[Living with Leather] What happens when you wash cow leather? Try cleaning your leather phone case thoroughly!

Hello, I am the staff member responsible for processing orders.

This time I want to talk about the smartphone case I use...
The phone case I use is made of horse leather produced by JAPAN FACTORY’s Himeji.

This leather is characterized by its lightness and softness. Specifically, I use vegetable-tanned leather dyed with purely natural pigments.
That is, leather that does not use chemical dyeing or processing is called "nume cow leather".
Some treatments during the processing can prevent color fading, reduce damage from water splashing, increase scratch resistance, etc.

Because of the lack of these treatments, vegetable tanned leather is very sensitive to environmental impacts, both good and bad. Such as hand oil or liquid stains...
The aging process of vegetable-tanned leather produced by tanning with tannins is very interesting, but once it goes beyond a certain point, it changes from leather to dirt.

If you take good care of it every day, you can enjoy the beautiful aging process of leather, but unfortunately it is too late now.

When it comes to leather, moisture is its enemy. Once washed, it cannot be restored to its original state. There are leather care products like leather soap available that can be used when the leather becomes dirty. But in this case, I used something I already had at home, a mild detergent for delicates. (To put it bluntly, the results are quite subtle...)

I have enjoyed the transformation of leather and am content with it in whatever condition it is in.
So I proceed with that mindset. If you decide to try this, do so at your own risk.

Table of contents:

1. put in water
2. The dirt was removed but...
3. Thoughts

put in water
First, this is the phone case before washing.

Water droplets remaining on the table may cause water stains.
If it gets wet in the rain, the overall shape may become deformed.

I'm hesitant to share it publicly because it's so dirty, but here's what it looks like on the back.

There's a noticeable contrast between where the phone plugs in and where I normally put my cards. Because the lid is folded for use, the center and left side that my hand touches are particularly dark.

Now let’s soak the phone case in water.

I would add detergent and scrub vigorously to clean it.

Leather becomes soft and flexible as it absorbs moisture.
The tanning ingredients and dirt dissolve, turning the water orange.

Use a towel to absorb moisture and dry in a cool place.

The dirt has been removed, but...

This is a freshly dried state. The overall tone becomes brighter compared to the original state.
The caramel color change due to aging of the leather has also disappeared...
Maybe I washed too long in my rush to remove the dirt.

This is what the back looks like.

Slight improvement in cleanliness.
The leather surface looks cleaner. You can see some deformation on the back, probably from being left to dry too long. Some areas are a bit bumpy.

Thoughts:
It seems that other substances besides dirt are removed during the cleaning process.
Because the color becomes brighter, but overall the surface becomes dry and rough.

To prevent the leather from drying out too much, you can add oil later or apply the oil while the leather is partially dry.
Since it has been a while since I took the photos, I will share the results of adding the oil in my next blog post.

Thank you for reading this far.

This is the phone case I use!