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I used Prep 7.7, cleaner, and rinse on this strap to remove some spots of unknown origin. The spots are gone but now I have this dark staining left that was not there before. I'm wondering if 7.7 was the incorrect product for me to use on this leather. Is it possible to fix?
These pictures show that this leather strip unlikely pigmented, it is probably “Vachetta” than aniline.
Remember that the suffix number of cleaning products denotes their pH value. Therefore, Prep-7.7 has a pH value of 7.7. It is not leather-safe. A leather-safe product is to use Prep-4.4 (pH 4.4) > Cleaner-3.8 > Rinse-3.0 instead or a greasy stain, use Degreaser-2.2 (pH 2.2) follows with Rinse-3.0
To fix the problem you will require Acidifier-2.0 (pH 2.0) and soak it over a cotton pad until it dries; effectively, causing the residues to wick up to the cotton pad when dry as well to resolve the darkening effect.
Remember that leather is an amphoteric material and is pH sensitive.
Always return the leather to the leather-safe pH range of 3 to 5, otherwise, “the leather gets mad and shows its true colors”.
Note that surface abrasion damages will also cause a darkening effect, Hydrate it with Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0 and stretching when dry will also help lighten the color.
Roger Koh
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