**The Official Shoe Care Thread: Tutorials, Photos, etc.**

[Jerome1988]

Thanks for all the good tricks and explanations! Now I now how to "really" clean my shoes!

 

[DWFII]



Under what conditions would you clean your shoes with soap and water? Oil based stains like food? I usually just rub a damp cloth over mine if they ask for it. Would Tide (unscented of course) work? Front Loader or handwash?

Lexol-ph is a ph balanced liquid soap that is pretty good for cleaning shoes and all kinds of leather--it leaves no sticky or greasy residue.

You could also use ph balanced baby shampoo.

Many companies that make shoe maintenance products also make saddle soaps and other products that are intended to be used with water. Fiebings, Properts, Meltonian, Bickmore, even Saphir--all the recognized names in leather-care products in other words.

I don't recommend saddle soaps for shoes, but I do recommend periodically washing the dirt and grit and micro-fines trapped/embedded in waxes and creams, out of the creases--where they play a major role in cracking.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

DW, assuming you're not trudging through mud and wearing your shoes in very bad conditions is cleaning with a product like Lexol Cleaner really necessary? Can you get away with simply brushing your shoes before you wear them and keeping the waxes on the vamp to a minimum?

 

[TweedyProf]

Any suggestions on how to deal with this? They missed a spot...

Well there's the scuff too, but I mean the missed finishing near the sole.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Put some colored cream polish on it.

 

[TweedyProf]

Put some colored cream polish on it.

That simple? No pretreatment of any sort?

 

[patrickBOOTH]

A good brushing

 

[Munky]

You seem to be in your minimalist period, at the moment. From using various creams, conditioners and waxes, you seem to have settled on a good brushing as the way to treat shoes. Have you any particular reasons for this? Have you had bad experiences with the various products you have used?

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I wouldn't say I have ever used "various" creams, waxes, and conditioners. Just cream on the vamp, wax on the toe and heels. Other than that I keep them clean with a brush.

 

[DWFII]



DW, assuming you're not trudging through mud and wearing your shoes in very bad conditions is cleaning with a product like Lexol Cleaner really necessary? Can you get away with simply brushing your shoes before you wear them and keeping the waxes on the vamp to a minimum?

I'd say yes. But you have to keep an eye on them...more attention than a lot of people want to bother with. A daily brushing wouldn't be out of order and as mentioned by another poster, wiping down with a damp cloth isn't a bad idea either. Better than nothing.

Keeping dust and grit out of the creases--that's what's important. Because waxes and fats will build up in the creases and collect dirt there.

I don't wash my dress shoes all that often...once a year? But work shoes and boots anytime I see mud or dirt or dirty discolouration.

It won't hurt the leather to wash and recondition but you will damage your spit shines and possibly alter any antiquing.

People rely too much on cleaner/conditioners that come in a jar. If you use them wipe the shoe off thoroughly after application and bear in mind that, in some cases, you're just imprisoning the existing dirt in yet another layer of fat and/or wax.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Interesting. I would assume it is only necessary to limit the cleaning to the vamp of the shoe as to not bother the high shine toe and heel areas?

 

[patrickBOOTH]

The Lexol cleaner has a lot of glycerin in it from what I can remember when I tried it. Wouldn't that be a trap for dirt and such also? I would think just keeping the conditioning on the vamp to a minimum as to not trap dirt and stuff to begin with would be a good option. This of course means a fine line between a dry vamp and conditioned vamp. This is another thing that I kind of like about Glen's cream polishes they soak in and don't seem too waxy, thick, or just sitting on the surface.

 

[DWFII]



The Lexol cleaner has a lot of glycerin in it from what I can remember when I tried it. Wouldn't that be a trap for dirt and such also? I would think just keeping the conditioning on the vamp to a minimum as to not trap dirt and stuff to begin with would be a good option. This of course means a fine line between a dry vamp and conditioned vamp. This is another thing that I kind of like about Glen's cream polishes they soak in and don't seem too waxy, thick, or just sitting on the surface.

I'm not sure what all Lexol-ph has in it, but the beauty of it is that you rinse it off. I wouldn't wash a shoe that was spit-shined unless I intended to start over. General cleaning in the toe and heel area...as well as conditioning is pretty much useless--the masking effect of the wax is going to prevent any conditioning from reaching the leather and cleaning just takes the wax off.

 

[Reosymes]

I got these Florsheim shell cordovan longwings from ebay and the seller forgot(?) to mention this cut. It doesn't look very deep. Is there a way to fix this? And if there's no way to fix it, will this cut diminish the life of the shoe? The shoes are great otherwise, and fit me perfectly. Thanks!

 

[leetpuma]

What color Saphir Renovateur Suede & Nubuck Spray should I get with shoes that look like:








Their seems to be only 4 colors:


I think I really want a light brown but it looks like that is not an option. (The leather is an bright light brown in person)
Should i go with medium brown or neutral?