{"id":3675,"date":"2019-05-17T14:58:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T18:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/?p=3675"},"modified":"2019-05-17T14:58:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T18:58:34","slug":"guide-to-full-grain-leather-care-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/guide-to-full-grain-leather-care-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Guide to Leather Bag Care Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Read Part One of the Ultimate Guide to Full Grain Leather Bag Care here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leather Conditioning<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we can give our customers only one piece of leather care advice, that will be to use your bag regularly. As nourishing as they are to human skin, body oils are\u00a0also\u00a0nature’s best\u00a0lubricants\u00a0for leather. In fact, leather products that are constantly handled, such as wallets or your bag’s top handle, seldom\u00a0need a conditioning treatment.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t mean that you can rest and\u00a0leave it to Mother Nature to take care of your leather. Regular conditioning is highly recommended to prevent damage, restore the moisture\u00a0lost over time and keep the leather\u00a0supple and nourished.\u00a0Depending on usage and your local climate<\/a>, you may find yourself needing to\u00a0care for your leather as little as once a year, up to once a quarter. There are many kinds of leather conditioners available that fall into different categories. For\u00a0the best result, we recommend using a conditioning oil\/cream rich in naturally derived\u00a0emollients and waxes that can penetrate deep and restore the fibers’ flexibility.<\/p>\n

To prepare your leather for conditioning, give it a thorough cleaning to remove\u00a0any dirt and\u00a0remnant\u00a0oils that would otherwise clog the pores.\u00a0Wait til\u00a0it is fully dry. Apply some of your favorite leather conditioner to\u00a0a soft cloth and rub\u00a0evenly over the entire surface in circular motions. Let it set for two hours at least (better overnight).\u00a0Buff\u00a0dry with another clean cloth. You can repeat one or more times if you feel your leather is particularly rough and thirsty. Be sure to apply only a thin layer of conditioner each time as\u00a0excess oil cannot be absorbed well and\u00a0may encourages mold growth on your leather.<\/p>\n

Waterproofing Leather<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is some misconception about waterproofed leather. From what we have learned\u00a0in the previous post, leather in its natural form is\u00a0highly porous. So the closest it can get\u00a0to being waterproof is to be able to resist\u00a0water penetration to a certain degree. Leather naturally has some level of water resistance built in. The beautiful oil tanned leather used on our bags is treated with natural oils and waxes after tanning, which\u00a0greatly bolster the leather’s natural defense against liquid absorption. So don’t worry too\u00a0much if your leather gets a little wet, simply\u00a0blot it up with a\u00a0dry cloth immediately.<\/p>\n

What should be avoided is excessive\/recurrent moisture. When\u00a0the\u00a0leather gets wet,\u00a0without proper treatment what happens is that some natural oils get stripped off when water evaporates, causing it to stiffen.\u00a0It is exactly the same your skin\u00a0experiences when you wash your face without applying moisturizer afterwards. Water can fade\u00a0the dyes too, leaving water stains\u00a0behind. Last but not least, moisture trapped inside the fibers can rot, damaging the leather eventually. Even with waxed leather,\u00a0over time and with repeated use, the protective coating\u00a0wears away (when water droplets no longer\u00a0bead and drip off) and the leather needs to be re-waxed to restore its level of water-resistance.<\/p>\n

You\u00a0have many options when it comes to leather protectants. The most common ones are liquid water repellents\u00a0to spray on and wax-based creams\u00a0to\u00a0rub in. What we actually recommend is to use a conditioning product that is\u00a0infused with natural\u00a0beeswax and oils, which should provide sufficient protection to your leather without\u00a0impairing its ability to breathe. Generally, begin with clean leather, apply the protectant in thin coats, allow it to fully absorb and air dry and then, wipe off any leftover residue. Be sure to\u00a0read the directions on the the product’s packaging.\u00a0If the\u00a0environment is particularly humid, your bag may need some extra waterproofing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read Part One of the Ultimate Guide to Full Grain Leather Bag Care here. Leather Conditioning If we can give our customers only one piece of leather care advice, that will be to use your bag regularly. As nourishing as they are to human skin, body oils are\u00a0also\u00a0nature’s best\u00a0lubricants\u00a0for leather. In fact, leather products that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[47,57,60,70,77,124],"class_list":["post-3675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leather-care-and-maintenance","tag-full-grain-leather-care","tag-leather-bag-care","tag-leather-bag-maintenance","tag-leather-conditioning","tag-leather-restore","tag-waterproofing-leather","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vagarantraveler.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}