u/Signal_Put9723

Anywhere in Wexford selling solar eclipse glasses?

I’ve been climbing in my beginner shoes for a good while now and are the same as my street size, completely worn down at this point. Finally decided to make the jump to something more aggressive and picked up a pair of La Sportiva Skwama. I went two full sizes smaller below my street shoe, since I’ve read a lot how the Skwama’s stretch a good bit over time. The discomfort is pretty intense though. The toe curl is a lot and I’m trying to figure out what’s normal break-in pain vs what I should actually be worried about.

For people who’ve been through this, what is the break in process like? How long did it realistically take before they started feeling more like “tight but fine” instead of “I need to rip these off after every climb”? I don’t really have a frame of reference for how much or how quickly.
I’ve been wearing them around the house in short stints to try and speed things up, and loosening the velcro between climbs at the gym.

Is there anything else that actually helps? I’ve seen people recommend wearing them in a warm shower to stretch the leather faster, but honestly that feels sketchy to me, I’m not sure I want to soak a shoe I just paid good money for.

Any tips or advice would be highly appreciated, thanks