Shine your Dress Shoes like a Pro

One thing I’ve always found funny about Upper Camp is that, while every camper is given the same clothing to wear upon arrival, they all somehow manage to find ways to wear it differently.

On the not-so-cool side of things, we’ve all seen midshipmen with poor pleats at the back of their middy, ladies with their kilts hemmed too high, and aviators sagging their trousers (I don’t list a common troop mistake because I don’t believe its possible to look shabby in that wonderful Troop uniform). I suppose some of this could be construed as personal style…

On the positive side though, we’ve also seen campers who take the time to cut their belt to the right length, send out their laundry consistently and take care of their cover, things that make a big difference in how sharp you look.

But the one thing that never fails to spruce up even the dowdiest camper is a good shoe shine. Most campers never take the time to transform the outside of their ruddy standard issue Culver dress shoes into the reflective surface it could be and that’s a shame. A nicely polished pair of shoes says great things about a camper’s care and attention to detail. We counselors sure notice who’s on top of things with their shoes in ranks.

So today I offer up a batch of articles sure to lead you into the promised land of shiny dress shoes at camp. If you follow the directions here the glare from your shoes will leap out from beneath your bed and BLIND the Room Inspectors when they make their rounds.

LINKS:

• A very thorough guide to shining leather shoes using traditional tools and methods -"e-ssortment.com"
  
• Guide to assembling and using the perfect shoe-shine kit - "Askmen.com"
• A short, quick "how to" guide - "eHow.com"
• The Slacker’s Guide to a 5-minute shoe-shine - "SlackerManager.com"
• Learn to Spit-Shine Your Shoes Military Style - "About.com"

And what would this guide be without links to the proper equipment to make your shoes sparkle? You’ll certainly need a shoe shine brush, some shoe polish, and likely a shoe shine sponge, but your might also try going all out with this cool-looking Sharper Image automatic shoe buffer as well.

Or you could just pick up all the essential components together as a kit. Again you have some options, something comprehensive like this, more low-key like this,or something simple like this. Your call.

As nice as it is to see how other people suggest shining shoes, everyone who’s done it has their own style that seems to work for them. What’s yours? What’s your secret to shining a mean pair of shoes? Tell us over in the CulverTalk forums.