Okay, this is a little embarassing, but after trips to the gym, I've noticed that my drivers headrest has a bit of a circle where my head contacts it and sheds sweat onto the leather. I have the semi-aniline leather option.

The general wisdom of the forum has been to clean the leather with a dilute woolite solution. It works great! Dye transfer stains from jeans, kids food stains, all come off easily and the leather feels like new. However, for my gross sweat stain, the leather feels tacky and a little gooey.

I hit it with the woolite, but it didn't do much; the little bit of dirt associated with the spot rubbed off, but the tacky sweat spot is invisibly still there.

Can anyone suggest another product to clean this up, without removing the SA leather coating?

 

While the “seating surfaces” of the ES are leather - or in your case, semi-aniline - I believe the headrest is covered in NuLuxe, not leather at all, so something like Woolite is a good choice. I’m not sure why it’s tacky though. Have you wiped it with a microfiber cloth after it has dried thoroughly? Lexus does offer its own brand of cleaner but I doubt it’s better than most “mild soaps” like Woolite or other commercial upholstery cleaners. Perhaps you didn’t dilute it sufficiently or are applying too much scrubbing force?

 

Going forward, there are waterproof seat covers that work great for this. I use one every morning after my workout - they're outdoors and with the summer months approaching, it's essential! It just slips over the headrest, covers the entire seat. No ties or snaps or anything. I just take it off when I get home and toss it in the trunk. Machine wash once in a while.

 

Try this ... not only for leather but vinyl too. Been using it since another member recommended it back in 2013...