You guys know how much I enjoy wearing hats. Hats are one accessory that I can wear all year round. As I wear hats very often from straw hats during summer to wool-felt wide brim and fedora hats during spring, fall and winter, so it’s not hard to understand why my hats can become misshapen or get dirty. That’s when hat care on a daily basis comes in (your hat will give you back to you what you give to it, so take good care of your special chapeau!).
What is Cleaning Hats on Daily Basis?
Cleaning hats regularly is a must to help expand your hat life – especially if your favorite hats are custom-design, one-of a kind or made with hard-to-find materials – you don’t want to risk losing the quality of it. Cleaning the hats regularly will allow the hat to remain very close to first day quality.
Remember you don’t have to own a designer hat brand to get your hat maintained. Any piece that you love, cherish, or spent a pretty penny on should be cared for with cleaning and storing. Here is a few more reason why you should be cleaning your hats as often as you can.
- It protects your investment – when I purchase a hat that I love, I always imagine myself wearing the hat for years to come. So it will be very disappointing to see that my hat is damaged and the lifespan is shortened.
- It gives you more confidence – let’s imagine a garment that hasn’t been cleaned, ironed is wrinkled and is a bit stinky. How would you feel wearing that? The same thing with a hat, if you don’t treat it well, your hat will turn to be a bad hat that you won’t enjoy wearing and you will soon disregard it..
- It promotes sustainable living – I’m not suggesting that you go and buy used hats (which you can, because I sometimes find vintage hat designs that are unique in amazing deals.), but I’m suggesting that by taking good care of your favorite hats and wear them for life will help to reduce an individual waste and earth’s waste. As you can see a little hat care can change the world!
- It ensures that your hats are remembered – Have you ever forgotten what’s in your closet? By going through your hat collection and give it some hat TLC, this will help inspire you for a next outfit with your forgettable hat.
- It gives you piece of mind – Why? When you have a habit of taking care of your favorite hats regularly, you don’t have to worry or set aside a lot of time for a big cleaning (like having a spring cleaning hat day!). Also you probably know the longer you keep the dirt on the hat, the more difficult it is to remove it. You don’t want to do that to your hat.
- It can be a treasure that you can pass on to your loved ones – I’ve heard hundreds of stories of how their relatives shared their love of accessories and had all the pieces very well-kept and organized. You would like to be that person!
The biggest advice I’ve received from hat stores is to brush your hat regularly, especially for those of you with pets at home or if you’re not storing your hat in a hatbox.
How to Brush Your Hat
- Brush the hat using a counterclockwise motion, moving with the natural grain of the felt, pulling debris out and away.
- Apply firm pressure when brushing most materials for best results.
- Follow up with a household lint roller to remove any stubborn stray lint or hair.
- Massage your hat back into the desired shape.
If you hat has a stain, after finished with brushing the hat – you can continue with spot clean. Don’t dry clean nor machine wash hats, always spot clean by hand and treat it as soon as you see it. The longer that you wait to treat the stain; the more difficult it becomes to remove.
How to spot Clean a Hat
- Create a gentle cleaning solution by mixing 1 teaspoon of mild clear detergent/soap into 1 cup of cold water.
- Use a white clean cotton cloth or dish sponge (be sure it’s not too wet and no color pigments to the hat), and dip into the solution and gently ring it out. Try not to saturate the material as this can affect the shape of the hat.
- Blot at the stain to lift out. Do not rub, as this can disrupt or damage the surface of the material.
- Use a clean, dry white cotton cloth and blot the wet area to absorb all liquid and moisture as much as possible.
- Lay the hat flat – upside down on the crow and let it dry naturally.
How to Store Your Hat
In order to make the effect more obvious, the hat can be put in a plastic bag for a greater level of maintenance (if you don’t have a hatbox) and store it upside down on the crown always. If you have a hatbox, you can simply put the hat in the box (also the upside down on the crown). I love to create a round nest inside the box using soft paper to rest the hat in. This will protect the crown’s round shape from coming in direct contact with the bottom of the box.
I hope you enjoy the hat care content and it inspires you to treat your favorite hats. Please remember these hat-cleaning tips are general and basic hat tips, they’re not specific for any one type of hat material. If you have any further questions of how to clean a specific type of a hat, please feel free to leave your questions at comments.
Resources: https://www.goorin.com/pages/hat-care
