Bull polishing

Bull polished drill boots

Bulling, Bull polishing, spit polishing, mirror shining or spit shining refers to a method for polishing leather products, usually leather dress shoes or boots, to give an extremely high shine effect. The finished effect should leave the surface of the leather highly reflective, similar to a patent leather finish. In addition to aesthetics, the wax coating can protect the leather from moisture and scuffs.

The process involves the application of many thin layers of hard shoe wax (e.g. Kiwi shoe polish), which are polished to shine with a damp cotton cloth or cotton balls. The term spit shining comes from the traditional use of saliva instead of water to wet the cloth. Due to the brittle nature of the shoe wax, a spit shine has to be refreshed regularly and is usually only applied on the parts of a shoe that will not bend with the walking movement of the foot, i.e. the toe caps and heels. Because of this, combined with the significant time commitment that is needed to maintain a proper mirror shine, shoe polish manufacturers have been selling parade gloss and similar products which promise similar effects with significantly less effort.

Preparing parade shoes might involve the additional step of hardening the whole shoe with melted beeswax before applying shoe wax. This serves as a fortifying base coat which keeps the mirror shine from cracking easily, but also makes the shoe unsuitable for everyday wear.

Use in the Military

Corry Station Sailors with freshly shined boots during a change of command ceremony

The technique of bull polishing has been commonly used in the military as a traditional method of presenting leather boots for inspection during the so-called black boot era. Immaculately polished shoes represent an image of exemplary turn out, dedication and cleanliness. It is not unusual for soldiers to maintain a separate and unique pair of boots intended only for use for inspection or special ceremonial occasions. Nowadays, military boots are typically made of different materials that don't need to be polished. Therefore, the spit shine might be considered a lost art.