Socks are a must with roller skates. They protect the feet from blisters, irritation, and friction. Plus, wearing the right gear while skating guarantees comfort, hygiene and extra protection.
It’s essential to make sure you’re wearing the right socks inside the skates, with the right material and length, as the wrong socks may cause you more harm then protection.
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Benefits of Wearing Socks
Roller skating has emerged as a recreational sport, offering a huge attraction to kids and teenagers alike. But unless you’re equipped with the right gear, any sport can go wrong.
So, what kind of socks should you wear with roller skates? Well, the ideal socks for roller or inline skates should be tall and thick for maximal protection preventing foot pain. The length of the sock may vary from short to knee-length, but any length is fine as long as it reaches above the cut of your skates. Thus ankle socks might not be the best option, although there are some people who would prefer them. High socks make a good choice, but knee-length ones are the best you could get your hands on. They provide a large protective area by covering the foot up to the shin. The thickness of the sock is also a major factor to add in extra padding and comfort.
Avoiding Blisters
Painful blisters and scratches on the feet are frequent encounters in roller skating. Blisters form due to rubbing tension between the foot and the skates, thus generating friction. This is more common on the legs, ankles, and heels due to repeated movements and twisting of the feet. By wearing socks, a skater can avoid unwanted blisters by protecting the feet from direct contact with the skates. Socks serve as a barrier against friction, even during the most vigorous exercises.
Improving Foot Hygiene
By saving one from unwanted wear and tear, socks improve foot hygiene. They reduce irritation on the skin surfaces, often caused by exposure to a mixture of sweat and gross odors. With the skates rubbing over your foot skin directly, there is a greater risk of you developing fungal infections. Bacteria and other microbes also flourish in moist and sweaty areas. Hence, socks are a surefire way to keep your feet in good condition.
Absorbing Sweat
Being a dynamic sport, skating for long hours reportedly makes your feet sweat. The laborious foot exercises, twists, and turns in skating invite a whole deal of sweat and moisture causing a damp boot. In this situation, sweat-absorbent socks can save the day. They not only wick off sweat but keep your feet dry with a solid grip. By eliminating sweat buildup, socks play a major role in maintaining the temperature balance of the feet.
Avoiding Bad Smells in the Skates
Skaters might encounter a gross, funky, and pungent smell, often associated with skating barefoot. This is due to sweat lining the inside of the skates, accompanied by odor-causing bacteria and fungi. Sweat-absorbing and breathable socks allow ventilation inside the foot, hence getting rid of this unwanted stench. Changing socks regularly also reduces the foul smells lingering inside the skates.
Avoiding Lace Bites
As with blisters, lace bites are another frequent complaint with new roller skates. The tongue of the skates bites into the skin, particularly affecting the front part of your foot. Consequently, this leads to bruises and skin rashes that could worsen with time. Wearing thick socks adds an extra layer to reduce the impact of the lace holes pressing on the foot.
Wear Double Socks
While single socks reap many benefits, imagine the benefits you can reap with double socks! Let’s put it this way: with a double layer around your legs and feet, you’re technically doubling the protection barrier. Double-layered socks work by restricting the friction between both layers of fabric, hence protecting your skin. Pretty cool, right?
Double socks are encouraged in roller skating because they mimic the effect of thick socks. With extra protection and comfort, they offer a more stable grip. Moreover, they can help your oversized roller skates fit securely for better performance. They also prevent blisters, heat rashes, and irritation by minimizing contact with the skates and the socks rubbing against the feet to almost none.
You can pair up silk inner socks or knee-high nylon stockings over regular socks for a firm and balanced grip to achieve a dual layer. Or, you can simply choose a pair of socks with a double lining of fabric. The best inline skating socks are thick-lined ones that peek out above the boots. The reason for this is the augmented safety of rollerblade socks during a strenuous activity like inline skating.
Best Socks Materials
Wearing the right material of socks is paramount to roller skating. Although there are many kinds of fabric available, most of them are not suitable for this active sport. Let’s have a look.
No Cotton
Avoid socks from cotton as they are a terrible choice for roller skating. Although cotton absorbs moisture and sweat, it takes ages to dry. Hence, colonies of microbes, bacteria, and fungi remain in contact with your skin all the time. This may cause irritation and potentially dangerous infections. The sweat lingering in the feet also gives an unpleasant feeling.
But that’s not all. Cotton is a poor fabric not adept for tough and tedious sports like roller skating. The fabric tends to wear out, shrivel up, lose its elasticity and deteriorate on washing. Being a light material, it crumples up in your foot, owing to wrinkles that lessen stability and comfort. Hence most athletic socks are made from non-cotton materials.
No Synthetic Material
Synthetic socks might seem to be attractive on the whole due to their flexibility, tight grip, and stretchiness. These socks retain their shape after washing and are quite resilient in material too. But here’s the kicker: synthetic material does not make a good choice for sporting events because of certain reasons.
Being a great insulator, it retains heat due to poor ventilation. It causes feet to sweat even more, which is why it’s a bad choice, especially in the sweltering summers. It isn’t breathable and retains moisture, thus populating bacteria. This is one of the prime reasons contributing to smelly and sweaty feet with synthetic socks.
Coolmax Fiber Socks
The simple truth is that no fabric can compete with Coolmax fiber socks when it comes to roller skating and athletic wear. They have emerged as the optimal preference for proper foot hygiene by eradicating the occurrence of sweats, blisters, and infections.
Crafted from a four-channel fiber with large spaces in between, the Coolmax fiber is best-known for its breathability and ventilation. It has an exceptional ability to extract moisture and perspiration away from the feet while staying dry itself. This property prevents Coolmax socks from sticking onto the skin while allowing airflow to keep the foot odor-free.
Thus, it’s safe to say that it acts as an antimicrobial to keep your skin free from bacteria and mildew. It is best for everyday use owing to its washable, dryable, and shrink-resistant properties. The Coolmax fiber socks provide excellent grip and flexibility for a firm and stable balance during extreme activities.
These thick socks keep the feet thermally insulated from heat and cold. Not only this, but they also provide padding to protect the feet from blisters and chafing at target areas such as ankles, shin, foot, etc.
