A nice pair of leather dress shoes deserves proper treatment and care. However, it can be confusing choosing which product to use — should I use shoe cream polish or wax?
Both products are great for leather shoes, but they have different purposes. In this guide, we’ll teach you the differences between the two and when to use them.
What is Shoe Cream Polish?
To keep things simple, shoe cream polish is meant to hydrate and nourish the leather to prevent it from cracking. It also restores the leather’s natural color as well as fill in any scuffs or scratches.
Our shoe cream also contains paraffin and vegetable wax, which helps repel water and stains.
When Should I Use Shoe Cream Polish and How Do I Use It?
You’ll want to use shoe cream polish for whenever you clean your shoes. That’s usually every month or so if you wear them often.
You can also reapply shoe cream to your shoes once a year while they are kept storage to prevent the leather from drying out.
Your leather shoes dry out as you wear them, so it’s important to keep them hydrated in between cleanings.
To prepare you shoes for the shoe cream, clean your footwear with a horsehair shoe brush to remove any dust or stains. If the stains are tougher, use a lightly-damp microfiber towel to wipe the shoes clean.
When your footwear is debris-free, apply small amounts of the cream to the shoe. Work in the product using a circular motion while applying moderate pressure. You can apply the cream with a dauber, a microfiber towel or your fingers.
Remember, you only want a thin layer of cream all over the shoe, not thick globs. Allow the cream to absorb into the leather for at least 5 minutes before buffing out the cream. Using firm pressure, use your horsehair brush to blend the cream into the shoe.
After the shoe cream has been blended into a uniform layer, use a clean microfiber cloth and wipe away the excess cream from the footwear. It may not look like it, but there will be leftover cream that the leather did not absorb.
What about Shoe Polish with Carnauba and Beeswax?
On the other hand, our shoe polish with carnauba and beeswax is what it sounds like — it’s a wax-based product meant to add a highly-polished finish to your leather footwear.
The carnauba and beeswax found in our shoe wax adds another layer of waterproofing and scuff protection to your shoes. It also seals in the moisture of the leather.
When Do I Use Shoe Wax Polish and How Do I Use It?
The ideal time to use a wax polish is after moisturizing your leather footwear with shoe cream.
Use a clean microfiber cloth and apply a thin layer of shoe wax all over the shoe.
Wipe the leather with a slightly damp microfiber cloth in between the coats of wax to make your shoes really shiny. Yuya Hasegawa, a world champion shoe shiner, does this and the shoes he polishes have mirror-like finishes.
Buff your shoes with a buffing microfiber cloth, which has a lower fabric pile than our standard microfiber cloth, until your footwear is shiny.
