Hey Man, Your Socks Stink!

HEY MAN, YOUR SOCKS STINK!

By Oba' Adeoye 1st.

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How bad would it be for you to be embarrassed because of a dressing article as trivial as your socks? Yes, your socks! Those things you wear on your feet to aid your comfort in shoes. How often do you take care of it as you would your shirts, trousers and other dressing articles of yours?

Without debate, it would be agreed that the socks are the least managed clothing items among the men's folk. If you are so unfortunate to sit in the same room or travel in the same car with a man who had never dipped his socks in water since he had bought them, you'll certainly understand why taking a good care of the socks is as important as taking care of any other dressing article.

Let me share this experience of one of my friends. He had gone to see an uncle who had promised to help him secure appointment in a consultancy firm in Lagos. On this particular day, the uncle had told my friend to Ð''block' him in his office from where the two of them would leave for the consultancy office.

Getting to the uncle's office, my friend was told to wait for his uncle who had gone out on an impromptu assignment. While waiting at the reception, my gorgeously dressed friend felt a bit uneasy with his shoes, so he thought of bringing them off for some good breeze to blow his legs.

"After sitting for a couple of minutes, I felt I needed to cool down a bit, so, I took off my shoes for some air but that turned out to be my greatest undoing. I just discovered that the receptionist and two other ladies that were in the room with me were feeling uneasy. Soon, the two beautiful ladies started murmuring, until one of them who couldn't take it any longer shouted at me embarrassingly; "hey man, your socks stink!" immediately I felt the ground would open up and swallow me!"

That was my friend's Ð''book of lamentation'. To be candid, men are too carefree when it comes to the issue of taking care of their socks and even boxers! Yes, boxes, that's even a talk for another day. Take it or you leave it, I know of some guys who for once never thought of laundering their socks, from the day they purchased it till the day it would be discarded. Yet, each time you see them dressed, they are the coolest of men.

Anyway, to avoid being in my friend's shoes and possibly avoid wishing Ð''the ground would open and swallow you up, out of the shame that comes with your socks' nauseating odour, here are some tips on how you could take good care of your socks.

DRY IT IN THE SUN

If you have the space in your flat or wherever you live that is exposed to direct sunlight, I would advise that after each day's activities (especially in the afternoon) or whenever you are at home and the sun is still up in the sky, endeavour to stretch out your socks in the sun. Allow the sun to Ð''smite'