Even if they seemed to fit well in the store, brand-new shoes may feel uncomfortably tight or pinch around the toes until you break them in. Wearing tight new shoes all day is likely to result in blisters, so you'll want to stretch them out a little first. While wearing your new shoes around the house a few hours each day will break them in eventually, other approaches will stretch those tight shoes more quickly.
Mold With Heat
One trick for stretching shoes requires only a hair dryer, advises writer Sian Berry in an article in "The Guardian" from August 2009. Put on one or more pairs of thick socks and put on the shoes. Turn a hair dryer on a medium setting, and direct hot air onto the tight parts of the shoes. Bend and flex your feet in these areas while warming the shoes. Wear the shoes until they cool. Repeat two or three times. Afterward, treat leather shoes with shoe cream to counteract the hot air's drying effect.
Apply Rubbing Alcohol
Rubbing alcohol can also help you stretch your tight shoes. Apply a small amount of rubbing alcohol to a cotton ball and wipe down the tight spots on the inside of your shoe. Put the shoes on and walk around normally for 15 minutes. While you can wear the shoes barefoot, wearing socks protects your feet from pinching and stretches the shoes even more.
Freeze Them Into Shape
Plastic food bags provide another painless way to break in shoes, say beauty experts from the website BecomeGorgeous. Fill two bags with water, seal them, and place one in each shoe. Put the shoes in the freezer overnight or until the water freezes solid. As the ice forms, it stretches the shoes. You may need to repeat this trick a few times to enlarge the shoe enough. Use this method with sturdier shoes only, since repeated freezings may damage more delicate footwear.
Turn to the Professionals
If none of the do-it-yourself methods give your shoes a comfortable fit, try commercial shoe-stretching products. One option is a wooden shoe stretcher, note fashion experts at the DivaVillage website. Insert this device into the shoe and turn the handle to widen the device and stretch the shoe. Stretching spray is also available to make leather shoes more flexible and easier to stretch. If these products still don't give you good results, take your shoes to a shoe repair shop that can adjust the shoes with a professional stretching machine.
