Hi, I'm Kirby Allison founder
of The Hanger Project.
This video on how to shine
dress shoes teaches you the
basic steps on shining shoes
using Saphir shoe polish.
This routine can be completed
in as little as 5 to 10 minutes
and is perfect for both new and
old shoes alike.
It is really meant to be kind
of the basic daily maintenance
shining routine that you would
complete on a weekly
basis, just to keep a pair of
shoes looking great between
the more intensive shoe shines,
like our presidential shoe
shine. The first step is to
gently clean the surface of the
shoes using some water,
just to remove any type of
surface dirt.
So I am going to use a spray
bottle. You could dampen a
cloth, but the purpose here
is just to provide a really
light cleaning to
remove any type of superficial
dirt that is on
the surface of the shoes.
So after you've cleaned your
shoes using a damp cloth,
the next step is to begin
polishing them using a cream
polish.
Here we're using the Saphir
Medaille d'Or Pommadier cream
polish which is probably the
best cream polish available
anywhere on the market place.
And what this is going to do is
it's going to condition and
recolor the shoes.
So.
First.
I like to use a cotton chamois
to apply my cream polishes
because I feel like I can do a
better job controlling the
amount that I'm applying.
Less is more.
So I'm going to apply a little
bit of cream polish on a cotton
chamois and then massage
it into the leather using
circular motions.
Now one of the nice things
about the cream polish is it
does act as a
gentle cleaner because
of the turpentine and solvents
that you find in the polish.
So again, it's going to be
helping to remove any type of
surface dirt
that you didn't get in the
first step.
After you've applied a thin
coat of the cream polish,
you really want to allow the
leather as much time as
possible to absorb those
nutrients.
We recommend allowing at least
three to five minutes for the
leather to fully absorb the
polish and for the waxes to
dry,
but you can certainly leave the
polish on much longer than
that. We have some shoemakers
that I know actually saying
that they'll leave their cream
polish on overnight to
allow that leather to absorb as
much of those nutrients as
possible.
After you've allowed the cream
polish to dry
for a good three to five
minutes, the next step is gonna
be to buff
the polish off using a
horsehair brush.
Now, normally we recommend
having two brushes a black
brush for your black shoes and
kind of
another brush with a lighter
bristles for your brown shoes.
The purpose is just to
basically keep you from using a
brush that's got residual
traces of black polish
to buff your brown shoes and
then end up with streaking.
So this is our Hanger
Project horsehair brush 100
percent tail hair
and basically just buff the
polish off using
moderate to firm pressure.
Now what you're going to see
here is that one,
the brush is going to remove
any excess polish that built
up on top of the leather,
it's going to smooth that
polish out and then the
friction between the horsehair
bristles and the polish is
actually going to cause those
waxes to begin to
develop their shine.
You can see
with the high quality Medaille
d'Or Pommadier Cream Polish
that after just one application
when buffing, we're already
getting a really nice shine out
of these pairs of shoes.
You can absolutely do more than
one coat of a cream polish,
you know, if it's been a while
since you've polished your
shoes like it has been with
these Grensons then I would
probably recommend two to
three different applications of
the cream polish in order to
build that finish.
Wow so you can see with just
two applications of the
Saphir Medaille D'or pommadier
cream polish, these Grensons
are looking absolutely
fantastic.
You could honestly stop here
if you are happy with this
level of shine,
but I'm going to go ahead and
apply one more coat
of the Saphir
Medaille d'Or wax polish
just to show you how we can
elevate the shine even more
by adding some hard waxes.
Now, with the cream polish what
we've done is we've nourished
the leather and we've recovered
it. Now the wax polish
is going to further help
elevate that shine and add a
little bit of protection
with the higher concentration
of hard waxes.
I've got some of the cognac
Medaille d'Or Pate De Luxe Wax
Polish here.
I am matching the wax polish
to the same color cream polish
I used,
but there's no reason that you
couldn't use a
neutral wax if that's
all you had because again,
in this step we're really less
concerned about pigment than we
are about adding that higher
concentration of hard waxes.
So I'm going to apply a light
amount of the Pate De Luxe Wax
polish to my cotton chamois and
then I'm just going to apply
this the same way
that I did the cream polish
in small little circular
motions.
Less is more whenever it comes
to the wax polish.
You don't have to apply a ton.
The more you apply the harder
it's going to be to buff off.
So after you've allowed the wax
polish a good two three minutes
to dry,
then simply buff it off
with a horsehair brush the same
way you did the cream polish
using moderate to firm
pressure.
OK, so you can see that
with the Pate De Luxe wax
polish we've elevated that
shine even more.
We've also added a little bit
of a higher amount of hard
waxes to the surface of the
leather. What that's going to
do it's going to provide
additional protection against
you know any type of water
spots and just anything
else that could damage the
leather of the shoes.
This shine is actually quite
fantastic. I'm not going to do
a second coat of the Pate de
Luxe because honestly I think
these more casual loafers would
be too shiny.
But one note for someone that
is wanting to elevate the shine
even more: you could do a
second application of the Pate
De Luxe on the entire shoe,
that hat would be completely
fine, but you want to be
careful about applying too much
wax across the vamp because
when that bends as
you're walking these hard
waxes, if you have too much
built up,
are going to crack and leave a
white residue. If that happens
it's very easy to remove- just
buff it off with a horsehair
brush.
But just again because the
Saphir Pate De Luxe Wax polish
has such a high concentration
of hard waxes, you do want to
be careful about building too
much across the vamp.
So there we have, just with two
products: the Saphir Medaille
d'Or Pommadier cream polish and
the Pate De Luxe Wax polish
we've totally renovated and
restored the shoes and they
look fantastic.
So that's it for our basic
shoeshine guide.
If you have any questions feel
free to email us at
shoeshine@hangerproject.com or
feel free to ask your questions
in the comments section below.
We love hearing from you and we
look forward to teaching you
how to shine your shoes.