How to clean a sweat stained hat?

How to Clean a Sweat Stained Hat 101: 

One of the questions that we get a lot is “Can you clean a hat that has been destroyed by sweat stains”? The short answer most of the time is no. In most cases, especially with darker colored hats, the salt and oils in the sweat will suck the dye out of the hat and cause the color to fade permanently. When the dye has faded out of the hat, your only choice at that point would be to dye the hat back to its original color, which would be a big undertaking. It is easy to keep this from happening at all. When you get a new hat the first thing you should do before you wear it, is protect it with a Hat Saver to prevent those stains from ever having a place on your new hat. 

If you are an avid hat wearer at some point you are going to want to clean out the headband of the hat or possibly some oily hand marks on the bill. Using a Hatsaver will also make those marks easier to clean. One thing to avoid is the myth of putting your hat in a dishwasher. This is probably one of the worst things to do to a $30 hat. 

Here are a couple of reasons why not to do this: 

1. Dishwashing detergents can have bleach in them that will immediately fade and ruin most hats. 
2. Dishwashers use high heat for washing which will also help fade the color from your hat. 
3. Once you have put a good fitting hat into a dishwasher for that long, it will alter the shape by shrinking it and NEVER fit the same. 

Another common misconception is to put your hat in the laundry. This seemed like a good idea at the time. But if you like a good fitting hat, it will never be the same. Here are a couple of reasons why not to do that. 

1. With the beating the hat takes in the washer with the water and agitation from the machine, the hat will never be the same. In fact, it can damage the bill of the hat and the shape will never be the same. Soaking your typical cloth hat in water will alter the fit of the hat. 
2. If you put your hat in the dryer after washing it, the high heat of the dryer will cause the hat to shrink and will never fit the same. 

Soaking hats in water for any period of time and disrupting the shape of the hat in the laundry or dishwasher should be avoided if you like the way your hat currently fits. Apply Hat Saver to your new hat and you will avoid these pitfalls of having to clean a hat. 

If you do have a hat that has gotten some minor sweat stains on it that have not yet sucked the dye out of the hat, there are a few ways to give it a try without completely ruining the way the hat fits. The best way to do that is to do it the old-fashioned way. By hand. 

1. Get a small brush like a toothbrush or something small like that. 
2. Get a gentle bleach-free dish soap.
3. Take this to your sink 
4. Run cold water over the areas that need to be cleaned. (Again, I do not recommend soaking the hat in water.)
5. Take your brush, dip it in your detergent and lightly scrub the affected areas to get as clean as you can. 
6. Rinse and repeat on those areas as necessary. 
7. To get the smell out of the headband, do the same as steps 4-6 on the headband. 
8. Hand dry the hat and soak out as much water as possible. Set to air dry.

Once you have cleaned all of the oils out of the hat, you can treat with 2 light coats of Hat Saver to protect any further damage to the hat with sweat. 

You can find many different ways to clean a hat on the internet. Some just throw it in a dishwasher or laundry and wear it. That is fine if you don’t care much about your hat or the way it looks and feels. But if you do like the way your hat fits, looks and feels. Try to avoid any soaking of the hat. A quick rinse under the sink to wash out the headband or the bill is perfectly acceptable and will not damage the hat. 

But the best way to keep a hat clean is to protect your new hat with Hat Saver. As soon as you get your new hat, without wearing it at all, first protect it with 2 light coats of Hat Saver and you will extend the life of your hat for as long as you want to wear it. See Our Reviews from other happy Hat Saver users at  www.hatsaver.com