Nivea on leather sweatband?

[fenris]

I was just wondering about this... Can I apply Nivea Creme to the leather sweatband to act as a softener?

My wife has lots of this stuff and I wondered if it was good enough to soften skin, it would be good enough for softening leather, but I'm not sure.

It's the one in the blue can.

Will this just be bad for the sweatband in the long run? Which ingredients should I watch out for that could make this bad for the leather?

 

[DougC]

Can't answer one way or the other-never used nivea. But, if it has lanolin, you should be fine. I have used shaving cream to oil/breakin a baseball glove before. But, be careful not to get whatever you use on the felt. Lotions have a tendency to stain.

Maybe someone can answer your question more specifically.

 

[Fletch]

I'd be worried the sweatband might stick to my head!

 

[SpeedRcrX]

Nivea is a good thing for leather, the creme nourish it.

I always hear my grandmother and my mother that they put nivea on leather stuff and never bought leather dressing.

 

[fenris]

It does contain lanolin... but it does contain some other ingredients which I'm not sure would be good in the long run.

 

[DougC]

Try it on a little spot first and see how you like it. I poked around on the net and people say its good for leather--what will you lose if its just a little spot?

 

[fenris]

Try it on a little spot first and see how you like it. I poked around on the net and people say its good for leather--what will you lose if its just a little spot?

I have...

I rubbed it all over the sweatband until it blended with the leather. I'm letting it sit for a few hours to make sure the leather absorbs it.

I experimented on the strap of my watch around 3hrs ago and am now just checking on it as I type this... Guess what? It made the strap soft again (I sometimes get it wet when washing my hands which makes the strap kinda stiff afterwards) and very supple. Plus, it smells great - it got out that weird wet leather smell that occurs after getting the watch wet.

Well I'm very confident that the Nivea Creme I used on the sweatband will make it really soft... if it can make a thick leather strap soft and supple, it will surely make a thinner sweatband the same.

 

[fenris]

Well, it's been 2 hours since I put some Nivea creme on my sweatband and I must say, it does work! Before I put some on, the sweatband was beginning to get a little stiff (probably from absorbing too much sweat). Now it became very soft. I wiped off the residue (which seems to me was unabsorbed creme) from the sweatband. Softening the sweatband made the hat more comfortable to wear.

This was part of my preparation for the coming rainy days and storms here; I've given the hat a fair amount of waterproofing and now just finished with the sweatband.