Tips on how to (Properly) Take Care of your Skates | Joel Minas

Weeee!!~

If you’re reading this and you just happen to buy your first pair of skates, then congratulations!! (virtual hugg :D) Don’t you just love the smell of new boots? Trust me, do smell them now before they smell bad later.

This blog post is all about how to take care of figure skating boots and blades, whether it may be your own, or the rentals that you can get from the rink. This is very important because first of all, skates aren’t the cheapest of footwear, and second of all, your knife shoes should feel like your second feet, which means they have to be very comfortable. Not taking care of your skates will deteriorate your equipment and will feel very unreliable really fast. So it’s best to know how to take care of your equipment.

So here we go! Here are my tips on how to take proper care of your skates

 

• Make sure that you get the right size for your feet. Your skates must be snug. Not too loose, not overly tight. This is to make sure that your foot does not move around your boot (causing blisters) and not too tight that they suffocate your feet (painful lol).

 If your feet are too wide for the rental skates (which happens to most people) please try using skates that are a size longer than your actual measurement. Rental skates are usually narrow and can hurt the sides of your feet so that’s  also something to keep in mind if you don’t want to have a miserable time on ice

• Use good quality socks! Aside from hygiene concerns, this also makes sure that your feet are protected from the friction points on your boot (yayy no blisters!) Also, use long socks (longer than the boot). This is so that when you perspire, your sweat won’t trickle all the way down your boots which will make your boots smell bad 😦

  

• Make sure that you lace your skates tightest before the hooks and not tightest up top. This is so you can bend easily but still have support. This also makes sure that your skates don’t fold and will last longer. To recap: a little loose on the bottom, tightest before the hooks, and, decrease tension going up the hooks.

a lot of skates break down really fast because they are not tied and/or laced properly. So It’s really important that you lace your skates properly to prevent injury and to increase the longevity of your skates.

• After skating, make sure that you wipe our skates dry to prevent rust before putting on your soakers. Also air dry your skates when you get home by taking them off of your skate bag before you sleep 

to my dear public skaters: please do not step on anything other than the rubber mats. Using the blades to step on concrete, tiles, etc. will cause the blades to chip and become dull. Dull and chipped blades are really uncomfortable to skate on so please don’t do it as courtesy to the next person who will use the skates

Fun facts about my skates 

• I am currently on my 5th pair of skates. Some skaters have more depending on how often they train and the intensity of their training.
• UPDATE I am currently using Edea Concertos and Gold OEM Pattern 99 Blades (Same blades as Victor hihi! (Be my cooaachh)) I have always wanted colored blades since I thought they were so cool and unique. Leave your comments down below if you have any more questions. That’s it for now! Enjoy skating and hope to hear from you soon! Davaii! -Joel