You Won't Believe What Castor Oil Does to Old Leather Shoes

Castor oil for shoes is an effective remedy for everyday care of leather products, which can be purchased for pennies at a pharmacy. The product will help soften the skin and revive dry boots, protect winter boots from moisture and reagents, relieve shoes from unpleasant squeaking and solve many other pressing problems.

How to treat shoes with castor oil to protect them from moisture?

With all its many advantages, leather shoes have one significant drawback - they do not repel moisture. It is enough to step into a puddle once or trample a little in the snow porridge, and your boots will instantly get wet. To save yourself from this trouble, you can treat the product with castor oil.

For short-term protection, which will last no more than a day, the treatment is carried out several hours before going outside as follows:

1. using a brush, carefully coat the seams connecting the sole and top of the shoe with castor oil;
2. a little product is applied to the front of the product and rubbed over the entire surface;
3. dry for at least an hour.

Not everyone has free time and the opportunity to do this kind of work every day. To ensure that shoes retain their waterproof qualities throughout the season, before the onset of the rainy season, the products can be treated with a special impregnation made from castor oil and beeswax:

1. In an enamel bowl, mix castor oil in the amount of 60 ml (2 bottles) and 50 g of beeswax and place on the stove.
2. The mixture is heated, stirring constantly, until the wax dissolves. Do not bring to a boil!
3. The inside of the shoe should be lubricated with a warm solution. To do this, remove the insoles and use a soft brush to treat each seam and joint of the skin from the inside. The work is repeated 5–7 times until the oily composition stops being absorbed into the skin. Excess is removed with a cotton swab.
4. Now we need to process the sole. It is also coated several times with greasy impregnation.
5. The remaining mixture is thoroughly rubbed over the outer surface of the boot and left to dry.
6. The insoles are lubricated with a wax mixture on the side that comes into contact with the sole.
7. As it dries, smudges and stains from excess product may appear on the skin. Any droplets of wax that appear must be heated with a hairdryer and removed with a cotton swab.
8. To complete the work, the entire outside of the boot is lubricated with pure castor oil, polished and dried with the sole facing up for 2-3 days.

It is very useful to treat hiking shoes with such moisture-proof impregnation. When hiking, fishing or hunting, no one is immune from getting their boots wet, so it’s better to take care of both your boots and your health in advance.

Method for preparing cleansing cream

Leather shoes require daily care - only under such conditions will they retain their shape and shine. Today you can find many special shoe care products on sale, but expensive creams and sprays, according to customer reviews, are not always as effective as castor oil.

There is an easy way to make a cleansing cream at home. To work you need to take:

• turpentine - 30 ml;
• castor oil - 30 ml;
• wax - 90 g.

Place the wax in an enamel bowl and melt in a water bath. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour the prepared mixture into a glass container of suitable size, close the lid and leave until completely hardened.

The cream is applied to the surface of dry shoes. It softens the skin, removes impurities, and creates a water-repellent film.

How to protect shoes from salt and reagents?

In the winter, residents of large cities are constantly faced with the problem of white stains from salt and other reagents appearing on leather shoes, generously scattered by caring public utilities along the roads and sidewalks. You can cope with this scourge with the help of castor oil. To do this, just before leaving the house, regularly lubricate your shoes with a cotton swab dipped in castor oil.

If, after another walk along the snowy streets, salt stains appear on your shoes, the shoes should be carefully wiped with a damp cloth, lubricated with warm castor oil and set aside until completely dry.

A cream made from castor oil, wax and turpentine, the recipe for which is described above, will cope perfectly with stains from salt and reagents. If you don’t have wax or turpentine on hand, you can mix 30 ml of castor oil and 90 g of fish oil and thoroughly rub the heated mixture into the leather surface.

How to make leather shoes soft and comfortable?

Soft, light and comfortable shoes are the key to good health and mood, so the issue of choosing a comfortable model must be approached with all responsibility.

Leather may stretch when worn. Sellers warn buyers about this, advising them not to pay attention to the minor inconveniences of new shoes.If your shoes continue to feel tight, you can use castor oil to stretch them out.

To do this, the skin in the problem area inside the product is lubricated with castor oil, a cotton sock is put on, and the boot is worn on the foot for 2–3 hours. The oil will saturate the leather fibers, making them softer and more pliable, and the boot will take the shape of the foot.

Castor oil can soften even old, rough and cracked skin. To do this, you need to lubricate the surface of the product with a soft cloth soaked in heated oil, wait several hours until the product is absorbed, and then polish the shoe with a dry cloth.

Castor oil is used only for dark shoes! White shoes will leave dark marks.

Removing the squeak of the sole

Do your shoes squeak when you walk? What to do in such situation? It is very easy to get rid of the annoying sound made by the soles of leather shoes if you use castor oil. The instructions are simple:

1. warm up the outsole by directing a warm stream of air from a hairdryer onto it or placing the product on a radiator;
2. heat the castor oil and treat the sole with it;
3. leave for a day to dry.

Sometimes not only the sole, but also the boot top creaks. The upper part of the product can also be soaked with castor oil, only in this case there is no need to heat the boot.

Castor oil for dry skin

Products made from genuine leather can not only get wet, but also dry out. In summer, shoes are exposed to sunlight, the material loses moisture, cracks, and becomes clogged with dust. By lubricating the surface of the product with castor oil, you will be able to protect your shoes from drying out.

Before storing seasonal shoes, they must be thoroughly dried, treated with a swab dipped in castor oil, and after 15–20 minutes polished with a soft flannel cloth until shiny. The use of this inexpensive product will help keep the products in their original form until the onset of the new season.

Castor oil is an affordable and effective product used to care for genuine leather shoes. It softens roughened products, protects them from moisture, salt and reagents, and restores elasticity and softness.

However, the use of castor oil also has negative sides:

• the skin loses its natural shine;
• dark stains remain on white shoes;
• The surface treated with oil becomes sticky, so the shoes attract dust.

The main thing when using castor oil as a means to soften, cleanse and protect shoes from moisture is to observe the recommended amount and follow the instructions.