For anyone like me who’d rather not spend $50+ on sending out their Barbour jacket to be rewaxed annually, I thought I’d share with you a tutorial on how to wax your Barbour jacket.
WAXING YOUR BARBOUR JACKET
I definitely didn’t realize that the wax that keeps a Barbour jacket weather resistant, wind resistant, and water resistant doesn’t stay on forever, and somehow I hadn’t noticed that after a couple years the wax seemed to have worn off. Eventually I heard someone mention that they were sending their jacket in to be re-waxed, looked down at my own, and realized, I better figure out what this whole re-waxing process is.
Jackets that have a weather resistant coating need to have that coating replenished every year or so to keep not only you protected from the weather but also to protect the jacket itself and keep it looking as good as new. When it comes to waxing your Barbour jacket, you have two options. You can send it back to Barbour and they’ll do it for you OR you can do it yourself – a much cheaper and quicker option. Obviously I went with the latter and that’s what I’m walking you through today.
HOW TO WAX YOUR JACKET
Re-waxing my jacket at home was super easy. I thought it would be a much bigger endeavor than it actually was – I’d say the entire process took half an hour and then the drying process was about another day or so. The drying time is the main reason I’d recommend doing this during the offseason rather than when you’re going to actually want to wear your jacket.
You’ll want to buy Barbour’s Thornproof Dressing (this is their fancy name for the wax) and follow the steps below:
- Clean the jacket with cold water and a sponge or washcloth. Don’t put it in the washing machine!
- Remove the lid from the Thornproof Dressing and set it in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes. This allows the wax to soften enough to spread it easily on the jacket. The Barbour website recommends waiting it until it’s liquid, though I wasn’t quite patient enough for that.
- Cover the jacket with wax using a washcloth or sponge. Make sure you spread it evenly, getting all creases and hems while avoiding the corduroy collar, and wiping away any excess wax.
- Once you’re done waxing the jacket, you can use a hair dryer to further melt the wax and really make sure it’s totally even over the whole jacket.
- Hang dry for 24 hours away from other clothing items.
- You’re done!
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU WAX YOUR JACKET?
Honestly, I had waited way too long to re-wax my jacket…as in I waited probably two or three years. Don’t do that. At that point, your jacket isn’t protecting you from the elements and the jacket itself isn’t protected from weathering. So, to keep your jacket water resistant, wind resistant, and weather resistant, you’ll probably want to wax your jacket once a year. I did mine late in the fall, though I’d recommend either doing it early in the fall before cool weather starts or spring when you’re ready to put your Barbour jacket away for the year.
