How To Use Saddle Soap On Shoes

It's just natural to want your leather to maintain its look and feel for the years to come up, and information technology certainly can. The key to this is caring for your boots, jackets and other leather garments properly, and learning how to employ saddle soap in conjunction with the all-time conditioners.

In that location's no other material or textile that compares to the versatility of genuine leather . Whether it'southward made of cow's hibernate, sheep'south hide or whatsoever other common beast hide, leather offers the perfect rest of condolement, style, and durability. Perhaps this is why information technology remains one of the world's most widely used materials in the product of jackets and accessories.

If yous're thinking near buying new leather pants or another leather garment, you'll demand to know how to care for it. Leather — similar all materials — requires regular maintenance to preserve its original appearance and characteristics. Failure to do and then could issue in degradation and subsequent shortening of the lifespan of your leather garment.

While there are dozens of ways to clean and care for leather , one of the best accommodating solutions is to utilise saddle soap. So, what is saddle soap exactly? And how practise you use it on leather? To acquire more about saddle soap, keep reading.

The Basics

Some people assume that saddle soap is designed specifically for leather saddles, but this is a misconception. Granted, equally its proper name suggests, yous can certainly use saddle soap to clean and maintain saddles, but this is far from its just application. Saddle soap is perfect for a range of leather products, including, but certainly not limited to:

Jackets
Shoes
Boots
Belts
Trousers

If it's made of leather, you tin can use saddle soap on information technology.

What is Saddle Lather Made Of?

Saddle lather is a type of leather conditioning production that'due south used to make clean and condition leather, too as protect it from harm. Although in that location are dozens of different types and varieties of saddle soap available for sale, virtually contain some bones ingredients such as lanolin and beeswax .

Also known as wool wax or wool grease, lanolin is a wax-like substance that'southward excreted by wool-bearing animals similar sheep. Technically speaking, lanolin consists mostly of long-chain waxy esters, along with trace amounts of lanolin alcohols, acids, and hydrocarbons. There are betwixt eight,000 and 20,000 different types of esters in lanolin.

This unique composition makes lanolin — and products containing lanolin ( such as saddle soap ) — particularly effective at cleaning and workout leather products. Lanolin has powerful moisturizing properties, which is why it is too frequently used in infant moisturizing creams and lotions. Furthermore, it is commonly used in lip lotion, as information technology moisturizes and protects the lips from dehydration.

The Benefits of Using Saddle Soap on Leather

If you've ever shopped at a leather specialty store, you've probably encountered a plethora of leather cleaning and conditioning products, all labeled as " the best leather care product ". So, why should you use saddle lather to maintain your leather appurtenances?

Start of all, saddle soap provides leather with merely the right amount of wet to prevent it from drying out. Every bit you probably already know, leather has a tendency to dry out over fourth dimension if not treated properly. This is peculiarly truthful if you utilise it outdoors where it's exposed to the lord's day'due south ultraviolet (UV) low-cal.

Over time, the sunlight and dry air will cause the wet within the leather to evaporate, and when this happens, the leather will go dry out, get-go feeling crude, and become brittle. This can often outcome in the leather bang-up and suffering substantial and sometimes irreparable damage.

Using saddle soap and regularly conditioning your leather garments volition forbid this from happening past supplying leather with enough moisture and protection from the elements.

Additionally, saddle lather contains several powerful cleaning compounds and tin remove virtually any stain from your leather products . To sum up, yous can use saddle soap to make clean, maintain, moisturize and protect any leather production, from a saddle to a belt.

Saddle Soap on Leather

How to Clean and Condition

At present that you know a little fleck about the benefits of using saddle soap when cleaning and conditioning leather, it's fourth dimension to get started with the cleaning and conditioning routine .

Ready The Expanse and Kit You lot Volition be Using

First things first. Make sure you make clean the tabular array or other expanse you will piece of work on and place everything you demand within arm's reach. This is an of import first step since your damp leather is likely to selection up any dust and small particles from the surfaces around it.

Here is what you are going to demand:

A washing cloth
A drying textile
A cloth or a sponge for applying saddle soap
A bowl of clean water
Leather soap
Any other conditioning products you intend to utilise

Once you lot are prepared, you tin can start working on the leather.

