If leathers were career types, ostrich would be your fashionista. Ostrich is considered as high class leather, and has left its quill-laden mark on some of the world’s most trendy avenues. As you may have guessed, ostrich is tremendously popular in fashion, garnering an immediate cult following with trendy ostrich feather hats, sassy handbags, and ostrich watch bands.
Ostrich watch bands are not just a pretty face. Apart from its abnormally flexible and soft hide, ostrich leather is one of the sturdiest, strongest leathers in the world. Ostrich hide is naturally filled with oils, giving it an unusual resistance to cracking and stiffness. Moreover, one of the best things about this leather is how easy it is to take care. To the envy of pretty much every other supermodel out there, an ostrich does not need to spend endless hours poring over tiny details to get its face straight. It’s just naturally good looking. An ostrich watch band will get even better looking as the years go by if it is treated with the proper care that it deserves.
Ostrich watch band care advices
The biggest enemy of natural leather is sunlight and water. For you to protect your ostrich watch strap as you can, be careful to avoid contact with sunlight, humidity or water. In particular:
- It’s best to keep your ostrich leather in a cool, dry place when not being used, and covered in a clean box or dust bag to prevent dust settlement.
- Do not forget to remove it before having a shower or bath.
- Don’t immerse your ostrich watch strap in the sea or swimming pools.
- Avoid applying or spraying your skin creams or perfume directly onto your ostrich strap.
- Remove the strap before you carry out any housework to prevent any greatly detrimental damage to it.
- If your strap needs cleaning, just rinse it in clean water only and don’t leave it to soak. Now, make sure that you dry it well using a soft cloth and then leave it to dry fully, without any exposure to the sun or other strong heat sources.
- If you drop your watch in the sink or get caught in the rain – take it off and let it dry for a night at room temperature. Then use a leather conditioner to bring it back to life from post-water stiffness.
- Sunlight and heat are two factors that have a significant impact on ostrich leather. The more of those it gets, the darker it will become. You can wear a natural colored strap for months in foggy London and not notice much of a difference, but take it to Thailand for your vacation and your strap suddenly looks vintage. Just keep it in mind and respond appropriately depending on your preferred look.
- Ideally, you have to change your watch strap always, either by alternating watches or fitting the strap with a rapid-change system that allows you to change it easily daily. This system can be mounted on most models of the strap, and not just does it let you match your outfit with the strap, but it helps you in extending its lifespan too.
- Additionally, avoid fastening the strap very tightly around the wrist. It is a bad habit that prevents proper blood circulation around your wrist, moreover it stresses the strap each time you move the wrist leading to an early deterioration of the watch band. Selecting a looser fit spares the strap from the constant strain that will damage your leather faster.
- When other ways fail to get rid of heavy stains as well as dirt, you can use the leather care products. The leather care for home leather furniture is one which fits well for removing dirty stains from your watch band. In case you do not have any, you can also utilize a simple homemade combination of water and baking soda. Mix a tablespoon of your baking soda into water of equal amount to form a paste. Then apply the paste on each part of your watch leather strap, and leave it on for a while. Subsequently, wash your paste off, and leave it to fully dry before reattaching your watch to the watch strap. It is good to cover the strap with special leather care oil after cleaning it.
- Finally, do not forget to select a lining which suits your requirements best. If you reside in a hot country or you practice sports while you wear your timepiece, go for a lining with extra-resistance.
4 steps to maintain your ostrich watch band every week:
1. Take off the ostrich watch band
Remove the watch strap from the watch face first, since this will protect the dial throughout the cleaning procedure. After that, wipe away any dirt on both sides of the watch strap using a microfiber cloth. Removing any debris or dirt will ensure that these fragments will not scratch the surface of your leather watch strap.
2. Dampen and dry the ostrich watch band
Next, dampen a different microfibre towel and wipe the watch strap with a mild and gentle soap because harsher soaps can strip away the natural moisture in the leather. Only a pea-sized amount of soap should be used.
Because leather is not as waterproof as rubber watches, you will want to make sure the microfibre cloth is moist but not soaked to avoid water damage to the ostrich watch strap.
While cleaning, apply mild pressure and move the cloth in small circular motions, mainly focusing on areas where dirt is concentrated. After that, wipe away the soap residue with another clean, damp microfiber cloth.
Before moving on to the following step, make sure your leather watch strap has had enough time to dry. Using a hairdryer or exposing the ostrich watch strap to direct sunlight will cause damage to it, so do not try to speed up the process that way.
3. Use a leather conditioner
Once your ostrich watch band is totally dry, apply a few drops of your preferred leather conditioner with another microfiber cloth. Similarly to cleaning the watch strap with soap, apply gentle, circular movement to buff in the conditioner, and these products will produce a protective coating against sunshine, dirt, and water.
The cleaning of your leather strap will reduce any odors from sweat, and for optimal results concerning odors you can use a leather strap deodorant which neutralizes any unpleasant odors.
If you don’t have a conditioner nearby, we will let you in on a little secret: standard kitchen olive oil will work just fine. Use just a little bit and massage it gently into the front side of the strap, then buff it with a cloth. The color will darken from this treatment but only temporarily, don’t worry.
4. Repeat the steps every two week
Finally, water or no water, I advise you that the first three steps should be repeated every other week if you are wearing your ostrich watch band consistently. You will not need to use the leather conditioner for every clean.
Popular ostrich watch bands at B.A Handmade
Ostrich watch straps at B.A Handmade are made from real leather with a variety of colors and designs, handcrafted by skilled workers with many years of experience. We don’t sell synthetic leather watch straps and almost all of our products are made from full grain leather – the best sort of leather available nowadays. Owning and wearing a full grain leather watch strap will help you show your sophisticated, selective fashion sense and express your own personality.
If you are looking for luxury and genuine ostrich watch bands, please don’t hesitate to see more HERE or contact us to request your own customized leather strap.
