Everything about cleaning natural and artificial leather products at home

Leather products never go out of fashion, so every home has something from the list: gloves, a jacket, a bag, boots... Periodically, leather products require cleaning at home, this will keep them in almost perfect condition for several seasons. This is especially true for products made of genuine leather, since they require much more attention: many external factors negatively affect the material and lead things to a terrible state, while products made of artificial leather in most cases can only be cleaned with a special cream or spray.

Advice

Approximately once a year, products made from light natural leather must be dry cleaned. Cleaning at home is an express method that will only quickly get rid of immediate problems (therefore, it is recommended to remove stains as quickly as possible). Only professionals can deal with old stains.

How to get rid of stains?

There are a lot of folk remedies against stains; in most cases, it is enough to use turpentine or gasoline for cleaning. However, they are not always a panacea, so depending on what caused the stain, there are other cleaning methods.

1. Grease/paint/mold. Any solvent will do the job perfectly. It is better to give preference to pure gasoline, but if you don’t have it on hand, then turpentine will do.However, they should only be used on thick skin that can withstand the impact without external changes. You can check this on the inside of the product. The stain should be wiped with a cotton swab dipped in turpentine or gasoline. Sometimes potato flour is added to gasoline in the same proportion. After the procedure, wipe the product with a dry cloth. Thin skin can be cleaned with chalk or starch; these products perfectly remove greasy stains. Regular vegetable oil also fights stains from oil paint, which can easily remove paint from the product.

Advice

You can get rid of the smell of gasoline by hanging a jacket or other leather item on the balcony (any well-ventilated place will do) or by using freshly squeezed lemon juice. By the way, leaving the product in a ventilated place is the only way to dry it after any cleaning procedure.

Some people try to remove grease stains using a cloth that absorbs the grease. At the same time, dry the napkin with a hairdryer in a gentle mode. This cleaning method is not recommended, since any leather product should not be dried near heat sources or in the sun, as this will deform both natural and artificial leather.

How to make your skin shine?

In order for a leather product to retain its “marketable” appearance for as long as possible,” it is necessary to periodically clean it, adding shine. For example, a jacket needs to be polished no more than once a week, paying attention to particularly difficult areas: collar, cuffs, pockets. These places become greasy very quickly and the skin becomes dull.

The following products will help restore your skin to its original appearance:

• glycerol;
• ammonia;
• lemon juice;
• chopped onion (great for leather bags);
• wax-based mixture (for 100 g of wax, 30 g of castor oil, 50 g of turpentine and 10 g of melted rosin are used);
• coffee grounds (used only on dark leather, also perfectly removes the unpleasant odor of new natural leather);
• a mixture based on turpentine, oil and yolk (in a ratio of 6:1:1, used for cleaning varnished products);
• egg white (a mixture of white and milk is suitable for fair or white skin);
• Orange peel.

But when using most of the above products after the procedure, the product still needs to be treated with glycerin, petroleum jelly or castor oil. The fact is that alcohol, lemon juice and other “shine medications” remove grease, but at the same time they dry out the skin very much, and if you don’t wipe it with a moisturizer, it will quickly begin to crack and wrinkle.

What to do with scuffs?

Often, especially in jackets, abrasions appear on the elbows or shoulders. The skin in these places begins to turn white and crack, after which it slowly crumbles. There are several stages in dealing with this process that will help slow it down and return the jacket to its normal appearance.

• Clean the area with regular shoe polish (colorless or leather-colored). This method is good at the first stage, when the cracks are small. After cleaning the damaged area with cream, thoroughly sand the surface with a flannel cloth. This way you will smooth out and absorb the cream as much as possible.
• Use nitro paints in aerosol form. This method can be taken into account when the skin begins to crumble. The paint should be applied in a thin layer, otherwise it will only speed up the process.
• Liquid skin. This remedy will help in especially serious cases, including restoring and fastening torn and cut areas.

How to keep a leather product in good condition?

In order for your jacket or handbag to please you for a long time, it is not enough just to remove stains and periodically take it to the dry cleaner. You should treat things with care. For example, jackets or other leather clothes should not be stored in plastic bags; fabric covers with a lock are more suitable for this, which will protect from dust and will not create a greenhouse effect.

The main enemy of all natural and artificial leather products is water. They should not be washed unless the manufacturer's tag states otherwise; Most often, such a tag is on gloves that are washed only by hand in soapy water, and a drop of glycerin is added when rinsing. If you get caught in the rain, you should wipe the product at home with a dry flannel cloth. Drying near heating appliances is prohibited!

There are many sprays, creams and other leather care products that sellers usually recommend.For artificial leather products this will be quite enough, but natural leather responds better to traditional cleaning methods, although periodic use of various, for example, water-repellent aerosols will not be superfluous.

Advice

Before cleaning a leather product in any way, you should wipe it with a damp cloth to remove dust and dirt.

You should also be careful when wearing it. Products made from genuine leather are not cheap, so you should not wear a leather jacket if you are going to engage in active sports, for example. You should also avoid unnecessary contact with objects that can damage (leave scratches, abrasions or even tear) leather products.