How to Polish Shoes

A well-dressed and a well-groomed man is what every woman desires. Professionally too, being well dressed helps in projecting a person as someone who takes care of himself and thus, can take care of his work too. What makes a man well dressed? Simply, a clean, well ironed shirt paired with creased pants and a pair of shining, well polished shoes. If you want to know the art of shoe polishing, then here is the step wise procedure for that.

Best Way to Polish Shoes

Step 1
The first thing that you should do before starting onto polishing the shoes is to change into some old clothes. This is because, shoe polish or wax can stain your clothes and can be very hard to remove later on.

Step 2
Start with getting rid of the dirt or dust, that might have got accumulated on the shoe. You can use a clean dry cloth for this purpose. Sometimes, the dirt on the heel can be extremely stubborn and very difficult to remove. So you can make the cloth slightly wet, wring it properly and then remove the dirt on the heel of the shoes with it. There are some leather cleaners available in the market too, which are used to remove the dirt from the shoes. You can apply a leather cleaner, keep it for drying and then proceed to polish the shoes.

Step 3
Once you are done with removing the dirt, you choose the polish that has to be applied on the shoes, depending on the color. Remove the laces before polishing so that they do not get stained.

Step 4
A proper way to polish shoes is to take a small cloth and apply some polish to its corner. Hold this corner with your fingers and start applying the polish to the shoes. You can start from the toe and then proceed towards the heel, on both the sides of the shoe. Apply polish on the tongue of the shoes too. Use circular motions while applying the polish so that it gets spread evenly on the surface.

Step 5
Let the polish remain on the shoes until dry. Afterwards, take a horsehair brush and buff the shoes with it.

Step 6
To bring an extra shine to the shoe, take a clean cloth and rub the surface with it. While polishing, use a shoe tree so that the shape of the shoes is not spoiled.

Polishing Shoes without Shoe Polish

In case you have run out of shoe polish and you have to go somewhere urgently, there is another way to polish and bring shine to your shoes. Have a look.

Step 1
Take a banana and remove its skin.

Step 2
With the banana skin, rub the surface of your shoes vigorously.

Step 3
Take a small cloth and buff your shoes with it, until the banana pieces have been removed and the shoe gets its shine back.

If you are environment conscious and want to use a chemical free leather shoe polish, then here's a quick recipe for that. Mix equal amounts of olive oil and lemon juice and polish your shoes with it. This homemade polish will surely bring an instant shine to your shoes.

One last tip on shoe polishing - preferably use a paste or cream polish instead of a wax or liquid polish, as these polishes moisturize the leather deeply and thus, make the shoes last longer.