On your next commute to work, take a look at the ground around you. What do you see? Probably tons of shoes…men’s shoes…men’s shoes in REALLY bad shape. In fact, if there was a 1-800-Domestic-Shoe-Abuse hotline, it’d be your obligation to use most of your monthly minutes on anonymous tips to save all those poor soles. Lots of guys’ dress shoes look like they were toys for angry kids in a gravel covered play ground. And while that dirty, scuffed up look might work for a pair of Chuck Taylor’s, dress shoes require a higher degree of care. So trust us on this because no matter how sharp the rest of your outfit looks, you won’t look like a thousand stacks of a thousand bucks if it looks like you borrowed your shoes off a hobo.
Your dress shoes take a beating and quickly start to show it unless you do something.
But what? Get new shoes every few months? While a new pair may be warranted and is always nice, you can also dance with the ones that brung ya. A good pair of shoes can and should look good after 10 wears or 10 years if we just take a few minutes to keep them in decent shape. In short, we need a reboot, gentlemen. It’s time we revived the ancient craft of shining our own shoes!
Here’s how to get that just-walked-out-of-the-shoe-store look to last without spending your whole weekend polishing your shoes. Of course, there are people who will do this for you and we highly recommend a full-service polishing from a good shoe shine stand or cobbler every so often, but in the meantime, just like shaving and cooking, its good to learn this basic life skill for yourself.
SPACER
Not pictured:
Rag – Think thick, otherwise you’ll be cleaning shoe polish off of your fingernails for a week.
Yesterday’s Newspaper – Lay some pages from the paper down to protect your home from wet polish.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
1. Leather Conditioner/Lotion – leather needs nutrients (it is a skin, after all) so feed it some and clean away dirt and grime at the same time with this healing conditioner. (available in stores and online from Kiwi and Meltonian)
2. Polish – Polish revives color and protects your leather. One tin of wax polish will get you through years of at-home shoe shines. (available in a variety of colors in stores and online from Kiwi and Lincoln).
3. Edge Dressing– This secret weapon adds the finishing touch to a good shine by restoring the color to the sole edges and heels (available in stores and online from Kiwi and Fiebing’s).
4. Horsehair Shine Brush – Much of shining is brushing. Keep a soft brush for bringing out the shine when you’ve applied polish (available in stores and online from Kiwi and Otter Wax).
5. Horsehair Cleaning Brush> – To remove dust and dirt, sweep your shoes with a separate brush for cleaning your shoes(available in stores and online from Kiwi and Otter Wax).
6. Welt Brush (optional) – This brush is not a necessity for getting a good shine but it’s a nice option for spreading and applying polish without a rag. (available in stores and online from Kiwi and Four Seasons).
So without further ado, see how you can whip a pair of wingtips into shape in five quick and easy steps.
Step 1. Clean
Using a horsehair brush, sweep across your shoes to remove dirt and grime that may have gathered on your shoes.
Step 2. Condition
To restore nutrients and moisture to leather, rub a dab of leather conditioner into the shoes in a circular motion with a rag. Repeat until you’ve covered the entire shoe.
Step3. Add Polish
Smear a little polish on your rag and rub it into the shoes in a circular motion. Spread it evenly over the leather. Add a drop of water every other wipe, it will help the shine come out in the next step.t in the next step.
Step 4. Brush
Now the magic happens. Using a soft clean shoe shine brush, swipe back and forth across the entire shoe and the shine will start to come out. Brush the entire shoe paying special attention to the toes and heels. Add a bit more polish and dab of water to bring out more color and add more sheen.
Step 5. Edge
For the finishing touch, restore the scuffs along the edges of your soles and heel with an edge dressing tool that rubs on wet and dries quickly.
And You’re Done!
Get your shine on gents.
Got some shoe shining questions? Leave a comment below!
