Caring for your Harness
Updated: Sep 17, 2019
I found that in all the people I meet in the leather community, when you ask them how they care for their leather, you mostly get blank stares. Now... I completely understand that there is a lot of cheap/garbage leather out there. You see it every time you walk into an adult store. It's that crap they make in china and in Pakistan that gets sent over as "quality" product that you can buy for under 100 dollars. Don't get me wrong, if thats all you can afford, its better to show up in that then to show up in a naked t-shirt or in your birthday leather (bare chest). But as you go up the spectrum of leather, you start to move up to the next level, which is actually leather, but it is thin, and looks nothing like you would ever see any self respecting leather dude wearing as he is grinding chests to his favorite house beat in PTown.
But! If you do happen to own QUALITY leather, then for sure, if you don't treat it, expect to replace it. Leather is a natural product and will dry out over time. It needs to have its oils replenished to keep the leather soft and supple so it will not crack. So really if you even simply do these two things, you won't regret it.
First! Get some good saddle soap and clean your leather. This will help soften it and moisturize it. That should be done at a minimum to remove any of your body oils (and odors) that leather can absorb. Then get yourself some mink oil and replenish those natural oils so your gear will be in top shape for the next night out of sweat, tears and other bodily fluids. And finally, keep on dub dub dubbin along. Dubbin can be made of a few natural ingredients, but mostly it is bees wax mixed into a formula that is used to treat the top grain finish of your gear. You can get dubbin in black as well as natural and a few other colors. This will help remove scuff marks and restore the color of your leather to its beautiful original state helping to keep you looking a tired old thang that doesn't care for his gear.
So take some time and treat your gear to a drink, and I'm sure you will be the toast of the town.