Socks and their drying time

How many days do you wear the same pair of merino socks before changing? I usually go about 3 days without any difficulties (or odor). This reduces number of socks needed and drying time isn't as crucial. I usually find mine dry overnight anyway. I get mine from Costco.

I only wear cotton socks and I change/wash them every day. I try to avoid packing any dirty clothes when I am on the move. This tip can apply to wool socks.

Sink wash the night before. Squeeze and hang dry over night. The next morning, just hold the opening of the damp sock over the nozzle of the hair dryer and blow into the sock at medium to hot for 30-60 seconds. Your socks will be crispy dry and ready to wear or pack.

My Smartwool low ankle socks dried well in one or two nights on our trip to France and Switzerland last year. I also used Wright socks Coolmesh II tab socks, and they dried overnight as well. They are two thin layers, made of polyester-nylon-lycra. I tried both based on recommendations here on the forum and they were fine.

I wear Darn Tough merino wool socks every day of the year Usually when we travel to Europe it is warmer and I wear quarter socks which will dry faster though I have taken mid-calf height. I wear each pair twice before washing and do them in the sink. While many times they dry overnight, I wait until we have a two night stop to wash them. I take 6-7 pair with me, but only wind up unpacking half that many, for a 2-3 week trip.

Do not hang your socks to dry in a closet or in the bathroom. What you want is air circulation and there will be more if you avoid those confined spaces. Try it at home. One pair in bathroom alone and another in a larger space.

I sink or shower wash all my clothes when traveling and one thing I do is wring stuff like undies and socks twice. And then I lay them on a cotton hotel room towel, roll up the towel, usually stand on it briefly (on top of the bath mat towel) and then hang to dry. It’s surprising how much more you extract into the towel. I never have had to pack damp clothes.

I have used a bathroom towel warmer or placing the socks over an air or heat vent. The hairdryer will also help. I have seen socks on amazon advertised as quick dry for travel, some merino wool and some other material, but I have not tried them.

Another vote for Darn Tough. I like the low cut ones. Sink washed the first night of a two night or more stay and they were usually dry within 24 hours. Over a three week trip, only used four pair. And they hardly take up any space at all.

I like Wrightsocks. They are synthetic and double-layered (to prevent blisters), and they dry pretty quickly. I am a laundromat or AirBnB person, plus usually longer stays, so I haven't really had an issue with socks not drying. Someone mentioned the merino socks from Costco, which I find are quite thick, so I'm wondering if yours are very thick. I tend to choose thinner wool socks, and they do dry quickly. Thick or thin socks can affect how your shoes fit, so it's not necessarily great advice to try thinner socks, but there are various levels of cushioning/thickness. Smartwool, for example, has wool or wool blend socks with zero cushion, light cushion, run-targeted cushion, etc. I always look for them at Sierra when I am at the store in town, but also on the website.

REI lightweight wool socks (78% wool content) are my summer/winter socks of choice.

Carol, I wear wool socks every day at home (except sandal weather) and admit to changing them everyday. I may just have to suck it up while traveling and wear them more than once. I, too, used to buy the COSTCO wool socks, but the blend seemed to change a couple years ago and they aren’t as comfortable as they used to be. These are my current choice: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K2NWW9Q?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1. They are a nice weight, not too thick or thin and much softer than my Smart Wool.
Funpig, I used the hairdryer like you describe, but as last resort. I should do it next time at the start.
Thank you for the brand suggestions. I admit to finding the Darn Tough socks a bit pricey. I will check out Wright socks.

wool socks take up too much room in my carry-on to bring too many pairs.

If you have a brand you like then maybe a compression bag is what you need. One end zips shuts like a ziploc bag and then you roll it and the air goes out thru valves. It really compresses the heck out of things like socks. They come in a few sizes and the small one would be great for socks or underwear. They are harder to find these days though.

Maybe try rolling and stomping. Sort of like wringing in a microfiber towel. Squeeze the water out, roll in a bath towel or microfiber towel, walk the length of the towel a few times. Sometimes you might need to move them around or to a new, dryer towel. After one or two cycles, they should be nearly dry. Hang where there's good air circulation. If you put them on a towel heating rack, keep an eye on them. Don't want them to be crispy!

I wear smart wool thin no show ankle socks that will dry, but my husband's wool socks took 2-3 days to dry which I agree is very frustrating.

Bamboo socks dry quickly.

PAKA Essential No Show Socks. Lightweight, 3 pairs pack down to the size of one regular pair of wool socks, no stink, dry in a flash. Both my husband and I wear them.

ETA: They actually DO stay up and do not slip down at the heel.

I pretty much only wear these Feetures Elite Golf Max Cushion No Show Tab Ankle Socks at home and when traveling: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D7CK7LW?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1&psc=1

Wright socks. After getting a giant blister on a trip to Italy in 2011, I found Wright socks. They are double layered so prevents the friction that causes blisters. And they dry overnight. We just returned from a six week+ trip, averaged 10000 steps a day, 355,000 steps over the trip. Keen shoes, no blisters or sore feet.

REI sells them.

try lighter merino blends or travel socks like Darn Tough Light, Smartwool Ultralight, or ExOfficio. They’re comfy, dry faster overnight, and pack small. Bring 3–4 pairs.

Thanks for the additional sock brand recommendations. I am checking them out.

I've found when drying socks that if you can't hang them in the air, it's best to lay them out to dry on a towel (or something similar), as that helps absorb any excess water. And as someone mentioned above, never put them in a cupboard or closed area.

One person I know (not on this forum) bought one of those plastic bag drying racks you can find on Amazon, and hangs her socks on that. She swears by it. :-)

Hi Kathy, just throwing out an option in case you want to consider it, depending on your time of year traveling. For trips May - October months, I wear my sturdy Keen Rose style sandals that have the hiking type sole & a toe protector. This is the shoe I have worn since 2006 (replacing when worn), so I don’t need to bring any socks, also. I wear them at home a lot, too.

Mardee, those plastic bag drying racks look interesting as sock drying stands and could sit on a windowsill. I’ll need to look at the weight of the various models.
Jean, I love, love, love Keen Rose sandals and have them in three colors. My most recent trips were too chilly to take them along. (Although we did hit some unseasonably warm weather for England’s northern border.)
I will also need to check out the low, no show socks. I have always been afraid they would slip down. I will try some out at home as it seems they would dry faster.
Thanks for all the tips!

There are true no-show socks (which often have grippy stuff inside so they don't slip down). Then there are low-cut socks, which provide full coverage for your foot and stick up a little out of your shoe. And then there are "quarter" or quarter crew socks, which come up 1-3 inches above your shoe. I wear all three kinds at home, but if I'm walking a lot, I don't care for the no-show ones because there's too much opportunity for the shoe to rub my skin raw. That happened in December, and it's still not healed completely in May.
Something a lot of people don't think about (and maybe it's because they are average-sized people with average-sized feet) is the size of the sock. I have giant feet, and I have to buy socks that come in sizes. Better-fitting socks are more comfortable.

Darn Tough are expensive, but they are guaranteed for life. My son in law wears them hard - hiking, farm chores - and they have replaced them when they wear through or get holes.

Mardee, those plastic bag drying racks look interesting as sock drying stands and could sit on a windowsill. I’ll need to look at the weight of the various model.

Kathy, we have one of those at home that we use for drying plastic bags,. It’s one of the ones with the straight sticks that fan out from the bottom. It is extremely lightweight. In fact I’d kind of forgotten about that and after I wrote this, thought that maybe I should plan on borrowing it for my next trip, lol!