Shoe Care - Best Cleaning Tips and Tricks

Do you remember having trouble with your leather, suede or canvas shoes? Our footwear needs as much care as we do. We must admit that they carry the greatest burden all day.
Here are several tricks and tips to increase the lifespan of your shoes:

- Always wipe off the dust with a lightly damp cloth before you start polishing your shoes.

- Never use direct heat - like hair dryer - to dry your footwear. In the case of leather it would only dry it out. Also polishing while shoes still wet is forbidden.

- Try not to wear the same pair of shoes two days running - it gives them time to dry out and consequently your feet will be much healthier.

- When you decide to put away your heels don't pile them up, choose the sideways method, the toe of a shoe should face the heel of the other. A shoe bag for your footwear will do miracles.

- Another tip for effective polishing is using a paste or a cream polisher, liquid polish must be avoided with leather shoes.

- Protective and water resistant soles will make your shoes last longer.

- I'm sure the scuff marks on your leather shoes gave you many headaches, after all it is natural skin you must be gentle with it. Get rid of scuff marks by putting egg white on a sponge wipe over, leave to dry then start polishing. A trick to prevent your shoes from scuffs is to spray them with a layer of hairspray - this way the polish will hold on longer.

- Another low-budget method for a proper care of your suede shoes is to brush over with lemon juice then let them steam for a couple of minutes over a hot teakettle.

- When your shoes are too wet and you don't want to torture them with the hair dryer, put them into a warm room, stuff newspapers in them and let these absorb moisture.

- Shoe trees are wonderful inventions, put your footwear on these - shoes will keep their shape and toes won't curl.

- The inside of your shoe is as important as the outside. That's why after wearing them take a slightly damp cloth and wipe over the inside of your shoe, it will keep them fresh.

- To get rid of smelly shoes, place orange peel in your shoes overnight and they'll be citrus fresh next morning.