Guest Contributor: Cari Cook
Do you have Spring Fever?
Me too.
In fact, most years, I already have a bad case of the “fever” by February, and so I start cleaning things.
I usually clean my house, the tack room, work studio, and riding gear. Recently, I went riding and looked down at my boots and sighed in disappointment and frustration…those things were a mess! I had been using house hold cleaners on them because they would get covered in barn dirt and begin to smell.
If you work out in a barn at all, I am sure you can relate to both of those realities.
I recently had an opportunity to try Nikwax’s Footwear Cleaning Gel and one of their leather-focused products, Conditioner for Leather. I wanted to give fresh life to those tired barn boots of mine.
Cleaning.
The Footwear Cleaning Gel is an easy to use cleaner for all waterproof outdoor and sports footwear (smooth leather, suede, nubuck, and fabric). It gently cleans, lifts out dirt, and revives breathability. So I started with the first step…
Following the directions on the bottle, I took my yucky boots and rinsed them with clean water to remove caked-on mud and dirt, and to dampen them. After shaking the bottle thoroughly, I took the top off, pressed down on the sponge applicator to break the seal, and then applied the product generously over the boots. I could have used a stiffer brush to knock off some of the stubborn dirt, but the sponge on the bottle worked well enough to get the job done. Lastly, I rinsed them off with clean water, and there I was…with clean boots!
But I wanted to also keep them sealed and prevent any cracking or drying-out, so I moved on to the next step…
Conditioning.
The Conditioner for Leather is used to break in and waterproof new full grain leather footwear and restore suppleness to dried-out leather. It was nice because it could be used directly after cleaning, while the boots were still wet. For each of my boots, I applied the product liberally to the whole boot making sure I pushed it into any cracks and seams. After letting the boots sit for 2 minutes, I wiped them down with a soft cloth to finish the process.
I am really hard on my gear. Up until now, I have just been dealing with the dirt, because I did not know of anything out there that would do the job of restoring my items back to their former glory and make them look nicer.
I hope you can tell from my pictures how great these boots look now and how shiny the leather is. I will totally be recommending these products to my friends, because now I have something that I can use to revive my personal outdoor gear and my horse equipment.
Testimonial submitted by Cari Cook, an artist and recreational horse-rider from Colorado.