Can You Use Leather Conditioner On Faux Leather? (7 Pros & Cons)

Using leather conditioners is a vital part when it comes to owning leather goods. Leather conditioners nourish leather, makes it supple and gives it a protective layer. But can a leather conditioner be used on faux leather?

While many leather conditioners will also work on faux leather, the leather conditioner will not be absorbed into faux leather. Instead of using leather conditioner on faux leather, you would want to use a PVC moisturizer sparingly to help keep the faux leather protected.

For the remaining parts of this article, I’m going to share with you some pros and cons of applying leather conditioner on faux leather and a couple of helpful tips when it comes to conditioning faux leather goods. But first let’s understand what leather conditioner is actually supposed to do.

What Does Leather Conditioner Really Do?

Leather conditioners are made up of chemicals that are meant to moisturize and protect the leather surface it’s applied on.

Some other leather conditioners will also contain cleaning agents that will infiltrate and safely remove any dirt and grim.

A leather condtioner will also be formulated to protect leather goods from the harmful rays of the sun as UV rays can fast forward the deterioration of the leather.

With a good leather conditioner and good leather conditioning practices, you should be able to effectively use a leather conditioner to maintain your leather goods.

Now A Little Info About Faux Leather

Faux leather as a material is a great alternative to leather. They are made to look and feel like real leather and comes with several advantages.

Faux leather is made from synthetic materials. Usually, it will include a layer of PVC (polyvinyl chloride).

Some of the main advantages to faux leather is how animal-free it is, how water-resistant it is, and how little care and maintenance it requires.

The major disadvantage of faux leather is that it’s not breathable. This is because faux leather goods does not have pores like what natural leather has.

So because of this, any leather conditioner or other leather care products you apply on it is not going to sink in or be absorbed.

It’s often going to be the number one choice when people would want a family friendly leather-like item that is budget friendly, and luxurious looking.

Pros And Cons Of Applying Leather Conditioner On Faux Leather

Like I mentioned before, most of the care products made for real leather will be applicable on faux leather or synthetic leather goods.

In many cases, these care products will work just fine but in other cases applying these care products will come with a few caveats.

I’m going to discuss these advantages and disadvantages so that you will be able to come to a reasonable conclusion as to whether or not it’s a good thing to apply leather conditioner on faux leather.

The Pros

Let’s first start by taking a look at the benefits of apply leather conditioner to faux leather.

1. Protect And Preserve The Faux Leather From The Sun’s Harmful Rays

The sun is one of the arch-enemies of both natural and synthetic leather. While generally, sunlight will not crack or fade faux leather, it can, however, speed up the process of its deterioration.

But applying leather conditioner on the surface of your faux leather goods will help make it more durable and will add to the resistance of the faux leather to the sun’s harmful rays.

The leather conditioner’s application to faux leather is going to add another layer of protection to the faux leather item.

Because faux leather is a synthetic material, it’s going to eventually break down after a couple of years.

The good news is applying leather conditioner to the surface of your faux leather is going to ultimately help to prolong the lifespan of the leather item.

2. Leather Conditioner Will Help Remove Dirt From Faux Leather

As mentioned before, some leather conditioners will come formulated with cleaning ingredients that will help remove dirt and grim from the surface of the leather.

With time, almost everything on planet earth will accumulate dirt, dust, debris, or grim.

This is true for natural leather and especially faux leather goods since they are more hardwearing and will usually get the least care and maintenance when compared to natural leather.

Applying leather conditioner on faux leather will ensure the surface of leather is clean, fresh-looking, and new-looking.

3. Leather Conditioner Will Put A Clean Shine On The Faux Leather

Constantly using, cleaning, and exposing your faux leather items to the elements of the weather is going to cause the faux leather items to loose its shine and new look.

Using a leather conditioner from time to time on faux leather will help ensure the item has a very nice attractive shine that helps faux leather to accurately imitate natural leather.

A leather conditioner will be able to put a nice clean shine on faux leather goods as most leather conditioners are made up of essential oils that help to nourish the leather giving it a nice healthy look.

The shine a leather conditioner is going to put on your faux leather goods is going to be a lot more obvious due to the non-porous nature of faux leather.

4. Leather Conditioners With Stain Removers Will Work Great On Faux Leather

Faux leather is a fun alternative to real or natural leather. As stated before, it’s both cheaper and typically easier to care for.

Because it’s made from synthetic materials, faux leather only require a very gentle touch to get rid of stains.

So by using leather conditioners on the surface of your faux leather goods, you will be able to get stains from your faux leather good and leave it looking great.

You would, however, wouldn’t want to scrub or rub the faux leather too hard with the leather conditioner as this can lead to the quick deterioration of the faux leather material.

5. Conditioners That Have Water-Resistant Qualities Will Work Great On Faux Leather

Generally, most faux leathers are also waterproof except for those that are peforated. This is true due the kind of synthetic materials used in its production.

Unlike natural leather (like the full grain leather which is permeable and can even rot or crack if not dried quickly after it gets wet), faux leather goods will not be affected as much by water or moisture.

An application of leather conditioner is going to further boost the water-resistance of your faux leather goods and make it even more durable and hardwearing.

The Cons

There isn’t actually a lot to lose when you use leather conditioner on faux leather items. This is because while most leather conditioners are going to be extremely beneficial to natural leather, applying it to faux leather will only make it look good and wouldn’t be a necessity.

But there are two main disadvantage I have found when it comes to using leather conditioners on faux leather goods and these are:

Leather Conditioner May Cause The Faux Leather To Attract Dirt And Grim

Leather conditioners are meant to sink into leather to nourish and replenish any kind of lost essential oils.

With faux leather not having pores to enable the leather conditioner to get soaked up, it tend to only cause the conditioner to spread around the surface of the faux leather without getting absorbed.

This then damps a layer of conditioning oil on the surface of the leather which with time is going to attract debris and dust.

One way around this though is to make sure you thoroughly buff the surface of the conditioned faux leather item and allow it to properly dry before use.

Leather Conditioner Will Not Make Faux Leather Soft

Another important thing every leather conditioner is meant to do is to soften leather.

Usually, we would condition our leather goods so they are healthy, luxurious looking as well as have a soft supple feel.

In order for the leather conditioner to make leather nice and supple, it must be absorbed into the leather so that it can do its job of softening the leather.

But because faux leather is a non porous material, it will not allow the leather conditioner to be absorbed nor make the material softer than what it already is.

Final Thoughts

With all these said and done, I will conclude by saying using leather conditioner on faux leather is generally not a bad thing and will do your faux leather item a lot more good than any serious bad.

But the catch is, the leather conditioner you’re going to be using for your faux leather items must be of good quality like this one from Amazon!

Using low or bad quality leather conditioners on your faux leather items can speed up the deterioration of your faux leather items.

But if you would want to give faux leather better protection, better look, and feel, then you would want to get a PVC moisturizer since faux leather is made of PVC among other synthetic materials.

As the name implies, this is going to be your best bet when it comes to preventing damages from lack of moisture.

You can find PVC moisturizers in most stores that sell faux leather items such as car accessories, shoes, clothing stores, to mention a few.

After you’ve gotten a PVC moisturizer of your choice, simply apply it following the instructions on the package.

You will be amazed how a PVC moisturizer will even be able to restore parts of the faux leather that looks dry or cracking.

You can also check out my favorite faux leather conditioner over here on Amazon if you’re like me and like to online-shop.