Knowing how to care for men’s ballroom dance shoes is an important skill. Whether you’re a social dancer, you perform salsa shows, or dance competitively, the way to care for your shoes is the same. That’s good news for you! But, before jumping into the specifics of how you care for men’s ballroom dance shoes, we need to list some necessary items first.
Must-Haves
- Shoe Brush
- Castor Oil
- Cedar Shoe Blocks
- Vaseline
- Wet Wipes
- E6000 Glue
To purchase the exact products we recommend, just click on the pictures below! And the great news? Some of these things were already mentioned in our “8 Essentials for Dance Competitions” post. So get these items and kill two bird with one stone!
Caring for Men’s Ballroom Dance Shoes: The Soles
Castor Oil
Like all suede bottomed shoes, you must treat your ballroom dance shoes with respect. Remember that suede is skin, so it’s important to keep the suede hydrated. Just like your skin! That’s why, at least once a week, you should coat the soles of your shoes with a thin layer of castor oil. We recommend using the castor oil at the end of the week, after your last practice.
Begin by lightly brushing the shoe, then adding the castor oil on the sole. Place the shoes upside-down on a table or a window sill to keep the soles from picking up grit or dirt, and leave them to soak up the castor oil overnight. When you come in the next morning, brush the shoes once again. The shoes will feel stickier than before. In fact, this is completely normal. If you’re a Standard Dancer, use this day to practice Tango or Quickstep.
For Latin and Salsa dancers, sticky shoes are recommended. We coat our shoes with castor oil at least three times a week. Of course, the older the shoes, the more often we coat them with oil. As the shoes get older and the suede compacts over time with use, it becomes more necessary to keep the suede hydrated and brushed.
Brushing Your Shoes
Speaking of brushing your shoes, there is a specific technique that works best. You want to brush your shoes with quick, short strokes, and don’t dig in too strongly. Brush the shoes in multiple directions instead of always the same direction. This way, you won’t gouge the bottoms of your shoes. But be careful! Sometimes you will accidentally brush your fingers. Trust me, it hurts. Those are metal spikes on those shoe brushes!
Using E6000 Glue
A problem that happens often to shoe soles is that, after much use, the soles will start to peel away from the shoe. We suggest always keeping a little bottle of E6000 in your shoe bag. It takes about 12-24 hours for E6000 glue to completely cure, so make sure you glue the peeling portion of your sole as soon as dance practice finishes. Apply constant pressure to the shoe, perhaps by sticking the shoe under the foot of a couch or your bed, and leave it overnight. The next day, it should be ready for dance practice!
Caring for Men’s Ballroom Dance Shoes: The Insides
Let’s be honest, sometimes shoes stink. Actually… most time shoes stink. The best way to keep your shoes from stinking is by letting them dry out after dance practice, instead of just shoving them into a shoe bag and leaving them overnight. If you have particularly stinky feet, you can help absorb the smell by putting a little bag of cedar chips into the shoes.
In general, patent leather shoes don’t shrink much when they’re sweaty. Canvas shoes, however, do. Use the cedar shoe blocks we suggested above to keep the shoes from shrinking and absorbing the stench all at the same time!
Caring for Men’s Ballroom Dance Shoes: The Patent
There is no way to keep the patent on patent leathers shoes from cracking and peeling. This happens to patent leather shoes that are well-worn and old. When this happens, it’s a clear sign that it’s time to get a new pair.
Now that we’ve covered that little blurb, there are some things you can do to keep your patent looking shiny and beautiful. First, if you find yourself having a difficult time dancing with patent leather shoes because your feet stick, add a bit of Vaseline on the inside edges of your shoes. Most professionals don’t use Vaseline on their shoes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get stuck from time to time. It happens to the best of us and we always accompany it with a good laugh. But keeping Vaseline on hand is certainly a good method of mitigating that little trouble.
The face wipes we mentioned above are great from keeping the patent clean and shiny. Sometimes patent leather can acquire a dusty film. This especially happens after dancing on particularly dirty floor. Just use the facial wipes to gently wipe down the patent. Soon you’ll have your shoes looking good as new!
Have you tried any of these?
We certainly hope these tips on caring for men’s ballroom dance shoes were helpful! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below and we promise to get back to you! Until next time!
Follow me on social media:
