(Part 2) Best shoe brushes according to redditors

At minimum, I would suggest four things: Horsehair brush (as mentioned below), a conditioner, a dauber (to apply the shining agent), and a shining agent (if you want them to shine/polish).

My recommendations on products that I've personally used (which I've used a number of things, but found these to be had at a good price/quality ratio):

1. Kiwi Horsehair brush. I have two of these, one for work and one for home. Love them both.
   
   
2. Lexol leather conditioner. Amazing stuff, I use it on belts, wallets, car seats, and definitely boots and shoes. I bought a liter, but I'm guessing the 8oz bottle will last several years. Strong recommendation for this product.
   
   
3. FootFitter dauber. I didn't use a dauber for a long time but in my opinion, it's much easier to get a consistent coating with a dauber vs an old shirt. Definitely optional on this one.
   
   
4. Saphir neutral wax. Saphir is a company highly touted on /r/GoodyearWelt and many other shoe forums/communities. I have never come across a straight out bad review of anything they make, but have only used their waxes. Much bigger fan of their wax over Kiwi and other generic waxes. It smells great, shines great, and is quite forgiving. I suggest Neutral for all colors except black, in which case I recommend black. Strong recommendation.

I've found that most conditioners and saddle soaps (if you used any) get the leather too tacky to bring up a really high shine so I avoid them and just use water, wax, a brush and an old piece of pantyhose.

My steps are:

1. Use a damp, clean sponge to remove surface dust and dirt. Rinse out the sponge as needed so you're not using grimy water to clean your boots.
   
   
2. Allow boots to air dry or use a dry rag to speed along the process. Apply a small amount of black shoe polish wax (brown if your boots are brown) to a rag and apply to boots in a small, circular motion. Just a very thin coat--it's better to repeat this step after one full polishing cycle than to apply too thick a layer of wax.
   
   
3. Use a shoe polishing brush (Something like this guy) in a back-and-forth pattern to bring up a shine. Here's where elbow grease pays off. The more you brush, the higher the sheen you pull up.
   
   
4. Use a piece of cheap panty hose ($2 drug store brand or one that had a run in it that you were going to discard) and vigorously buff the leather like you would curry a horse. This brings out the highest shine but only once you've used the brush to finely distribute the wax into the grain of the leather.
   
   If you're not satisfied with the shine the first time around, repeat steps 2 through 4 in order.
   
   If at any point your boots feel waxy or tacky, you've used too much product. The wax should feel slippery and smooth and it provides a certain amount of water resistance to your boots as well.
   
   Never ever ever wax the inside of your boot where it makes contact with the saddle or it will squeak to high heaven!
   
   

I'm pretty new to boots as well, but I'd suggest picking up a few things if you don't have them already. This will apply to most leather shoes/boots (doesn't really apply to suede or roughout leathers... for that you'll need a suede brush)

FYI below is basically a tl;dr of this post that got me started on all of this. I recommend you read through it all and check out /r/goodyearwelt and maybe just use this post as more as a quick reference or for ideas.

• Split toe cedar shoe tree (shoe trees can be found on sale for ~$10 sometimes, but make sure they are split toe cedar shoe trees)
  
  
• Leather cleaner & conditioner (This will work great, but some people use coconut oil as a conditioner)
  
  
• Horsehair brush
  
  
• Shoe horn
  
  Once everything is acquired you'll be ready to give your boots an initial tune-up and have some daily-care tools.
  
  

1. Brush off your boots as much as you can with the horsehair brush
   
   
2. Wipe down your boots with a wet rag
   
   
3. I'm guessing you won't get everything off, so wait for them to air dry and then use the leather cleaner on them (you probably won't have to use leather cleaner every time... and you might not want to as it dries out the boot)
   
   
4. Wait for your boots to air dry
   
   
5. Condition the leather on your boots.
   
   
6. Wait for your boots to air dry
   
   
7. Repeat whenever your boots need it. On average that will probably be every 3-6 months, but the best way to tell is by feel.
   
   Daily Care
   
   

• Use a shoe horn to put your shoes on
  
  
• When you take off your shoes give them a quick brush. Ideally you'll take off the shoelaces first but it won't kill them if you don't do this every time. I'd recommend at least brushing them off once every few wears, and brush+wipedown with water/rag every 5-10 wears.
  
  
• Always put cedar shoe trees in your leather boots/shoes when you take them off and leave them in until your next wear... this is what happens if you don't. The shoe trees will help keep your boots from developing unwanted toe spring, will help control moisture inside the boot, and will keep them smelling fresh.
  
  
• Let your boots rest/dry for 24hrs in-between wears with shoe trees in. If you wear them every day you will significantly reduce their lifespan.

AE brushes are good. I personally use this one

Care about your leather the proper way.

There quite a few youtube tutorials about that.

You will need to gather a kit of 3-4 different chemicals (cleaner, softener, cream, wax), two brushes (soft and hard) and some sponges. Then clean your leather every or every other month. Make sure to give enough time between every stage of the cleaning (i.e. apply cleaning solution, buff in, wait 15 mins, buff out).
Should take about 45 minutes once you get a hold of it. You can do like 3 pairs in these 45 mins.

Or take to shoe repair store and and ask 'em to do a deep cleaning on 'em.

Here is the kit I bought on Amazon for this purpose (hope it is OK to post product links here - I get no kickback from these):

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NVK34T0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A92UZC/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002J8379C/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZGQ4HKW/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KGG7QQY/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J7RL0ZQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CSVPP23/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CSYPC3X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MS1IDIA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/Kiwi-Suede-and-Nubuck-Kit/dp/B002ZG8WR0

Very nice. When the headliner was crapping out in one of my M3s I re-did it using micro-suede, end result was worth the effort. It has held up well and cleans nicely with just a damp cloth. These things work great for getting lint and other stuff off of it:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UQQ910/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are some quick links to a few of the products listed there.

Suede protector spray by Allen Edmonds (does not contain silicone.)
Suede brush by Foot Matters
Crepe rubber
Cedar shoe trees by Nordstrom

I feel like the start of the climbs need boot brushes during fall season in New England. :)

I'm trying to take better care of my leather, so I'm planning on getting some of the stuff from the basics thread. Is there a particular one of the leather conditioners recommended there that's usually the best?

I mostly just go to and from work in nyc, maybe a park or something but nothing crazy so the lighter products are probably preferable, right?

For a brush, is something like this what I'm looking for?

I use a saphir one that I got for free

I think it's this Saphir Crepe Wood Brush, but have a hard time believing another crepe brush would significantly different.

Reshoevn8r that I got off of amazon has blown my mind on how well it works on fabric and the rubber side walls on the sole.

I’m not affiliated with this. just a skeptical person.

Buy


This cream


This polish


This brush


And


This heel dressing


Remove boot laces. Apply the cream liberally with a paper towel to all leather on each boot. Let dry 5min. Brush off GENTLY using the least amount of pressure necessary to remove the cream and add a light shine to the boot.


Next add a bit of polish to a second paper towel and apply a thing layer to each boot, again letting them dry 5min. Once again gently brush it off.


To add further shine repeat the polish step but wait 30min, ideally one hour to let the polish harden. Use a few drops of water with the polish after the first time.


Touch up the polish every 1-2 weeks, not more than 4 weeks. Rebrush the boots lightly before each shift to smooth the polish out, removes light scuffs and restore the shine. Use the cream every 1-2 months.


Use the heal dressing as needed to to rubber heals/soles to darken them. This is super important and must not be skipped.


Here is a photo of the unpolished undressed soles, versus the finished ones.