White cat with eye gunk

Hello I just got adopted a new kitty this week. She is all white with long hair.

I only got her a few days ago and she is quite shy. She lets me pet her but she won't come out of her hiding spot.

I noticed that she has brown gunk around her eyes in the morning i don't think she is sick it just seems like she has sleep in her eyes.

My question is how should I get this off of her when she doesn't 100% trust me yet? Should I just wet a washcloth and go for it? Or should I wait... I don't want to scare her but I also don't want the crust to build up and get worse. What should I do?

Also I've never had a long haired cat before, any tips for grooming or reccommended products?

Thanks

Your new girl sounds very pretty.  Congratulations on the new family member!     What is her name?  

 It seems a lot of white cats show stains and gunk around their eyes - below are two threads that discuss how to keep those areas clean.  Although the threads are pretty old, the suggestions  should still be helpful and the product recommended by several people, Eye Envy, is still available.  http://eyeenvy.com/    
[thread="46253"]Face Eye Cleaning  [/thread][thread="98137"]Cleaning Kittens Eyes  [/thread]
Unless the gunk really seems to building up quickly,  I would probably give her a couple of more days, before subjecting your new girl to a face wash.  Are you going to be taking her to the vet soon for a wellness check and vaccinations?  If so,  you could have the vet check her eyes out and probably clean them at the same time.  

In terms of grooming her,  youtube has some videos on the process that might help you.  Here's one:


For advice on good grooming tools for long haired cats, the following threads might help.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/113408/grooming-long-haired-cats

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/256610/help-grooming-my-seriously-long-haired-cat

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/237886/must-have-grooming-tools-for-long-haired-cats

Hope this helps!