Who would say no to leather accessories? They are comfortable, practical, durable and elegant. The luxury offered by leather is cherished by all. However, leather comes with certain shortcomings as well, despite a myriad of benefits which it claims to its name.
One of these shortcomings is that at times leather tends to shrink. Furthermore, it might also become hard. The reason for this is that leather is made of animal skin. These skins are made smooth by removing all the hair from it and then they are tanned. Owing to this very reason, leather needs to be lubricated often; and if it isn’t, then it may become hard.

Moreover, you wouldn’t only be missing out on the naturally supple beauty of leather, but if it continues to stay hard for longer intervals of time, then it might begin to get stained or cracked. As a consequence, your leather item might become useless and ugly, and thus it might have to be discarded away. But leather is COSTLY and you definitely don’t want to ruin such an expensive possession of yours. Yet, fortunately there are a number of ways which can help you to soften leather. Some of these options have been elaborated below for your benefit.

Two ways of Learn How to Soften Leather

There are two primary ways with the help of which leather can be softened. Firstly, there are a number of over-the-counter commercial products which have been specially manufactured to soften leather. Secondly, there are also various home remedies which are completely natural and which too claim to soften leather.

Some Precautions

No matter which method you might go for; the commercial products or the homemade ones; before using any of these, make sure that you have properly cleaned your leather. Also, it ought to be completely dry. There are multiple ways to clean it. You can use a brush to clean it gently or just get hold of a leather cleaner and wipe its surface.
Furthermore, you need to be well aware of this fact that these softening methods are not meant to be used onto leather couches or chairs. The reason for this is that leather deployed in furniture is usually already very soft and such conditioners/softeners may tend to discolor that leather.
Also, it is very plausible that you might end up further drying up your leather which might get weakened as a consequence. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you only deploy these methods for leather accessories so that they can stay in use for many years to come.

1. Using Rubbing Alcohol and Vaseline

This softening method would deploy both rubbing alcohol and Vaseline. Get hold of a cotton ball and soak it up in rubbing alcohol. Now rub the hardened leather surface with this alcohol-coated leather ball. You will notice an immediate difference as soon as you start rubbing the surface however you need to continue repeating it until the leather surface has completely absorbed all the alcohol. After getting done with this step, you will now have to move on to Vaseline. Gently apply some Vaseline all over the leather with the help of your fingertips. Vaseline can soften the leather to a great extent merely in one go owing to its greasy traits.
Also, this method is generally preferred since it has no negative side effects for the quality of leather.

2. Using Coconut Oil

Coconut oil has also proved to be pretty effective when it comes to the softening of leather. All you have to do is take some coconut oil onto your fingers and gently rub it onto the leather. However, before doing it you will need to make sure that this particular leather accessory that you are working on is exposed to sunlight for approximately 10 minutes. Coconut oil should be applied equally to all portions of leather. This method is undeniably effective in softening of leather, but it comes with a side effect i.e. it might end up darkening the color of your leather accessory.

3. Using Commercial Products

As it has already been mentioned as well that there are several over-the-counter commercially prepared products which can serve as leather softeners and conditioners. Get hold of one of these leather softeners (either in the form of cream and wax) and apply it all over your leather. Follow the instructions which come with the product and allow the product to stay onto the leather for a few minutes as per the instructions. Afterwards, take a soft cloth and use this cloth to wipe off the excess product from the leather’s surface.

This process can be repeated after regular intervals of six months or so, so that your leather doesn’t dry off and consequently no cracks are formed in it. As a result you will be able to enjoy the luxuriously supple beauty of your leather accessories forever.