Is love enough for us to overlook bad personal hygiene? A shocking new survey reveals that the answer is yes – over 2 million Brits (2,328,496) love their partner’s smelly feet!

Through a survey of 2,400 UK residents, Reboot digital PR agency can reveal that 3.5% of respondents admit to loving smelly feet on their new partner, which equates to 2,328,496 based on The World Bank’s latest UK population estimates. 

Key Findings:

• The equivalent to over 2 million Brits (2,328,496) admit to loving their partners’ smelly feet 
• 16.7% more men love smelly feet compared to women, indicating that 1,178,275 men across the UK prefer the smell, while 1,009,950 women are just as keen
• Men who are married or in long-term relationships are 46% more likely to never wash their dirty socks compared to single men
• Men are more than twice as likely to only change their dirty socks every 3 months or less compared to women

If you discovered your new partner had smelly feet would you be:
	Men	Women
Game over	14.0%	16.2%
Disgusting, but give it another go	19.3%	23.1%
Give an ultimatum to sort it out	10.3%	10.6%
It doesn’t really bother me	0.6%	0.5%
I love smelly feet, the smellier the better	1.8%	1.5%

Please find the full survey data here

Interestingly, when it comes to women, those who are single are less likely to accept a new partner’s smelly feet (0.7%) than to those in long-term relationships (0.8%). In comparison, men in long-term relationships love their partner’s smelly feet 3% more than their single counterparts (1.4%).

The report also revealed that for almost one in three Brits (30.7%), it would be game over between them and their new partner if smelly feet were discovered, indicating that 20,647,867 people would end a relationship over bad foot hygiene. Women were less accepting of their partner’s bad foot odour, making up 53% of those who are unable to tolerate it.

Sock hygiene habits in the UK by relationship status

One in three (33%) surveyed are married or in long-term relationships who wash their dirty socks every 3 months or less compared to those who are single (12.6%), suggesting that bad sock hygiene is more than twice as likely when people are in committed relationships. In particular, men in relationships are 46.7% more likely to never wash their dirty socks than single men.

Continuing the trend of hygiene habits worsening after being in a long-term relationship, the survey also reveals that more than 1 in 10 (11%) single men change their socks less than every 6 months. This indicates that 1,346,000 million single men in the UK are re-wearing their socks for at least 6 months. In comparison, 37.5% more committed men and 106% more committed women report changing socks every 6 months or more.

Commenting on the research, Dr. Hamdan Abdullah Hamed MBChB, a board-certified Dermatologist and Co-founder of PowerYourCurls.com, states:
 

“Dirty socks can lead to a lot of diseases due to fungal growth. For example, wearing wet socks will promote illnesses like athlete’s foot which can easily spread to the body and you can even infect people when you go to public areas such as the beach or gym.

Socks are considered the wall between the foot and bacteria. Dirt and bacteria build-up will thrive if you don’t have clean socks. Bacterial infection can even lead to wounds and it can even be life-threatening.

Wearing improper socks like if they are too thin or have holes can even lead to blisters, which can be worsened into an infection. With poor foot hygiene, there are also several health risks such as fungal nail infections. The small cracks in the nail or the skin around it can also be a gateway for germs and fungi which will result in infection.”