Clean The Leather Surface

Before applying any conditioner to your leather, you demand to make sure it is clean enough to absorb it. Take a make clean material, add simply enough water to make information technology damp but not soaked, and rub it across the surface of the leather product. The full general idea is to remove any lingering dust or debris, which could otherwise bear upon the result of your saddle lather application.

Make sure to pay special attention to areas with seams, where leather layers overlap, as this is where dirt is well-nigh probable to collect. You can use an old toothbrush to make clean those hard to reach places, such as the area where the leather connects to the sole of the boot. In one case make clean, you can then proceed to apply the saddle lather.

Applying the Soap

Depending on the specific production, you can employ saddle lather to nigh types of leather by dabbing information technology onto the surface with a clean cloth or a sponge. Apply a small amount of saddle soap to a cleaning fabric, and then gently rub the material across the surface of your leather production. Much like applying wax to a car, the saddle soap should disappear as you lot rub information technology into the leather.

Make clockwise rubbing motions until the saddle soap is no longer visible. It'southward a skillful thought to mentally dissever the leather surface into several areas and and so treat them with saddle soap in succession. Continue doing this until you've covered the entire surface of the leather product. Once y'all are satisfied, use a dry clean fabric to wipe off whatever access soap from the surface.

Applying Leather Conditioners

After cleaning your leather product, information technology is a good idea to apply some form of additional conditioning or polish, depending on the type of garment. You lot desire to go with high-quality conditioners or oils, to make certain the leather stays soft and flexible and to prevent not bad and other damage caused past exposure to the elements, every bit well equally general wear and tear.

Leave the Leather to Dry

After cleaning and workout your leather product, it is of import to give it enough time to dry and absorb the conditioners you applied before it's ready for use. This menses of time can range from a couple of hours to a whole twenty-four hour period.

Information technology's best to leave the leather to dry out naturally in a shade and avoid keeping it near whatsoever heat source, as tempting equally it may be, since this can cause astringent damage and undo all your work.

The Concluding Touch (Optional)

While using polish is a affair of preference and depends on the blazon of garment, wax and most polishes add an extra layer of protection to the leather and give information technology a water-repelling quality. Alternatively, you can employ a water-repellant spray on leather jackets or footwear, to make sure h2o rolls off the surface if yous become defenseless in a rain.

How Often Should I Use Saddle Lather?

It'south of import to note that saddle soap should be applied to leather products on a regular basis, but as well not besides ofttimes. A proficient rule of thumb is to employ saddle lather and similar conditioning products to leather once every few months for maximum protection and durability. Doing so will help protect your leather from different types of damage, including drying out and bang-up, and will increment the lifespan of your leather garments significantly.

However, go on in listen that applying saddle soap too frequently could actually do more damage than practiced, which is why it's non recommended to clean leather with saddle lather more than once in 2 or three months. Subsequently all, saddle lather is intended equally a production for deep cleaning, not everyday maintenance.

What Type of Saddle Soap Should I Use?

Generally speaking, saddle soap can exist used on all types of genuine leather. All the same, in that location are countless different saddle soaps in the market place, and not all of them are of equal quality, nor is a unmarried product the best for all your leather garments.

Beginning of all, you want to opt for a soap made of all-natural ingredients and avoid any chemicals and artificial substitutes.

2d, you lot want to consider the color of the leather production you want to clean and condition. Saddle soaps come in two colors: white and yellow. White saddle soap is best suited for light-colored leather, while the yellow variant is all-time used to condition black, dark brown and other dark-colored leather.

This distinction can be important since it volition allow you to avert even the slightest decoloration of your lighter leather products if such a change would bother you.

Finally, you should also know what types of material you shouldn't use saddle soap on. These include suede, nubuck, and other frail leather. If y'all are unsure, you can always cheque the manufacturer'south specifications, but you are well-nigh guaranteed to find that leather lather is safe to use.

In Conclusion

To recap, saddle soap is 1 of the oldest leather care products used to clean, condition and preserve the original appearance of leather. Its regular and proper application provides leather with much-needed wet, while too getting rid of even the most stubborn stains. In essence, information technology's the most basic and essential maintenance production, suitable for well-nigh all types of leather.