Wallets are to a guy what shoes are for women: an essential. This little piece of leather can hold your cash, tickets, drivers licenses, ID's, cards, etc. this indispensable leprechaun seems to have space for all of those little knickknacks we couldn’t do without. It’s practically the non-digitized data storage device. So, we can honestly say that how you treat your wallet speaks a lot about how you treat yourself. That's why today we are telling you how to care for your leather wallet to make it last forever.
Cleaning Tips for Leather Wallets
- We all know leather gets dirty. your leather absorbs materials around it through pores that are supposed to take in moisture and recycle oils. When dirt clogs up those pores, it prevents your leather from absorbing the moisture, which prevents lubricants from doing their job. After a little while, if you don't attend to it, It’s going to dry out, it’s going to crack, it’s going to grow brittle and fall apart. To prevent this, you'll need to give your leather wallet a good cleaning.
- Make sure your wallet is empty before doing any touching up. For regular spot checks to remove surface dust and lint, gently wipe it with a damp, soft cloth until everything is gone. If your wallet gets wet, dab it to remove moisture as soon as you can, before it absorbs into the leather.
- Excess moisture can spell danger for your leather items. Dab, don’t smear. If you get grease on your leather wallet, as most people do, try sprinkling a small amount of talcum powder or corn starch on the grease stain, and leave it on for a few hours. The starch will absorb grease as it sits, so the longer it stays, the cleaner your leather wallet will be.
- Remember that every type of leather, whether is finished or unfinished or exotic, have a different care treatment.
- Use always a leather cleaner for your type of leather and avoid any commercial one since they probably won't have the right pH balance for it.
- Apply leather cleaner to a soft, white cloth, and gently rub it into a discreet part of your wallet, perhaps on its inside, or inside a pocket if the leather is the same there. Take care not to rub with much pressure, or you will rub some of the color off. After it has dried, check the leather for darkening or discoloration, your cloth for excess color rub off, or any other negative side effects. Anything that happens to that tiny spot will happen with your entire leather wallet if you use your cleaner. If everything looks good to you, clean away! Give a clean cloth a light amount of leather cleaner and wipe it gently and evenly across your wallet. Don’t use too much leather cleaner, and after the surface is covered, wipe off any residual fluid with another clean cloth.
- After the cleaning, apply a leather conditioner and take advantage of it because pores are going to be open and just begging for it.
- Do this routine twice a year.
- Always read the cleaning instructions on your leather items.
