Leather maintenance products fall into three categories Leather Cleaners, Leather Conditioners and Leather Waterproofing Agents.

Understanding the differences in these products could save you thousand of dollars over replacing your expensive leather furniture. We recommend you thoroughly review this page and our complete analysis.

Leather Cleaners are the first category of leather maintenance products.

Leather cleaners as the name implies are intended to do a surface cleaning of the upholstery. There are three strategies that are available.

Water based leather cleaners use a combination of ingredients and technology to do an articulated cleaning of the leather upholstery without obstructing the pores of the leather.

Alcohol based leather cleaners use alcohol as the primary ingredient to clean the leather upholstery. There is some risk of shortening the life of the upholstery by prematurely drying the leather thereby causing the leather to crack.

Oil based leather cleaners use oil as the primary ingredient and may cross over into the category of leather conditioners.

Leather conditioners are the second category of leather maintenance products.

To keep the leather upholstery supple many leather conditioners employ some type of oil as their primary ingredient.

This strategy involves replacing the leather upholstery’s natural oils that evaporate or that are transferred to your clothing over time.

There are currently leather conditioners that contain mink oil, animal oils and other proprietary ingredients.

Leather conditioners that contain fine oils are preferable to leather conditioners that contain heavy oils that may obstruct the pores making cleaning difficult.

If the leather conditioner contains any type of sealant such as Beeswax or Propolis then it is actually a waterproofing agent.

Waterproofing Agents are the third category of leather maintenance products.

Their primary function is to apply a barrier to the leather theoretically protecting it from spills.

Waterproofing Agents accomplish this by effectively obstructing the pores of the leather making it very difficult to impossible for any type of liquid to penetrate.

Waterproofing Agents typically use a combination of oils and or waxes to functionally obstruct the pores of the hide.

Some products have resorted to utilizing propolis which is a very fine resinous substance functionally equivalent to a sealant to increase their products level of water repellency.

The waxes also serve a second function that all important shine that is so important to some consumers.

Because waxes have a tendency to dry and crack regular applications of your favorite waterproofing agent should be anticipated to restore those waterproofing qualities.

Waterproofing Agents are typically used by hunters, sportsman and the motorcyclist for clothing that is to be used outdoors such as their leather boots, pants and jackets.

Comprehensive analysis and advice of leather maintenance products.

If you own cats don’t purchase leather furniture. If you own leather furniture don’t own cats because the cats will eventually get around to urinating all over that expensive leather furniture.

If you love leather furniture and cats we suggest you review this page carefully until you fully comprehend the impact and differences of the three categories of leather maintenance products.

If you love leather furniture and love cats then avoid the use of any type of leather conditioner and waterproofing agents.

A water based leather cleaner is strongly recommended to prevent the nightmare scenario that can occur with leather furniture and cats.

No matter how well behaved your beloved cats are they are capable of inflicting serious damage to your leather furniture if they become upset or agitated.

If you have applied multiple coats of a waterproofing agent to your leather furniture and the cats have urinated all over it you should probably just throw it away.

It is still possible to clean through some leather conditioners but your success will vary depending upon whether your leather conditioner incorporated any type of wax or propolis in it's formulation and how many coats you have actually applied.