Should you or shouldn't you wear two pair of socks?

Question

I skate in hockey skates, but for recreational purposes.

I am wondering if one should really wear two pair of socks? When I was buying skates, they guys in the shop adviced me to wear them, but now when I am suffering ugly lace bites I doubt the logic behind it:

• the skate feel is more puffy, because of all cushioning from all sides
• the foot is placed higher
• I cannot insert anything extra in front, because there is already very little room inside skate

So maybe it is all wrong, and I should go with single pair of socks, get maximum fit from the skates, and forget about wearing anything extra because of the folk-tradition?

I am not looking for opinions, I am looking for hard reasons (and late update: it is from fit perspective, not insulation/warmth).

Answer 1

I've looked around and no where can I find instances where skaters wear 2 pairs of socks. I actually found someone's post saying that he did this and his feet slid around too much.

If you wear two socks, your feet will slide around because of the two layers. This causes foot blisters and a decreased amount of control you will have while skating. I hope it makes sense when I say two socks will make your feet slide around yet make the skate tight. You do not want this. You want the skates tight without the aid of wearing two socks. You want the skates to fit perfectly with one pair of socks. A point brought up by many is...

If you wear double socks, doesn't that mean your skates don't fit?

Many recommend thin socks or even underarmor-like tights. These allow the skate to be tight on your foot but also allow you to feel where your foot is thus resulting in better performance and control. Some players don't even wear socks with skates. LA Kings goalie Jonathan Quick is rumored to not wear any socks!

Answer 2

I found skating barefoot worked best though a thin sock should be fine also. By going barefoot your skate boot can form to your foot and reduce the amount of slop you would get from wearing a sock (and especially from more than one sock). It is best if the skate boot fits like a glove so you can have better control of the four skate blade edges. When you skate you have an inside edge and outside edge on each foot being able to control what edge(s) you are on will make you a better skater. Any slop in controlling your edges results in wasted energy. The only reason I can think of for wearing two socks is to keep your feet warm but if you are skating your feet should be plenty warmm enough. As far as blisters go if your skates are dry and fit correctly (no slop) you shouldn't get any blisters by skating barefoot. The only time I got blisters from my skates, when I skated barefoot, was when my skates didn't get a chance to dry properly.

Answer 3

We always wear 2 pair of socks when skating outside in cold minus winter weather and it doesn't affect the fit of our skates but our feet do stay much warmer. Maybe it’s what your used too. You can’t skate much outside if your feet are frozen and skates have to fit pretty tight which doesn’t help keep your feet any warmer. I would think it’s personal preference and the environment you skate in. Do what ever works best for you and your situation I think. Skating for fun doesn’t create as much body heat as hockey does so that is also a factor maybe. Just my thoughts and experience of many different skating experiences.