How to Polish Shoes?

Blisterman

Just bought my first proper pair of good black leather shoes, and they came with a polishing kit including tins of clear and black shoe polish, a hard brush, a medium brush and a cloth.

However I'm completely ignorant on how to actually go about this. I just googled it, and the instructions I've found make no use of the brushes, and involve just using a cloth to buff the polish in. I assume the brushes have some purpose or else they wouldn't be included.

Also, which polish should I use, the clear or the black? Should I use polish on the leather soles?

Firstly, don't polish your soles. You'll make your shoes slippy and you'll get polish on your floor.

I don't polish much as I only use it on my leather heels, but this is how I always do it. I just use black polish (on black shoes obviously).

Dip your hard brush in the polish and gently smooth it onto the shoe. The handiest way of holding onto the shoe is put your hand in it. Once the polish is on there, sweep the brush back and forth to get it into all the nooks and crannies and to make sure you've applied it evenly. Take your time. Then do the other shoe.

Then go back to the first shoe and using the medium brush buff it. Polish likes to be worked in as much as possible so don't be afraid to spend a bit of time on it. It's just the same brushing movement as last time, though you should be a bit lighter about it. Then do the next shoe. Doing both shoes like this is better than doing one at a time because it gives the polish time to settle and then be buffed again. Do this step twice, ie. right shoe left shoe right shoe left shoe.

Then give them a last buff with the cloth. To be honest I rarely bother with the cloth. Usually you just pull the cloth back and forth.

If you want them really shiny, there's loads of tricks out there to get them how you want, from melting the polish to using banana skins, lots of mad stuff like that.

Lastly, don't forget to put newspaper down so you don't get polish everywhere!

dudara

My father used to give out to me when I was younger for having unpolished shoes. He thought it was really scruffy.

But now that I'm a bit older, I tend to agree with him. Unpolished/scruffy shoes look terrible, so it's worth taking a few minutes to clean them up.

Valentina

+1 to everything true-or-false said.

If you want really glossy shoes then buff them with a pair of nylon tights.

OldGoat

On the topic of polishing the soles, as mentioned don't. You'll just make them too slippy to walk in, but thats just the bottom of the sole. Cleaning and polishing the edge of the sole is essential to give your shoes that properly maintained look. You can get leather blacking from shop repair shops to re-ink the leather around the edge/rim.

My routine is something like this:
Take out the laces.
Brush off any dust, dirt.
Wipe with a damp cloth.
Apply polish using a cloth. (I rap a cloth around my finger sh I can get right into the deep nooks and crannies)
Use a medium brush for about 5 minutes on the shoe.
Spray the shoe with a mist of water. (Old army method of this is more commonly known as "Spit and Polish")
Buff with a lint free cloth.

As ThurstonWhore says you can buff with an old pair of tights for a high gloss finish. It works a treat when you are in a hurry.

I just prefer to take my time polishing. It's a zen thing.