men’s shoes with socks during the day. But if you want to make sure that you don’t start stumbling halfway through the day because of blisters on your feet, you can also go for the safe option and wear your new sneakers, boarding boots, loafers or boots at home with socks for a few hours first.
Because your feet are already a little extended in the evening, this trick works even better if you wear the shoes with thick socks in the evening. Put on your new shoes at home for a few hours in the evening with thick socks and you’ll feel that they’ve stretched a little after a few days.
2. Wet newspapers
This simple trick works very well for women’s or men’s leather shoes that pinch at the front. Moisten some newspapers and make clots of them. Then put them in your shoes at the front and leave them standing for a night.
Try to put as many newspapers in the shoes as possible, but make sure the shoe doesn’t deform.
After spending the night with the wet papers, put them on the next day while they are still damp. The best thing to do is to wear the shoes with socks.
By wearing the shoes while they are still moist, they will stand exactly towards your feet.
3. Moist socks
Painful feet
This is probably not the most pleasant option, because walking with wet socks is not very comfortable. But if you are going to walk in leather shoes, this will work. Moisten a pair of thin socks and wear them in your new shoes. The moisture causes the leather to expand and become more supple. The shoe moulds itself to your foot so quickly.
It’s a bit of an unpleasant feeling with those wet socks in your shoes, but it’s definitely worth it. Your new eye-catchers will soon be cast!
4. Wear the shoes at home first
Of course, you prefer to go outside with your new shoes right away. To work, to a party or to a dinner. No matter which occasion you go to, your new shoes are best shown to the whole world right away.
However, in order to be able to walk in your shoes properly, it is a better idea to wear them at home a few times first. You can just take them off again when your feet get sore. This way, you can build up the wearing of the shoes. For example, put on your new shoes at home in the evening for a few hours and then wear them a little longer every day. Soon you will be able to wear the shoes for a whole day without pain.
Tip: Are you buying a pair of shoes for a special occasion? For example, neat women’s shoes or men’s shoes for a wedding. Then buy them well in advance, so that you have time to walk into the shoes at home.
5. A shoe tree
Shoe trees
With a shoe stretcher you can make sure that your new shoes will soon be less tight around your feet. In addition, a shoe stretcher also ensures that leather shoes retain their shape and that cracks in the leather are less likely to occur. A win-win situation. Shoe trees are available in different types, shapes and materials. Some shoe trees only stretch the shoe longitudinally, some also in width. So think about how you want to stretch the shoe before you buy a shoe stretcher.
6. A potato
This is a real household trick: putting a potato in your new shoes. Peel a large potato, wipe it briefly so that it is not too moist and put it in the front of your shoe.
Make sure the potato is big enough to cause some kind of ‘lump’ in your shoe. If the potato is too small, this trick will simply have no effect. Leave the potato in your shoe for one or two nights to stretch it a little.
In addition to stretching, the potato has another fine side effect: potatoes seem to be good scent eaters. If there are unpleasant odours on your shoes, they will be removed immediately.
7. Blow-dry your shoes
Your hairdryer is not only suitable for styling your hair, you can also use it to model your new pumps, boots or sneakers! This trick works for both leather and synthetic shoes.
Put on a pair of thick socks in your new shoes and heat the place or places where the shoes are pinched with a hairdryer. Heating the shoes will make them more supple. If you keep the shoes on for about ten minutes after they have been warmed up, they can stand up to your feet.
8. The shoemaker
Shoemaker
Have all previous tricks not had the desired effect, or do you prefer to leave it to a professional? Then of course you can always take your new shoes to the cobbler’s with you.
The shoemaker can often easily remove annoying bottlenecks or stretch your shoes so that they fit better. The shoemaker also knows exactly which method works best for your shoes. Success guaranteed!
It can take up to a week for your women’s or men’s shoes to walk in. With the tricks in this article you can fortunately speed up that process a little, so that you can wear your new shoes as soon as possible. Although these tricks help to speed up the process of walking into shoes, they are not a panacea: they do not mean that, thanks to these tricks, you will be able to wear your new shoes painlessly all day long after just one day. When it comes to walking in shoes, it’s still true: patience is a good thing…
