The short answer is to ask a professional leather technician who understands the chemistry of leather and who professionally cleans leather for a demanding clientele.
Our leather technicians of Advanced Leather Solutions have been cleaning leather for more than 20 years. They have tested all kinds of leather cleaners. In the end, to control quality and improve effectiveness, led them to work with our chemists to develop the best possible leather cleaner.
A performance wish list was created:
--- effective cleaner that would gently lift ground-in soil from the leather.
--- degreasing agent to resolve topical greasy residue.
--- pH balanced to the leather so as to not damage the leather.
--- creamy consistency so you can see it's application.
--- pleasant odor.
--- non-darkening formula for application to delicate leather.
Our chemists determined that the cleaner should be surfactant based for the best gentle, yet effective cleaning power. A surfactant will lift soil particles off the leather's surface for easy removal when you wipe away the soapy residue.
They also determined that is should contain a degreasing agent to resolve surface grease and oils. That presented a serious problem. Surfactants and degreasers are incompatible with each other. Like oil and water, they separate from each other in a bottle. So, our cleaver chemists came up with a way to allow them to co-exist through a trade secret combination of high-speed mixing and emulsifiers. That is a significant break-through.
The resulting mixture was too alkaline for leather as leather is acidic (4.5 - 5.0). So the pH was adjusted. You see, a leather cleaner that is not pH balanced to leather will do permanent damage as a cleaner's alkalinity will accelerate the breakdown of leather. So a cleaner with the wrong pH does far more damage than good. I bet you didn't know that.
Thickeners and other chemistry's were then added to make it creamy, and easy to manipulate or control on the surface and not soak into the leather.
Thus, SG - 5 was born.
The next break through was in application. We needed a cleaning tool that will gently agitate the leather's surface and allow the cleaning properties of SG - 5 work most effectively. After testing dozens of applicators, we've determined the best to be an exfoliating glove. We call it a "Leather Lather Glove." It's a wonderful tool, allowing excellent finger dexterity to get into the crevices and creases. It's gentle abrasive action won't scratch the leather yet it helps to gently scrub away soil and grease.
Finally, a micro-fiber towel is the best tool for removing the soapy residue as it's lint free and very absorbent. So you are not just pushing the soil around the leather, rather picking it up off the leather's surface.
SG - 5, with an exfoliating glove and micro-fiber towel works wonders in cleaning leather. As my father used to say, if you're going to do something, you may as well do it right. If you are going to clean your leather, use the best, safest cleaner that was developed and tested in the most rigorous laboratory --- in the hands of professional leather technicians. Simply put, use what the pros use.
Here is a brief video that shows the cleaning power of SG - 5.
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| From SG - 5 demonstration |
To learn more, go to our web site: www.advleather.com
Copyright 2009, Kevin Gillan
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