Why Clean New Stuff?

I bought a brand new leather wrist cuff at a #PrideMonth event last week. It’s a deep brown with buckles and rings and stuff and ooh, I love it! The first thing I did when I got it home though was clean it.

WHY CLEAN SOMETHING THAT’S BRAND NEW?

Just because leather shoes, cuffs, belts, and what have you are new to us, that doesn’t mean those items haven’t already been through dozens of hands and processes which can leave them pretty dirty pretty quickly.

Usually just a light cleaning with a mild soap and a light conditioning is all you need to get anyone else’s gunk off your new stuff.

SADDLE SOAP, WATER, AND A TOOTHBRUSH

I used a toothbrush to apply some Saddle Soap mixed with a bit of water to the cuff. Note in the picture above; 1.) I apply the soap one section at a time, then clean it off thoroughly before moving to the next section, and 2.) the green circle around the brown residue on the cloth is what I’ve already cleaned off of the cuff.

DON’T FORGET THE CONDITIONER!

Once I completely cleaned the cuff I let it dry a bit and then applied some conditioner before buffing it out with a clean, dry cloth.

The picture above shows the cuff after it was cleaned, conditioned, and buffed. An added bonus of the conditioning is that is softens the leather as well as keeping it looking great.