★★★★★ 5
Improved my foot health
Size: Medium, Color: Color Mix
I’ve been dealing with athletes foot for decades and using daily maintenance medication for longer than many people reading this have been alive. I generally don’t have any issues other than I always at least one or two nails that are cloudy and brittle. I’ve tried synthetic blends in the past but this just seemed to make things worse so I always go back to cotton.
I was been reading about the benefits of wool so I thought I would try these socks. I had several clouded nails at the time but in just a few weeks of wearing wool socks I noted subtle improvements. At the time of writing this it has been over 4 months of wearing wool socks exclusively and all my nails are completely clear and healthy! I honestly can’t believe it since I haven’t had seen completely healthy nails since I was a teenager. I do continue to use daily antifungal maintenance medication but the only change has been the wool socks.
I think part of the issue was the cotton socks being soaked with sweat when I took them off at the end of the day regardless of the season or activity levels. The wool socks, however, are usually dry. Even after taking them out of a hiking boot on a hot day on the trail they will feel damp but not soaked. Consequently, they dry out completely on a rock while taking a short break. By staying dry they don’t bind up and cause hot spots like cotton socks. That, and I think they just distribute the heat better than cotton and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are actually cooler on hot days. Of course, in cooler temps they are warmer and I did appreciate how much so until the other day when I wore some cotton socks that felt like I was wearing ice cubes on my feet when I was walking around my hard wood floors at the end of the day.
With these particular wool ankle socks I did note a hole around the toes with a couple of the socks after a few washes. My experience with cotton socks is that even the smallest of holes will grow exponentially with each use and so I generally just discard them. At first, I was disappointed thinking that these socks would not last but it does not appear that the holes grow like cotton. In fact, I haven’t thrown one wool sock away. My eyes aren’t great at close distant but it seems like the holes I noticed disappeared. Even if they didn’t it doesn’t matter since they do not currently seem to be a problem. I haven’t had these socks long enough to notice any thinning at wear points like cotton socks but I suspect that since they don’t bind like cotton they are less prone to wear.
I now have a dozen pairs of wool ankle socks and I’ve gotten in the habit of putting them in a separate bin for washing otherwise they end up getting tumble dried with the rest of the family’s close. They have been in drier a number of times and I suspect they look a little more aged as a result. If I wash them separately with other delicate items I just lay them out on the floor after washing since they aren’t noticeably wet after a spin cycle and they completely dry out overnight. At this point I would rather put on a pair of wool socks straight out of the washer then put on dry pair of cotton socks since the results would be the opposite at the end of the day.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2024
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