Taking care of your pointe shoes is pretty simple. When you have them sewn to your liking and have flexed the shank to fit your feet, the only thing to worry about is keeping them off the ground to avoid unnecessary wear and plus it makes them more dirty. When I'm done with my pointe shoes I hang them on the coat hooks that we have in our dressing room. (No one actually uses the hooks for coats)
Yes that is an actual picture of our company dressing room :)Do NOT put them in a bag or confined space after you use them. You want them to breathe so the moisture they have absorbed can be released and this will prolong their "life". You'll know when you need new shoes when they are no longer supporting you. Dancers with extremely strong feet can wear shoes longer as they don't require as much support from the shoe.
How long your shoes last greatly varies depending on how much you dance, the brand of shoe and how much your feet sweat. (Mine sweat a LOT which deteriorates them even faster) During the summer sometimes I even put a rack in the dryer, lay my pointe shoes on it and literally dry my pointe shoes. (The point of the rack is so they don't tumble) If you need your pointe shoes to be harder, you can use something called Jet Glue that hardens them right up from the inside. But I'll warn you, this stuff is EXTREMELY powerful and a little goes a long way. Be careful because you can literally glue your fingers together!
Thanks for reading!Post any questions/requests in a comment below!
Ballerinablogger~
