Leather Shoe Care Kit

Details

The five things that keep leather alive and nothing else. A horsehair dauber for applying, a 100 mm horsehair brush for buffing, a 50 ml cream to feed the hide, a 50 ml hard wax for the toe and heel, and a cotton flannel cloth, in a waxed canvas roll with a full-grain leather tie. The cream is beeswax, carnauba and lanolin in a light mineral oil base. What is not in it is the point. Silicone shine sprays put a film of polydimethylsiloxane over the grain: the shoe looks wet for a day, and after that the leather cannot take cream again, because the film blocks it. That is permanent and it is the single most common way a good pair is ruined by kindness. There is no silicone here and an FTIR scan on the tin will show none. The other absence is turpentine substitute, a cheap solvent that dries the hide it is sold to feed. Pick the shade the way a cobbler would. Neutral cannot mismatch and works on every colour of full-grain and calf, which is why it is the default. A coloured cream is right only when you have one specific pair to deepen or a scuff to cover, and it cannot be un-applied, so if you are unsure, take neutral. The hard wax is neutral in every kit.

• Horsehair dauber and 100 mm horsehair buffing brush, both on beech handles
• 50 ml cream: beeswax, carnauba and lanolin in a light mineral oil base
• 50 ml neutral hard wax for toe and heel finishing, in every shade of kit
• Cotton flannel cloth, 40 x 40 cm, washable
• No silicone. Composition confirmed by FTIR and GC-MS, and silicone would show
• No turpentine substitute, no aerosol propellant, no plastic tins
• 50 ml steel tins with screw lids, and the cream and wax both sold as refills
• Waxed canvas roll with a full-grain leather tie
• Not for suede, nubuck or patent. Cream will mat a suede nap permanently, so if that is what you own, this is the wrong kit and there is nothing in it you can use.