Shoe stretching/foot shrinking?

[Bellaon7]

Does anyone else do this? I mean buy shoes that are to small & wear them at home to both stretch them & force your feet to fit into smaller shoes? Yes of course this is bad for feet, but since when is beauty about comfort? No pain, no gain!

[Janet_Girl]

A shoe stretcher or moist newspaper will help to stretch them out.  And it is easier on the feet.


Janet

[Bellaon7]

But won't that make it even harder to get my big o' feets inside my new chews at the same time? -

[Janet_Girl]

Silly Girl.  You use them when you are not wearing them. 


Janet

[Bellaon7]

Dooohhh!

[Janet_Girl]

Or you could put your feet in the dryer and try to shrink them. 


Janet

[CodyJess]

Used to do that a lot, when my grandmother would tease me about having huge feet as a kid.

Leather shoes work best, because they give some, but still squish your feet. Also consider moleskin, which you can cut and stick on where they chafe to avoid blisters while they're stretching (and afterwards).

[Bellaon7]

Or you could put your feet in the dryer and try to shrink them. 


Janet

Beavis & Butthead did that to a poodle they were watching for an elderly lady. It got dirty so they put it in the washing machine, took it out, poodle vomited on itself, so back into the washing machine it went. I think the dryer messed it up pretty bad though.

[Inphyy]

Just grab a zip plastic bag and fill it with cold water...Close it...Stick it in the shoe; Put the shoe in the freezer and let sit over the night.

Take out the next morning and your shoe has stretched--Basic Science helps with basic problems.

[aubrey]

Just grab a zip plastic bag and fill it with cold water...Close it...Stick it in the shoe; Put the shoe in the freezer and let sit over the night.

Take out the next morning and your shoe has stretched--Basic Science helps with basic problems.

That's fascinating. Does it work with shoes made of wood or plastic?

Does anyone else do this? I mean buy shoes that are to small & wear them at home to both stretch them & force your feet to fit into smaller shoes? Yes of course this is bad for feet, but since when is beauty about comfort? No pain, no gain!

I've done the same thing so many times. I've prob got at least 10 pairs where I was thinking that. They were slightly small and I thought I could stretch them.

[Inphyy]

That's fascinating. Does it work with shoes made of wood or plastic?

I've done the same thing so many times. I've prob got at least 10 pairs where I was thinking that. They were slightly small and I thought I could stretch them.

Wood = No-No! Wood wouldn't expand...

I've never tried plastic shoe stretching, so I wouldn't know!

But I do know it works with boots, leather boots, high-heels and a few other things...The thing with leather though is it has a habit of trying to stretch back, so you might have to do this trick a few times to get it to stay permanently.

[Bellaon7]

That's fascinating. Does it work with shoes made of wood or plastic?

I've done the same thing so many times. I've prob got at least 10 pairs where I was thinking that. They were slightly small and I thought I could stretch them.

Wood may not stretch, but there's no fashion taboo, but if you wear Crocs...

[aubrey]

Yeah sorry if it didn't come across but the first sentence of my reply was sarcastic. I so wanted to say crocs too, but I hate those things.

Cobbling is a lost art..one we would do well to take up by 2012

[Bellaon7]

Yeah sorry if it didn't come across but the first sentence of my reply was sarcastic. I so wanted to say crocs too, but I hate those things.

Cobbling is a lost art..one we would do well to take up by 2012

I know gurl, me to lol.

[AweSAM!]

I found that desert boots make for very good shoes to stretch. With normal use, they will become bigger (i.e. you'll just have to lace them tighter). On the other hand, shrinking your feet sounds like bad science/a bad idea to me

[oceanus]

Just grab a zip plastic bag and fill it with cold water...Close it...Stick it in the shoe; Put the shoe in the freezer and let sit over the night.

Take out the next morning and your shoe has stretched--Basic Science helps with basic problems.

This.

[tekla]

Just grab a zip plastic bag and fill it with cold water...Close it...Stick it in the shoe; Put the shoe in the freezer and let sit over the night.

Take out the next morning and your shoe has stretched--Basic Science helps with basic problems.

It works to the degree that you need the shoe expanded at the same rate water expands when it turns to ice - about 9% if my science is still right.  And, as any Nor'Eastener or Midwest girl knows, wet/damp+freezing is a sworn enemy of any and all leather. 

I'd still recommend a combination of a shoe stretcher and the stretching spray (or a good soaking with some saddle soap combination) to get a perfect fit.  And hey, if you don't have a freezer, fill them with oats, or rice - soak the grain and it will expand, that's an old cowboy tricks.

[oceanus]

Just grab a zip plastic bag and fill it with cold water...Close it...Stick it in the shoe; Put the shoe in the freezer and let sit over the night.

Take out the next morning and your shoe has stretched--Basic Science helps with basic problems.

It works to the degree that you need the shoe expanded at the same rate water expands when it turns to ice - about 9% if my science is still right.  And, as any Nor'Eastener or Midwest girl knows, wet/damp+freezing is a sworn enemy of any and all leather. 

I'd still recommend a combination of a shoe stretcher and the stretching spray (or a good soaking with some saddle soap combination) to get a perfect fit.  And hey, if you don't have a freezer, fill them with oats, or rice - soak the grain and it will expand, that's an old cowboy tricks.

I haven't lived long enough in snowy areas but the stretching works for leather and pvc or patent leather based shoes, but more more stretching is needed for patent/pvc based materials. If done correctly, your shoes are not supposed to get super wet from the freezing process.

The ones that definitely mess up are suede based shoes.

If you try on shoes later in the day like evenings where your feet expand, then you get a more accurate fit imho. I'm not all for breaking in shoes with the water/ice method - usually its done when I really like a design that doesn't fit properly - if the shoe fits well it should feel comfy the first time trying it on.

[Tammy Hope]

I can definitely use ideas because there's not a lot of 11W shoes on the shelf and when I do find some (online usually) they are out of my price range (but then most things are)