Everyone has their favorite hat; for many people, their favorite hat is a baseball-style hat. Whether you wear it every day, just on special occasions, working in the backyard, or at your local team’s games, your hat is going to get dirty eventually. Your hat is like any other piece of clothing; it will collect dirt and body oils which can cause your hat to smell bad and appear grimy. The good news is that cleaning your hat can be an easy process if you follow these steps to clean your hat without ruining its shape. Check out this helpful guide below, and your hat will look like new in no time at all!
What You Need To Clean Your Hat Without Ruining Its Shape
- Dishwashing detergent (for deep cleaning)
- Vodka
- Spray bottle
- Damp Cloth
Steps To Quickly Clean Your Hat
If your hat only needs a quick refresh, these steps will get you there with minimal effort. Performing a quick clean of your hat is easier than you might think and only takes a couple of minutes.
- Wipe down your hat (inside and out) with the damp cloth. Don’t forget to wipe off the brim. Focus more attention on the noticeably dirty and grimy areas.
- Fill a spray bottle with plain vodka. Make sure the vodka is unflavored and undiluted. The goal is to kill any bacteria from your sweat that might cause your hat to become smelly.
- Spray the hat with the vodka. Be sure to spray inside and outside of the hat. Don’t worry if it gets wet; the vodka will quickly evaporate.
- Hang your hat up to finish the drying process. It should be ready to go in a few minutes. Vodka naturally has no smell or color, so you won’t need to worry about smelling like alcohol.
- Repeat the process as often as needed to maintain a nice-looking hat.
Steps To Deep Clean Your Hat
If the quick clean just doesn’t cut it, you are going to need to deep clean your hat. Fortunately, deep cleaning your hat is much easier than it might sound at first. All you need is a dishwasher. Follow the steps below to deep clean your baseball hat.
- Place your hat on the top rack of your dishwasher. Make sure that your dishwasher is empty. You can also wash more than one hat at a time using this method. If you are worried about the brim, you can use the rack of the dishwasher to help shape it.
- Add your normal dishwashing detergent to the dishwasher. If you are out or prefer not to use detergent, you can also just use the hot water.
- Run the dishwasher on the “quick wash” cycle. This will be more than enough to properly clean your hat.
- Remove your hat and hang it to dry when the cycle is finished.
- Repeat this process as much as needed to keep your hats clean.
Keep in mind that the dishwasher method will not work for old hats with a cardboard insert. For these hats, you should soak it in a sink full of oxygen bleach for a few hours and hang to dry.
