Shoe Shine Don’ts: Top 5

There are many shoe shine don’ts in the world of shoe care, but here we will focus on these top 5. I see and hear about constant mistakes people make when shining their shoes which sometimes result in them getting ruined. I don’t like to see that so hopefully this post will help guide you to making sure you don’t commit some crucial errors that can have adverse effects. A shoe is most vulnerable when brand new and can get ruined with poor shoe care tactics.

Once upon a time, I was considered an expert shoe shiner (for those that don’t know) and felt that I needed to get back to offering some knowledge on shoe shining: The ‘Do’s and Don’ts.’ But the ‘Don’ts’ have more of a risk of hurting one’s shoes, so I thought that I would start there.

Here are my top 5 shoe shine don’ts

Never Mirror Shine Your Brand New Shoes.

After the tanning process and the shoe production process, your shoe’s leather has been subjected to a lot of chemicals, and the natural pores (like our own human skin) that are in the hides that your shoes are cut from, have all but been masked by all of this treatment. So when you add a mirror shine onto this new ‘surface’ of the leather aka ‘the finish’, the leather accepts this polish but in reality, rejects it at the same time as the leather hasn’t fully had time to rid itself of all of the chemicals.

That being, the leather is actually ‘quite dry’ from the chemicals and thus your further addition of chemicals (aka polish) subsequently adds to the problem. So your mirror shine thus breaks more easily and in drastic cases (as can happen more so with crust leather finishes) can actually remove some of the finish (i.e. color) of your new shoes. If this happens, it can leave an ugly mark and can be difficult to fix. Therefore, it is always best to wear your shoes once or twice before giving proper mirror shines to brand-new shoes. The pores begin to shake off the additives and open up after one or two wears.

Never Ever Add More Than One Conditioner

Over-conditioning and/or over-shining your shoes is one of the worst things that you can do. I do believe that over-conditioning has worse adverse effects than over-shining though because conditioners are more moist and can more easily oversoak your leather. This can lead to irreversible effects such as dark staining and the stripping of the finish. Conditioners are often concentrated as well so it is best to always use a little and work it in where needed. Lastly, allow drying time when using conditioners. The leather needs time to dry before applying any further products. A 20-minute drying time is the bare minimum.

Never Mirror Shine The Vamp (or any other place of the leather that bends/creases).

Logic would tell you that if you add a flat, easily breakable artificial surface sitting on top of one that moves, the flat one will inevitably break/have issues. A mirror shine is essentially an easily breakable artificial flat surface that you create with polish by filling in the pores of the skin. So the second that you bend your foot, the mirror shine will immediately crack and leave an undesirable after-effect that is also not great for your leather. It’s okay to shine the vamp and leave it with a nice gleam but never mirror shine it.

Do Not Mirror Shine The Entire Cap

If you have to mirror shine a new pair, only do 75% of the cap. Many of you will ignore rule #1, I know this. So if you feel that you have to do it or want some shoe-shine service to do it for you, at least try and follow this rule and it will help further. The issue is that contrary to what most internet people say, a cap will almost always crease and that is due to the stiffener between the upper and the lining and its placement. It has to inevitably end before the seam of the cap so if it does not stay perfectly flush with the seam and ends up sliding towards the point of the toe, it will then leave a weak spot between its end and the seam closure. This weak spot almost always creases so if there is a mirror shine, it will crack there too

Never Polish/Shine Too Fast

Shoe polishing is not a contest with yourself. Only in competitions. The best shines are done slowly. With patience, care, and repetition. Allow for drying times. Do several pairs at a time to force this drying time. Your results will last longer if done slowly and the shoes will last longer and you will be happier

Follow these shoe shine don’ts and you will ensure your shoes are always looking top-notch!

—Justin FitzPatrick, The Shoe Snob

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For great results, and high-grade shoe care products for shoe shining find the nearest Saphir stockist at www.saphir.com — at the time of writing this original post (March 2020), it was a sponsored post by Saphir. But I still stand by their great products despite them no longer sponsoring.