How to Wash a Baseball Cap the Easy Way

I like to wear hats. Hats keep your head warm during the winter and jazz up your outfit any time of the year.

Not to mention, putting on a hat = instant good hair day!

Baseball caps are my casual hat go to. I often wear one when I am working in my workshop to keep my hair out of my face and out of the way of power tools.

Which means over time, my baseball hats can get sweaty, yucky dirty.

How do you wash a baseball cap without ruining it?

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There is no way I am ruining my favorite baseball cap by using one of these ball cap washing things to wash my hat in the dishwasher. Washing dirty clothing in the same place and time I wash the dishes I eat off of skeeves me out. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

More importantly, most dishwasher detergents aren’t made to clean fabrics and have ingredients that fade fabric.

But mostly it’s the heebie jeebie skeeved out thing.

Fortunately there is a very easy and non toxic way to clean a baseball cap that doesn’t involve doing dishes or ruining your hat in the dishwasher or washing machine. Here’s how.

My favorite hat describes that middle part of every project I work on that has the potential to go horribly wrong but eventually turns out just right (mostly.)

You will need:

A sink or bucket full of water

Shampoo or wool wash if you are washing a wool baseball hat

Oxygen bleach – you can buy oxygen bleach here

Toothbrush

Something to use as a hat form when drying the wet hat – I use the shower head in my bathroom. Rolled up towels, a bowl, etc will work too.


Step by step how to do it tutorial


1. Fill the sink or bucket with water. If you are washing a wool baseball cap use cold water so the hat doesn’t shrink in hot water.


2. Spot clean any stained areas of the hat with a few drops of shampoo (use the wool washing liquid  if the hat is made from wool) and an old toothbrush. Shampoo is designed to remove the dirt and oils from your scalp which guess what? This is what makes your hat dirty. Shampoo was made for this job!

Who doesn't deserve a nice relaxing soak ?

3. Add a few tablespoons or so (depending upon the size of the water vessel and how many hats you plan to soak in it) of oxygen bleach  to the water. I usually give it a swish with my hand to encourage the powder to dissolve in the water. You want to use oxygen bleach because it is hydrogen peroxide based and will remove stains while not bleaching the fabric like chlorine bleach will.


4.  Submerge and soak the baseball cap in the oxygen bleach water for a few hours, less if you know the bill is stiffened with cardboard. You don’t want a cardboard stiffener to get mushy from soaking too long in the water!


5. Rinse the wool wash/shampoo/oxygen bleach from the  baseball hat with running water.


6.  Repeat Steps 1 through 5 if you still have some stubborn stains you want to wash from your hat. In my case, my hat needed an extra go because there were a few spots hot pink hair dye on the inside hat band that wanted to hang around.


7. Dry the wet baseball hat on roundish object to keep the hat’s shape while it is drying.  I hang my baseball caps on the shower head nozzle and allow them to drip dry in the shower overnight.


8. Once your hat is dry, wear it!

All clean! The sweat stains are gone! I could have scrubbed and soaked the bill of the cap a bit more but I wasn't sure if I should risk it in case it is made from cardboard and not hard plastic.

Looking for more baseball cap washing ideas? Check out the following options – and more! – below!


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