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64 thoughts on “How To Shine Shoes”
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FromTheGuestRoom says:June 4, 2020 at 12:47 pmReally helpful, man. By the way, Kiwi is always the top shoe polish <3Reply
Robert Purpura says:August 6, 2019 at 12:10 amIn your excellent shoe polishing guide, you omitted one very important tip. If your new shoes have leather soles, every time you polish them, take ten seconds to apply a couple of brush strokes to the instep part of the soles, This area is vulnerable to splashing, and the carnauba wax in the polish helps to protect the leather from the damaging effect of water.To here: https://pressurewasherify.com/blog/shine-shoe-lighter/Reply- Pingback: Halloween Costume Ideas for Men of Style | Black Lapel
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Shoeless joe says:September 30, 2017 at 11:20 amWhat wax would you recommend for a cognac shoes? I had a great pair that I used brown polish on and totally screwed up and ended tossing a year ago. I just bought a new pair and don’t want to make the same mistake.Also what are your thoughts on catching the polish on fire on the tin and applying the more liquid polish to the shoes? It’s what the old vets on my ship used to swear by.Reply
Black Lapel says:October 4, 2017 at 11:00 amWe recommend looking for a wax polish that is as close in color as you can tell by looking at it, then getting one shade lighter. A good starting point might be Kiwi’s Tan Wax Polish. But don’t apply it to the whole shoe. Start with the lightest polish. Test it by just applying the tiniest amount to the inside heel of the shoe. If it’s too light, you can always cover it with a darker polish, but if it’s just right then you can apply it to the rest of the shoe.The above method should keep you out of harm’s way, but just so you know, there are ways to remove wax polish from shoes, so you don’t have to toss them. The tactics are hotly debated, with some claiming that nail polish remover will do the trick, while others warn that these methods are too harsh. If you’re nervous about doing this yourself, a good cobbler should be able to clean the leather, removing the polish and conditioning the leather.Finally, while creams are less popular in the shoe shining game, if you’re a color enthusiast, cream polishes are your best bet since they get deep into the pores (remember, leather is skin). Cream is more like a liquid giving you the effect your shipmates swear by without you running the risk of…you know…burning your eyebrows off or setting your home on fire.Reply
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Danica says:May 24, 2016 at 1:40 pmHi, guys I like you’re article. I haven’t worn dress shoes before because really I’m a girl but I really like to dress formally like a guy. And I have a question about the polish, the only colored polish my father has is a brown kiwi polish would that be okay for some good pair of donated black dress shoes? Because I’ve read in the comment if I wanted to lighten my shoes I can always go for a lighter color, but I want it to stay the same as possible. Any ideas? Thank youReply
- Black Lapel says:May 24, 2016 at 5:50 pmIf the shoes are black, only use black polish. Never use brown polish on black shoes. This can ruin the shoes and it will make it extremely difficult (and costly) to restore them.In general the color of a shoe is the color of a shoe. A black shoe can’t be made brown and a brown shoe can’t be made black. You can affect the shade of a shoe’s color, but that only works in one direction. You’ll only make a brown shoe darker, not lighter.Playing around with polishes, you can strategically darken up a pair of shoes, but don’t experiment with this kind of thing until you’ve got a full grasp of the basics. Get yourself some black polish for those donated black shoes and follow the steps above regularly.Reply
AdamE says:June 21, 2016 at 12:00 pmThe rule of thumb for shade shifting (lightening or darkening a shoe) is one shade at a time. You’ll never brown a black shoe, you might lighten it a bit, but you’ll probably end up with a sloppy mess. with Brown shoes you can get a little more play with gradually shifting the color, by playing with your polishes… I tend to use two polishes every time I shine my shoes, I use a cream first (for color), then I finish with a wax polish (to shine)… I have a pair of shoes that were labelled as cognac when I bought them, but we’re darker/redder than what you would traditionally call cognac. By using a lighter cream polish, and finishing with a light brown wax polish, over a couple of months (shining my shoes once a week-ish), I was able to lighten the shoes to the color I was seeking with them.
But I definitely agree the only polish that should touch black shoes is black polish.
