How To Soften The Back Of New Shoes – 10 Simple Tips

With new shoes from your favorite store, you may feel that they are a little narrow at the back and are hurting your feet when wearing them. Today, we are here to show you some ways of how to soften the back of new shoes you can use, and the steps of each method you can follow to make your shoes more comfortable and supportive for your feet.

10 Tips to Soften the Back of Your New Shoes

1/ Heat the Back of Your Shoes with Your Hair Dryer  

The Hairdryer you use after washing your hair every day can be helpful in softening the back of your shoes.

All you need to do is simply prepare a hairdryer, then run it around the backside of your shoes. The heat of the machine will is softened it up soon.

Caution: Don’t apply this method to any other types of shoes because it will certainly damage the material of the shoe.

2/ Freeze the Back Side of New Shoes by using Zip Lock Bags

Another simple method you can try at home to widen the back of your new footwear is to use Zip Lock Bags. Buying these things is not hard because you can order them online or get them at grocery stores.

Then, you can do this trick easily. Just pour the water inside a zip lock bag, close it, and put the bag inside your new shoes near the heel side.

Store it in the freezer for one night. When the water becomes ice, it will make the back of your shoes stretch out gradually.

3/ Soap can soften Your Leather Shoes

Soap bar is always available at your home and it’s also a very effective way to soften your new leather shoes, especially the back of the new shoes.

• First, take a tiny amount of soap, wet it with water.
• Rub it on the backside and on the inside of the shoe or any tight area you feel.

Once finishing this rubbing, wear your shoe immediately and walk in it for a few hours.

By repeating this process for the next few days, you will be able to stretch out the heel side of your new shoes to a comfortable level.

4/ Use Alcohol to Soften Your Shoes

The alcohol you need here is rubbing alcohol, which you can get from your local drugstore. Remember that it’s not regular alcohol because it would make your shoes end up smelling.

To use this method, spray the rubbing alcohol on the tighter areas of your shoe. You must spray the heel side of the shoe properly to get the desired result.

Once sprayed properly, wear the shoes and walk in them for a few hours. Repeat this procedure till you feel that the back of the shoe is properly stretched out.

5/ Apply Vaseline Petroleum Jelly on the Affected Area

Many people in trying out this method, so that we want to share with you how to start with it.

• Get a Vaseline Petroleum Jelly pack and apply lots of jelly on the backside of the shoe.
• Do it until it completely gets absorbed inside the material of the shoe.
• Use a cloth to remove the excess jelly from your shoe
• Now keep it for several hours and then wear the shoe to see the stretching for yourself.
• Re-apply the jelly more if you don’t feel enough widening of the back.

6/ Use Wooden inserts to Soften the Back of Your Shoes

Wooden inserts are still a great way of making the back of your shoes softer. There are wooden inserts that adjust on the back end/heel of your shoes as well as the other parts of the shoe.

Wooden inserts are easy to use. Just insert them into your shoes and they will keep the leather material of your shoes stretched for a long time, softening the material and making sure it doesn’t hurt your feet anymore.

7/ Using Oils to fix your tight shoes

When it comes to softening the natural leather, several oils are the best option for you.

Oils contain glycerin or castor oil – the fat that is considered very good to help solve the problem of tight shoes. Apply the fatty substance for a few minutes on the shoes and let them soak. Then the leather will become much softer.

8/ Use Shoe Stretch Sprays

If you want to soften up the leather material of your shoes, then these sprays are a good bet.

Simply spray them on the inside of your shoes and wear the shoes.

Walk around in them and use the flexing of your legs and the walking motion to soften the shoes and make them wearable to your liking.

The price of these shoe sprays is cheap and they can be bought in stores and shoe repair shops. Used well, they can increase the size of your shoes by almost half.

9/ Wear Thick Padded Socks Regularly

You can slightly stretch your shoes on the front as well as on the backside with this simple hack. Although this option takes a little more time to take effect, the results are equally effective.

Steps to do:

• Just buy a good reliable pair of thick padded socks.
• Wear it along with your new shoes.
• And then walk in these shoes for a few days in and around your house.

After a few days, you will experience that the heel side of your shoe has been expanded a bit or stretched a bit.

10/ Use a mixture of Vinegar and Kerosene

Kerosene is known as a type of fuel. It is also useful in other ways, especially when you want to make new, uncomfortable shoes become softer and easier to wear, or even more enjoyable.

Before starting with kerosene, you should put your shoes into vinegar for a period of time, about 20-30 minutes. Alongside the vinegar on the shoe, the kerosene would serve as a coating and the combo will make the leather softer.

Conclusion

Above, Shoestorenyc.com mentioned the 10 most useful tricks to soften the back of new shoes. We hope that you can pick at least one desired method that will work well with your shoe.

Good lucks!