Stylish and high-quality gloves can add shine to any look, becoming the “cherry on the cake.” They also play an important role in the cold season, protecting the delicate skin of the hands from the effects of wind and low temperatures. Regular touching of contaminated surfaces negatively affects the appearance of the accessory. There are several recommendations on how to clean leather gloves at home.
Proper care of leather gloves
Natural leather requires care. And not periodically, but daily!
Every day, gloves come into contact with dust. Therefore, it must also be cleaned daily. To do this, just wipe the gloves with a soft rag and go over the seams with a not too hard brush. By getting used to this simple procedure, you can save yourself from the need for more serious cleaning.
While protecting us from moisture, the gloves themselves do not tolerate it quite well . And even the water-repellent composition covering the skin is short-lived. Therefore, if the product happens to get wet, you need to put it on your hand, blot it with an absorbent cloth, then dry it naturally, but not in the sun. And drying with heat can ruin the skin .
Sometimes wet cleaning is also required: to do this, put a glove on your hand, quickly wipe it with a cotton pad in a soapy solution, then with a damp and dry rag. The skin should not get wet through !
Decorative cosmetics and perfumes are contraindicated for leather items - stains and stains will be difficult to remove. And of course, you need to protect the item from mechanical damage - cracks and abrasions cannot be masked.
When putting gloves away for storage, you need to:
- clean;
- soften with special means;
- wrap in paper and put in a box.
Important! When storing, use products against moths and skin beetles! Don't like chemistry? Wormwood, tansy, and lavender are suitable.
General recommendations for cleaning leather gloves
When cleaning leather products, you must follow the rules below:
- Regular care. It is better to clean the accessory from dirt immediately. Stains quickly eat into natural leather and are not always removed in a short time.
- Manual cleaning only. Gloves are strictly prohibited from being washed in a washing machine. You should only wash the accessory by hand as a last resort. It is preferable to use manual cleaning of products.
- Do not use high temperatures. Do not clean or wash gloves with hot water. Moreover, all types of ironing are prohibited.
- Careful handling. The gloves do not tolerate the use of brushes, hard sponges or hard rags. The skin quickly becomes scratched and loses its attractiveness.
- Going to dry cleaning. If the product is too dirty, then you should contact a professional.
Note! It is more convenient to clean gloves by placing the product on your palm. In addition, this method will avoid deformation of the accessory.
How to clean leather of different colors?
Black items can be easily cleaned with a solution of ammonia applied to a cotton pad. Do you have stubborn stains? Mix two parts gasoline with part turpentine and wipe with this solution.
Colored gloves can be tidied up using:
- bread crumb soaked in water;
- beaten egg white.
In both cases, after treatment you need to wipe the skin with a slightly damp cloth .
Advice! For colored leather items, they sell structure-restoring agents that mask microcracks. Don't neglect them!
White skin requires special care, which is what the creators of special shampoos thought about. But you can also get by with the proven method - wipe the skin with halves of a cut onion, then treat with egg white, and after ten minutes wipe with foam rubber. The stain can be removed with water and soda or a mixture of magnesium carbonate and gasoline, leaving it to dry and brushing it off with a brush.
Important! Hydrogen peroxide is absolutely not suitable for cleaning gloves!
How to update the lining?
The inside of the product also needs cleaning. A glove turned inside out can be renewed with a damp brush if the stains are minor, or by gentle hand washing for more significant changes. Water is used very limitedly. It is better to dry the glove wrapped in a terry towel .
You can use the dry cleaning method using talc: pour it inside, knead it with your hands until the entire inner surface is completely treated, then turn the glove inside out and use a clothes brush to scrub off the talc that has absorbed dirt.
Glove cleaner recipes
Sometimes radical cleaning of very dirty gloves is required. Then they will almost need washing, although leather is not usually washed. Let's try to save the thing. To do this, we follow two principles:
- contact with water should be as short as possible - wash quickly and carefully;
- To avoid deformation, you need to wash the gloves while wearing them.
The procedure should resemble washing your hands: after lathering with light movements, lightly wipe the entire surface, then rinse.
Advice! If it is heavily soiled, it is better not to rub the skin until there are holes - the dirt will rub in more strongly. Just repeat the soaping and rinsing procedure several times.
