What Makes Your Leather Cleaner and Conditioner Good Enough?
A good cleaner and conditioner may be a bit hard to find. With the market flooded with leather products of all kinds, it’s not difficult to find yourself lost. Let’s start off with Rule #1 of maintaining your leather, furniture or not! You will need both a leather cleaner and conditioner(and not in the same bottle). It’s also important to remember that leather cleaner and conditioner are maintenance tools, not repair tools. Lets go through a few criteria for a great leather maintenance program focusing on these products:
- Your cleaner should be gentle yet effective: Your cleaner should be able to remove dirt, food stains, and grime from your leather surface without causing damage to the color or leather fibers.
- Your leather conditioner needs to be moisturizing: Keeping your leather moisturized and supple will keep it from cracking and drying out. A good conditioner will replenish your leather’s natural oils.
- Your cleaner and conditioner should not be greasy: Your cleaner should be a thin liquid, able to evaporate quickly and completely. Your conditioner should absorb into the leather without leaving a greasy residue behind.
- Your leather conditioner should have long-lasting effects: Ideally, the effects of a good leather conditioner should last for a reasonable amount of time before a new application is needed.
Other considerations for your leather cleaner and conditioner include:
- Versatility
- Ease of Application
- Safety
- Positive Reputation
3 Leather Cleaner and Conditioner Recommendations
- Works on ALL types of leather
- Leather cleaner acts as a dirt and grime remover.
- Best if used every 3 - 6 months, depending on leather use.
- Works on all leather types, except nubuck and suede.
- Safely removes dirt, grime, and salts from finished leathers.
- Keeps your leather bright and smooth. Does not darken your leather.
- Cleaner removes grit and grime from within the leather pores.
- Conditioner replenishes essential nutrients that are depleted by any harsh elements
- Preserves the natural look of soft new leather.
Specialty Conditioners
Some leather conditioners have a special purpose that can pertain to a certain leather type or be useful in a certain situation:
- Leather Master Ink Stop – A specialty conditioner designed to lower friction on leather. This conditioner is best used for homes where pets can potentially scratch the leather.
- Leather Master Oleosa – This “conditioner on steroids” is uniquely used on wax-pull up and oil-pull up leather. Do NOT use this on any other type of leather.
Related Post: A Deep Look Into Leather Furniture
What Else is Out There?
Leather Wipes
Leather Cleaner and Conditioner wipes are good products, but they have the big problem – drying out. Once you open the package, the wipes will be useful for only a week or two before they are dried out and unusable. Since the recommended frequency for cleaning is months, you can bet the wipes are going to be bone dry. If I were going to use wipes, it would be to clean all of my leather at once; furniture, car seats, purses, jackets, etc. to maximize its usefulness.
2-in-1 Leather Cleaner/Conditioners
If there was one furniture maintenance product I snap my fingers to remove from the world, it would be the 2-in-1 Cleaner/Conditioner Combo. They simply don’t work and here’s why…
Using a cleaner is like using a shampoo for your hair. It strips, or subtracts, the dirt and oils away. On the other hand, a leather conditioner nourishes the fibers, or adds, reintroducing leather oils to the fibers.
So the question you are left with is this: How can a single product both subtract and add at the same time? Well, you cant. For the exact same reason that 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioners don’t work for your hair, leather 2-in-1’s will not work properly for your furniture.
Leather Salves and Balms
I am not impressed with furniture salves for a few reasons. Using a salve on your faded or scratched leather will help its look, but the salve only serves as a temporary band-aid to damaged leather in actual need of repair. In the long run, you will run into a great deal larger problems because many leather salves have “drying oils” in their formulas. Given enough time, drying oils will cause the leather to harden over time.
So, while it looks good when you put it on, the fibers will begin to dry out more rapidly with each use.
Even the leather salve itself says that you shouldn’t use this product on its label. There is likely a warning on the label against using the product on aniline leather. Did you know that a scratch is, in essence, unprotected aniline leather where the damage is.
A Quick Word About Suede and Nubuck
Suede and nubuck are a type of leather that have been manufactured using the knap, or fuzzy part, of the leather as its decoration. More specifically, suede is nubuck leather that has been shaved and sanded, turning the loose leather fibers smooth and velvet-like. This leather type is hyper-absorbent and would require a completely different cleaning regimen.
- For Suede and Nubuck ONLY!
- Use sparingly and as directed!
- Best chance at reducing stains on nubuck and suede!
Conclusion
There are so many porducts out there for your leather, but in many cases the result can be an oily mess or a lackluster leather. Yet with the proper tools, your leather furniture (and shoes, purses, car interiors, and jackets) can maintain the right pH level while staying smooth and supple. If it’s been a while since you’ve cleaned and conditioned your leather, these products are perfect for getting your leather back on track.
It’s also important to remember that these products are for maintenance, not repair. If you have color faded or scratched leather, body oils that have penetrated the leather, or you’ve found an ink mark on your leather, make no mistake. These products will not fix your problem. They will, though, keep your leather well maintained so the issues don’t get worse. If you have any questions about your leather furniture, I’d love to hear from you. Email us a picture and brief couple of sentences about your leather!