Shoe Polish Key Terms

Brush up on your knowledge of shoe polish with some key terms

By Meredith Fagioli

Shoe shine stands may not be as rampant on the streets as they once were, but people are still polishing their shoes at home. If you are a shoe store owner or even own a shoe repair business, you should be aware that at home shoe polishing is still alive. Keeping that in mind, you should be stocking some different types of shoe polish in your store for your customers.

If need to learn more about shoe polish for your business, these key terms should be of great help to you.

Saddle soap

Prior to polishing a pair of leather shoes, saddle soap might be used. Saddle soap is a mild cleanser used specifically to clean and soften leather.
Try: To learn more about saddle soap and to read a recipe for homemade saddle soap, visit Mother Earth News.

Stain eraser

You might not think of a stain eraser as a type of shoe polish, but for suede and nubuck shoes, that's what you use to polish them up. A stain eraser is a type of shoe polish accessory that is specially treated to help remove marks and scuffs from shoes.
Try: At Shoe Tree Marketplace, you can read a description of a stain eraser.

Lambs wool buffer

A lambs wool buffer is used on electric shoe polishers. It fits over rods on each end of the shoe polisher and cleans and shines up the shoes.
Try: Visit ShoePolishers.com to see examples of red and black lambs wool buffers.

Shoe shine cloth

A shoe shine cloth is a very soft cloth used at the end of the shoe polishing process to buff the shoes to a very high shine.
Try: At Kiwishoeproducts.com, you can see what a shoe shine cloth looks like.

Cream polish

Cream polish is a type of shoe polish used to moisturize fine leather and keep it very flexible without drying it out like wax polish. However, it is not as good at covering scuff marks.
Try: Visit ShoeAndFootCare to see an example of cream polish and learn more about how to apply it.

Wax polish

Wax polish is used to shine leather shoes and also as an effective scuff disguiser. It seals the leather, but it can also cause the leather to dry out.
Try: At The Shoe Shine Kit, you can read a bit more on wax polish. They even provide instructions on how to use wax polish to perform a spit shine.