How to Fire Shine Your Shoes

Before shining your shoes, you'll need to strip them. Think of it as "un-shining" your shoes. To do this, take an all cotton cloth, like an old white t-shirt, and some rubbing alcohol. I have found that hand sanitizer also works, considering that it contains alcohol in it. Anyways, wrap the cloth around one or two fingers and liberally rub drops of alcohol over the shoe. It is a really time consuming and tedious process, but is critical in order to get that glass-like shine. Just keep at it, working little circles, over and over again. Wax on, wax off. Over, and over, and over again. If done correctly, you should notice any coating on the shoe to be coming off. Work the entire shoe.

Preparing to Shine

Now that your shoes are completely stripped, you can begin to polish your shoes. You will need a can of shoe polish. I haven't been able to try out all sorts of brands yet, but I do know the ordinary Kiwi polish works just fine. In addition, you'll need a cup of warm water. The warmer the water, the better. Again, you'll need that old t-shirt or all-cotton rag. Of course, as the name describes it, fire shining requires fire. So find a lighter and we can get started.

Lighting the Shine

Open your can of shoe polish, hold it upside down and over your lighter, and light it on fire. Once the polish catches on fire, quickly turn the can over, right side up, so the polish does not drip onto you or the floor. Let the polish burn for a few seconds and then blow it out, leaving the top of the polish to be nice and gooey.

Shining the Shoes

Now you can grab your rag, and like earlier when stripping your shoes, wrap it around fingers. Lightly dab the cloth into the cup of warm water, so it's damp, not drenched, and then rub a little polish onto it. Now take this and start shining your shoes in small circles, like earlier. Just keep working it in, in little circles, over and over again. Again, this is a very tedious process, so just turn on the radio or TV and have at it. Little circles, over and over again. Don't forget to get some more polish every once in awhile, but be careful not to use too much. You really don't need much more than a few dabs for each shoe. In addition, make sure your rag remains moist. Dip it as necessary. Hopefully, after going over the entire shoe, you'll notice that it is shiny, or at least shinier than earlier. When first starting to shine your shoes, you may have to put on a couple of coats before you can get a nice shine.

Getting That Glass-Like Shine

Now here's a little trick I learned from my barber. In order to get that glass-like shine, you'll need to go over the shoe once more. However, before doing so, take a hair dryer or lighter, and go over the entire shoe, heating the existing polish so that it warms up and melts just a little bit. Do not hold the flame in one spot for too long, but rather move it back and forth. Just think of spray painting something. You shouldn't hold the can in one place, but move it side to side. Just apply this same technique over your shoe until it is nice and gooey. Afterward, let the shoe sit for a few minutes, allowing the top layer of polish to dry and harden. After this, you can then go back and rub one more layer of polish over the shoe, using the same method as described earlier. Little circles, over and over. Finally, when you finish, your shoes should be extremely shiny, like a mirror.

I've had a lot of luck with this method of shoe shining. However, there are many different methods out there, and some may work better for you than others. Keep experimenting until you find a decent method, and hopefully this guide has helped you out a little bit.