There are predominately two major categories of leather: finished and unfinished. Most leather upholstery is finished leather, which is actually fairly easy to care for. Unfinished leather is found in boots, baseball gloves, etc and can be a bit trickier. We’ll cover unfinished leather in a separate article. Be aware that suede and rough/split leathers are a different story altogether, and should mostly be left to a professional cleaner to clean.
Your finished leather upholstered furniture should be cleaned with saddle soap or moisturizing soap once a year. You may want to dust off the leather before beginning, then work up a lather with the soap by rubbing it with a damp (not wet) clean cloth. Wipe off the lather with another clean damp cloth and then buff with a dry clean cloth.
Some people recommend treating your leather with a leather preservative at this point, such as mink oil or shoe polish, however such preservatives will just make a mess on your finished leather furniture. You can use a conditioner on your leather instead, or leave it untreated as long as it is not starting to dry out. There are several finished leather conditioners sold in stores. You can also use a VERY small amount of olive oil to restore moisture if on a budget.
After cleaning and possibly conditioning your leather, let it dry, but never dry with a heat source. Always allow leather to air dry or buff it dry with a soft cloth. Excessive heat can cause leather to dry up and crack. Along the same vein, avoid excessive sun exposure by placing your leather furniture out of the sun or closing blinds when you are not home. Leather should never be contained in plastic, as it is important for it to breathe.
A few extra tips:
For leather that is starting to dry out:
Use a leather conditioner designed to restore moisture in furniture as discussed above.
For spills:
Most spills on finished leather can be wiped off with a damp cloth. Some spot cleaning can be done with a small amount of rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab.
There are also many professional cleaners that can deal with stains in leather and most people recommend that you leave the really bad stains, such as ink, to them.
Final Advice:
It is always a good idea to test your cleaning method on a small out of the way area of the leather before going at your whole couch with it.
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