After washing and rinsing the product, without removing it from your hands, pat it dry with a thick, dry towel and lay it out to dry for a short time. Away from the heat source! When they are dry, we dry them on a mold - purchased plastic or made independently from rigid wire.
Rules for cleaning skin
Leather is an expensive and capricious material. In order not to cause harm to it, several rules must be followed when cleaning leather gloves:
- fresh dirt can be easily removed, so do it in a timely manner, and then you won’t need all the following tips;
- do not expose the product to wetness;
- use only those methods that are recommended for this shade of material;
- After treatment, dry the accessory in natural conditions;
- Castor oil is the skin’s first friend after any mechanical or chemical impact on its surface.
What to lubricate with?
To restore elasticity to treated skin, take:
- glycerin – for fair skin;
- castor oil - for dark skin;
- baby cream;
- Vaseline - for anyone.
Apply one of the products to a soft cloth, gently wipe, knead slightly, saving it from shrinking.
Important! It is better not to use sunflower oil to care for gloves.
How to treat it after drying?
Using a soft, dry cloth, polish the leather until it shines with a matte shine.
Cleaning dark leather gloves
Care methods differ depending on skin color. For dark products, compositions with a bleaching effect are not recommended.
Soap solution
The easiest way to update your favorite pair of genuine leather is to use a regular soap solution. To prepare it you will need some warm water and one of the following products:
- washing powder for hand washing;
- dishwashing liquid;
- toilet soap shavings;
- crushed laundry soap;
- washing gel.
Water is mixed with household chemicals. Then put one glove on your hand and begin to wipe it with a cotton pad soaked in the solution, a small sponge or mohair. It is not recommended to wet the product too much. It is enough to lightly treat the outside of the glove. At the end of the process, the products are left to dry away from heating devices and exposure to direct sunlight. When placing, you should avoid bends or creases on the skin. It is optimal to dry accessories horizontally on a towel.
Vinegar, water and alcohol
If there is significant dirt on the surface or the gloves smell bad, you can use an excellent product. It consists of:
- vinegar, which adds shine and eliminates odors;
- alcohol, which removes stains from the skin;
- water to soften the composition.
All of these components are mixed in equal parts and then applied to the gloves with a soft sponge. To better remove contaminants, you should carry out the procedure in a circular motion. The action must be repeated until the stains are completely removed from the product.
How to get rid of old stains?
As a rule, in this case it is difficult to remember the origin of the contamination. Ammonia can help , but not in its pure form: for one part of the substance we take four parts of water, and wipe the stained areas with the resulting mixture. gasoline is used for cleaning , but thin skin may not survive such care. It's better to test in a small area.
Advice! It is also better to try store-bought products on a tiny area of skin - sometimes the effect can be unpredictable.
a mixture of lemon juice and milk helps . After cleaning the skin with this composition, wipe the gloves with a damp cloth and dry them.
Glove storage
In order for a leather product to retain its appearance without changing during storage, it must first be cleaned of dust. If the product is dirty, prepare a solution of warm water with baby soap and wash your gloved hands in soapy water, quickly rinse the product, blot it with a dry towel and dry it on the form. Dry skin is wiped with a swab containing a drop of glycerin or castor oil. Cut out a hand stencil from cardboard, except for the thumb, insert the glove inside, wrap the product in a cotton bag or paper, and put it in a tightly closed box. If there is a fur edge, put a moth repellent inside. Gloves should be stored at a temperature of about 20-22 degrees and low humidity. In this case, the leather accessory will not change its appearance during six months of storage. Storage not recommended:
- in plastic bags;
- under direct sunlight;
- dirty and damp;
- next to heating devices;
- in unsuitable conditions (at the dacha, street storage room).
Cleaning white gloves
White leather gloves are luxury products. For their production, only high-quality leather is used, so their care is special. To clean white gloves you can use:
- A mixture of water, ammonia and liquid soap in a ratio of 2:1:1. After the skin has absorbed the liquid, the product should be gently wiped with warm water and blotted with a paper towel.
- Whipped protein.
- Lemon juice.
- Milk and chicken protein whipped into thick foam.
- A mixture of ammonia and water.
How to clean leather gloves using available products
You can restore the water-repellent properties and gently clean the gloves using shoe care products (if permitted by the manufacturer). Aqueous solutions using improvised means will help you get rid of greasy or other strong contaminants.