And if they are second hand shoes, the best thing you can do for the first shine is to get them done professionally by a reputable shop. That should help recondition the leather a bit more than most amateurs can do on their own. After that, it’s fairly easy to maintain at home with minimal investment (both financial and time)…Reply
- Black Lapel says:June 21, 2016 at 3:50 pmCouldn’t have said it better ourselves! The cream, then wax method, when done properly, yields a great looking shoe. The trick to all of it is knowing what you’re doing. The more skilled the polisher, the more adventurous you can be. Sounds like you’ve got the skills to pay the bills, Adam.Reply
Kevin says:January 10, 2015 at 10:59 pmI was wondering what, if anything, you do to keep the brushes clean. I am most interested in the one used to buff up a shine and how to keep it from building up waxThanksReply
- Black Lapel says:January 22, 2015 at 6:48 pmWe know this problem from experience. Our solution, separate brushes for different colors. One brush for blacks and another for browns. You don’t have to go overboard if you have a few different shades of brown. Different shades of brown can mix without them bleeding over from one shoe shining to the next.Insider Tip: If you want to play around with a more advanced technique. Use your brush that you have designated for black shining on the toes of lighter brown shoes. The resulting hint of black that comes from the residual wax polish will give you that burnished look that makes brown shoes with dark shoes look fly.Reply
- AdamE says:November 10, 2014 at 10:36 amI really like the method and it’s pretty similar to my shine process (most on-line guides leave out the conditioning step, which is one of the most important for shoes to last, and some go as far as saying that the way conditions the leather…). Typically I use both a cream and a wax polish. After cleaning and conditioning my shoes, I start with a layer of cream polish applied by brush, and then once that dries than use a rag and start with the wax polish, followed by a bit more wax polish with a drop or two of water. Then I finish it with some solid brushing and a quick buff with a chamois…I find the whole routine pretty zen, and tend to do my brogues twice a week at the end of the day before leaving the office (when it’s quieter and I’m less likely to offend people in neighbouring offices with the smell). It’s a great way to book end the days (Start the day with a wet shave and end the day with a shoe shine). The one tool I need to add to the tool kit is a shoeshine valet (I’ve looked a few on-line and am half thinking of building one myself one weekend if I’ve got the time).Reply
- Black Lapel says:November 13, 2014 at 4:33 pmAhhhh, you’ve taken it to the next level, Adam. We are big fans of the cream + wax polish method that you use. Since the drying time can make it a bit more of a commitment than most guys want to make, we didn’t put the cream polish step into this story, but it really is the best way to get your shoes to both gleam with shine and bring out their color.As for the meditative aspects of shining a pair of shoes, we couldn’t agree more. Many a story you see on this website began as a kernel of an idea during a particularly good shoe shining session.Reply
Jeremy says:April 22, 2014 at 10:26 amGreat article, especially with the heel and sole, it is a must. So if I have a shoe that already has polish on it, but I want to get down to the leather to apply the conditioner how would I do that? I learned how to polish when joining the service and didn’t cross over to the darkside and buy patent leather oxfords cause I like the natural leather polished look. I never considered conditioner until reading this article.Personally, I recommend shining every night prior to wearing them. Brushing to polish a scuff or two out and adding heel and toe for a quick run does the job if you are the every day kind of fanatic like the military had me do. I agree that it is soothing, especially after a long day of work.Reply
- Black Lapel says:April 22, 2014 at 7:29 pmWe love to hear about another guy out there who appreciates some serious shoe bling, Jeremy. Polishing everyday is not fanatical, just dapper!For most shoes you’ll be fine applying the conditioner to a brushed shoe. If you’ve got a lot of polish built up on the shoes and it’s caking you’ll have to remove the old polish to get a great shine. To do that you can get a shoe cleaning / re-conditioning service from a cobbler like The Leather Spa or you can do it yourself with some nail polish remover on a rag (though just be careful not to rub it in too hard or you could damage the leather). Either way, starting a conditioner regimen is a great way to extend the life of your shoes.Reply
trex says:February 7, 2014 at 5:26 pmso did you use a darker polish than the original color of the leather? I know some like to do this. I have all allen edmonds and just get the matching polish from them that applies mess free.. except black i like kiwi to use on my blacks.Reply
