How to Make Leather White Again

I kind of love my white leather handbag. Like use it all year circular, throw all the things in information technology, wear it with all the outfits, dear it.

I've had information technology for ages — as a matter of fact my mom bought it for me as a gift when we lived in NYC and that'southward coming up on closer to a decade ago than not — only it has been looking a bit worse for wear for longer than I'd like to admit.

However the only experience I'd had with cleaning and restoring white leather up until now was in grade school and to say it scarred me would be an understatement.

The situation involved a mussed-up pair of Keds and an awful white paint-like substance applied through a sponge (or was it a roller brawl?) which was fastened to the opening of the bottle containing the aforementioned awful substance.

It without a doubt neither cleaned nor restored my leather Keds and there'south a very singled-out possibility that the whole thing ended with me in tears because it was the worst.thing.ever.wahhhh.

Yes it was the 80'southward and yes I was an overly dramatic pre-teen, obviously, merely the feel never quite left me.

But I digress, and ultimately when my beautiful white leather handbag reached a signal closer to bag lady than proper lady, something needed to be done.

I constitute white shine at a local shoe repair/key cutting shop (why exercise they e'er go hand in hand? never mind, but they do don't they) and was instructed to make certain I cleaned the bag with methylated spirits before applying it.

Supplies collected and pocketbook contents emptied out I crossed my fingers and got to information technology.

The results were improve than I could have hoped and I was again the proud owner of a proper white bag.

Of form I proceed to corruption utilize it relentlessly for the next few months so it'due south due for another clean — only at least this fourth dimension I know there'due south hope!

1 day I'll get over the Keds… peradventure.

How to Make clean & Restore a White Leather Bag

Methylated Spirits is used to remove any oils and dirt, a quality white smoothen brings the leather back to life. Repeat seasonally every bit necessary to look more similar proper lady than bag lady.

SUPPLIES

• clear Methylated Spirits, also chosen Denatured Alcohol
• White Shoe Smoothen or white renovating shine
• clean rags, white or neutral coloured
• latex or safety gloves
• white leather handbag that has seen ameliorate days (apparently)

METHOD

1. Dampen a rag with methylated spirits, gently dab over any muddy areas to remove oils and grime.
   • I wanted to freshen up the entire bag so I first full-bodied on spot cleaning then wiped over the whole surface with the dampened rag.
   • Make certain to dampen new $.25 of rag as you go, and don't rub also hard or you'll strip the material back to raw leather.
2. Let purse dry for 30 mins or so.
   • Provided you haven't saturated the leather it shouldn't have besides long every bit the alcohol evaporates pretty speedily.
3. Apply a make clean rag to apply a thin layer of white shine and allow to dry.
   • Make certain to utilize polish to any areas cleaned with the methylated spirits.
4. Vitrify with a clean cloth or a new shoe castor (meet below re shoe brush notation).
   • Repeat thin layers of polish as necessary, allowing it to dry out earlier buffing off each time.
5. Put all the things back into the purse, sport with proper lady swagger.

NOTES

• Methylated spirits or Denatured Booze is very high-proof booze that has about 10% methanol added to make information technology undrinkable and therefore sold without revenue enhancement. You can observe it in hardware stores and sometimes in grocery or convenience stores for a few dollars for a large canteen. It's besides vivid at removing sticky labels from things.
• Do not use a leather cleaner/conditioner to clean your handbag during this process, it tin can really seal the leather which means it won't blot the white polish.
• You can practise the final buff with a clean/new shoe brush but do non use one that has been exposed to any other polish — you lot don't want to end up with black or chocolate-brown streaks on your clean white pocketbook.
• If there are spots that are worn down to raw leather they may not completely come dorsum to new (you can see one on my bag) just with a gentle bear on and a few layers they will await remarkably amend.

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Source: https://84thand3rd.com/2015/06/05/how-to-clean-restore-a-white-leather-handbag/

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