Perform all manipulations very carefully, start processing from the least visible places to make sure that cleaning does not spoil the color of the gloves. If in doubt, take your items to the dry cleaner!
Ammonia
This method is suitable for treating greasy areas. Prepare the solution: 4 tsp. water and 1 tsp. ammonia. Dampen a cotton pad and gently move over the dirty areas. To remove the product from your gloves, dampen a piece of flannel cloth (or a cotton pad) in clean water and gently wipe the pre-treated areas.
Powder and hydrogen peroxide
For processing, prepare a cleaning slurry of 5 tsp. peroxide, 5 tsp. washing powder, 1 tsp. ammonia and warm water. Apply the resulting mixture to dirty areas and leave for 5 minutes. Then remove the product from the gloves and wipe with a clean, damp cloth.
Soap solution
This method can be called the simplest: put on gloves, soap them with baby soap, as if you were washing your hands. Rinse well. Do all manipulations as quickly as possible. Take off your gloves, lay them on a towel and let them dry a little. Put the still damp gloves on yourself again - this will give them the necessary shape.
Gasoline and turpentine
Prepare a mixture of 2 parts gasoline (can be taken from a lighter) and 1 part turpentine. Dampen a piece of cloth and treat the contaminated areas or all gloves (if necessary). Then wipe with a damp cloth and hang in fresh air to air and dry.
Cleaning gloves made of white and light leather
There are 4 simple ways to clean the product using improvised means.
Egg white
For light-colored products, a chicken egg, or rather the white, will be an excellent cleanser. It needs to be whipped into a thick foam and applied to light-colored gloves. After 10–15 minutes, the protein will be absorbed into the material, and all that remains is to wipe the gloves with a napkin. This method does not affect the color in any way or change its shade.
Onion, milk and egg
If stains appear on white gloves and the skin becomes rough, then the ideal solution would be the following cleaning:
- Cut the onion into 2 halves and treat the surface of the material with the cut.
- Beat milk and egg.
- Apply the resulting mixture to gloves.
- After the mixture has been slightly absorbed into the skin, remove any remaining residue with a damp cloth.
Bread and milk
Bread crumb and milk will not only effectively clean the light surface, but will also restore the elasticity of the material. To do this, you need to soak the bread in milk and put the resulting slurry on gloves. After a couple of minutes, remove the mixture with a damp cloth.
Lemon juice
Soak a cotton pad in lemon juice and wipe the gloves. This will help achieve a slight whitening effect, as well as remove dirt, dust and greasy stains.
Basic rules of care
If you don’t forget about these simple rules, you can clean leather gloves without damaging them at home:
- Leather products do not tolerate excess moisture well, so hand washing, and especially machine washing, is prohibited. When cleaning leather accessories, use a minimal amount of water and do not allow the material to become completely wet.
- It is not allowed to use an iron or hair dryer for drying. Also, do not place gloves on heating appliances or expose them to direct sunlight.
- If you are using a cleaning product for the first time, it is recommended to first test it on an inconspicuous area of the product.
- Only soft materials should be used to process leather gloves. You can wipe the product with flannel cloths, napkins, cotton pads, or a soft sponge.
- After cleaning, the material will become elastic again if baby cream, castor oil or a special wax-based product is applied to it. Give the substance time to absorb, then remove the excess with a napkin.
A little advice: avoid using sunflower oil or glycerin, especially when caring for colored gloves. Under the influence of these substances, the material loses its color brightness, streaks and greasy spots appear. They also have a bad effect on the condition of the skin: it becomes rough and irrevocably deformed.
Features of genuine leather
Gloves made from low-quality leather may be damaged during cleaning, but high-quality material will survive.
You need to know some rules to avoid adverse effects on the product:
- - exposure to water. Despite the fact that leather gloves are coated with a water-repellent compound that protects against rain and snow, the product is resistant to moisture. It is not recommended to keep gloves in water for a long time or play snowballs.
Important: from time to time, to protect the material and maintain its original properties, gloves must be treated with moisture-repellent agents: cream, aerosol, spray or impregnation
- - skin damage and cuts. Damage will be visible on the gloves as they are made of thin leather.
- - exposure to cosmetics. Products such as lipstick, shadows, creams penetrate the skin structure, leaving marks and stains.
- — It is not recommended to dry gloves using hot appliances, as well as sunlight or on a radiator. Only natural drying is allowed.
