Yuya Hasegawa's Ardent Shoeshine Dojo Part II

This is the second in a series of "Yuya Hasegawa's Ardent Shoeshine Dojo" articles. In the second installment, Yuya Hasegawa talks about the "finished image" of shoeshine. Yuya Hasegawa talks passionately about it.

Hello everyone! Oshinushi! The last issue of "Ardent Shoeshine Dojo" started from the very beginning, but it got a bit heavy with a talk about the mentality of a man in the Showa period. However, it is very important to have an image of how you are going to polish your shoes before you start polishing them, otherwise the tools you use may change.

For example, if you are going to do a light shoe polish, you may choose a weak cleaner so as not to remove too much oil. The choice of tools also changes. While I am saying that it is a very hard thing to do, I think it is also good to have an impromptu live performance style where the process and tools are changed through dialogue with the shoes while doing the work. It is truly a jam session with the shoes.

Today, I would like to talk about the image of the finished product. Before we polish shoes, we often ask our customers, "How do you want to finish these shoes? Do you like the color as it is? Do you have a preference for the shine? We ask such questions without fail.

Yes, the first thing we want to decide before starting the polishing process is "Which cream should we use? How much wax should be applied and how should it be applied to make it shine?

If you want to darken the color of the leather and give it an antique look, apply a "color two tones darker than the leather," and if you want to lighten it, use a "colorless cream" or "oil-based cream. On the other hand, if you want to lighten the color of the leather, use "colorless cream" or "oil-based cream one tone lighter than the leather". Basically, it is difficult to lighten the color of leather with cream, so choosing "oil-based cream" is the key.

As you can see, one leg is painted with MBRW of THE CREAM and the other leg is painted with NTR so that the color will not change. As I mentioned earlier, the dye in the cream will not change the color of the leather if it is a little darker than the color of the cream, so I recommend applying a two tone darker color.

We recommend you to apply two tones darker color.

The overall color tone has calmed down and the leather now has an austere look as if it has been worn. As you can see, even if you just apply cream, the shoes can change in so many ways depending on the choice of cream. The wax used after the cream is applied will also vary depending on whether you want the shoe to "shine" or "shine brightly.

In addition, the color of the wax is also determined in the same way as the cream in determining the above-mentioned color. This time, I used KIWI's MBRW wax to polish both surfaces. Incidentally, before applying the wax, I also applied THE CREAM's MBRW to the left foot to match the color of both feet. I finished the right foot without gloss and made the left foot shine gradually. Then it looks like this.

How do you like it? The same wax and polish can change the look of the shoes depending on how much shine is applied. Shoe polish is amazing. It's like applying makeup. Loafers in bright colors like these are basically casual shoes, so we don't polish them too much, but by making them shine like this, they have a different atmosphere and can be worn in the coming fall/winter season.

The difference will be made by starting polishing with an image of the finished product in mind. Next time, I will give you a rough explanation of the entire shoe polishing process. Please look forward to Part Three! I'll be back next time!