Three Tips On How To Clean Your Handbag With Care

If you possess the propensity to clean things and take care of messes by habit, you may want to switch off your instinct to scrub things to a shiny polish. Proceed with caution when you're dealing with luxury handbags. Do not skip a text or line on this page. The life of your handbag may be at stake! Read on to find out how you can appropriately clean your handbag and show it the tender, loving and cleaning care it deserves.

1. Read the cleaning instructions. There is no better guru to handbag care than the manufacturer of the bag itself. Usually, these instructions can be found in a booklet or a small piece of paper that comes with your handbag. However, if such is not present, look for the inconspicuous tag sewn in the insides of your handbag. The front of the tag usually displays the brand name. Flip the tag over to read the cleaning instructions. Due to limited space, what you may see can just be drawings or symbols, although at times you can also sight finely printed text. Silk, satin and woolen bags are never to be machine-washed, requiring instead the expertise of dry cleaners. Leather bags may be dampened, but they should not be machine washed and soaked in water thoroughly either.

2. Skip the washing machine. In most cases, the washing machine can be your reliable ally against soiled clothes and mounds of sweat-encrusted laundry that can regularly pile up in your laundry basket. Be warned however that handbags are special cases and should not take the short cut to the washing machine, unlike regular laundry. Dumping your handbag in the washing machine for some cleaning may lead to a number of unwanted results: stains, uneven coloration, deformity and even cracks and runs for handbags made of delicate material. The friction inside the tub is not the sole culprit, mind you. The detergent does its share of damage too.

3. Avoid your trusted cleaning agents: wipes, alcohol, soap and commercial cleaning solutions. They may be too basic for your bag and will react with the fabric, only to compound stains and smudges all the more. Using tissue and abrasive scrubs are also not advisable. Plain water will do for minor cases and you must take care not to make careless wipes or you'll end up staining the adjacent areas instead. If you still want to clean your bag by yourself despite these precautions, pre-test your cleaning strategy on the insides of your bag. For major spills, you need to consult professionals; there is no other way to save your bag.

Keep these three tips in mind when cleaning your handbag: read the instructions; skip the washing machine; ignore the usual cleaning agents. Cleaning bags is both a serious and delicate business. If you do not realize this, you may not only have to shell out a fortune on professional cleaning services, you may also have to purchase a brand-new handbag.