Make sure to slap the shoes together outdoors so you don’t make a mess inside your house. You may even want to use a butter knife or key to scrape set mud out of grooves in the shoe.
Don’t worry about scrubbing too much, if the dirt doesn’t come free quickly, it will once you begin using the cleaning solution. Use a dry brush like a toothbrush, but avoid steel bristle brushes that may damage the rubber soles of your shoes.
The baking soda will act as an abrasive to help the soap remove dirt and grime. Avoid using laundry detergents with bleaching agents. If your shoes aren’t super-dirty, you can also just use a warm water with a few drops of dish soap. [4] X Expert Source Penny SimmonsShoe Care Specialist Expert Interview. 19 November 2020.
You may want to avoid using this cleaning combination on the fabric of your shoes, as the baking soda may be difficult to thoroughly rinse off. You can make a separate mixture of just detergent and water to clean cloth portions of your shoes.
Failing to remove all of the cleaning mixture can leave the rubber looking discolored. Leaving the detergent mixture on the shoe can also make them very slippery and dangerous.
Leaving the shoes wet could lead to them beginning to smell. Wet shoes can be dangerous to wear, so be sure they’re completely dry and free of soap before putting them on.
Remember when filling it that as you put the shoes in the pan, the water level will rise. If need be, you can soak one shoe at a time.
If you are soaking white rubber on white shoes, you may even choose to use a very small amount of bleach rather than dish soap.
Check to ensure that only the rubber is soaking in the water. You may choose to allow the shoes to soak even longer than 15 minutes if they’re really dirty.
If need be, you can soak the shoes again after this step. If you are using a bleach solution, you may want to wear gloves to avoid any potential skin irritations.
You may want to wash the rubber parts of your shoes using one of the other methods before using nail polish remover on scuffs. Do not use the nail polish remover on the cloth portions of the shoe.
You may want to wear gloves when dealing with nail polish remover. You will likely need more than one cotton ball if the shoes are dirty.
Scrub away all of the significant scuff marks before moving on to cleaning the whole sole. You may need to use more than one cotton ball on some really set scuff marks.
If you do not clean the entire sole, parts will still appear discolored compared to the brighter whites you achieved in the areas you already scrubbed.
