How to Wash Baseball Caps

No matter how nice it is, your baseball hat is going to get dirty. If you want to clean it up, there are some easy steps to follow to wash it without ruining the bill or the material:

Things You'll Need

• Washing machine
• Laundry soap
• Pre-wash spray/stick
• Plastic hat form (optional)
• Wool-safe detergent (for wool hats only)

Instructions

Washing baseball caps

1. Check the tag. Look on the inside of your hat to get the washing instructions. Just like washing a nice shirt, your hat should have instructions on it. Most modern hats made of a non-wool material will be machine-washable. If the hat is vintage/old, or made of wool, see Steps 4 and 5.

2. Wash a non-wool modern hat by simply applying a pre-wash treatment to the dirty areas and then place it in the washing machine with a load of similarly-colored clothes. Once it's washed, DO NOT put it in the dryer. While you may not notice a little dryer shrinkage in your shirts, you are far more likely to notice an additional squeeze in your hat.

3. 

   Use a hat form for extra care. Plastic hat forms are available in most general commerce stores. These forms will protect the form of the bill of your cap while it's in the washing machine without affecting the other clothes that you're washing.

4. Wash wool baseball caps in a sink by applying a wool-specific cleaner in cold water. Be careful as to not scrub the hat too hard, as it could ruin the wool material and actually shrink the hat. Roll the hat in a towel after you wash it in order to remove excess water, and then reshaping the hat over something that is head-shaped.

5. Do a "colorfastness test" on your older hat. Take a wet washcloth with mild detergent and rub a hidden area of the hat to see if your cleaning distorts the color. If there are no changes, it is probably safe to proceed and wash the headband and other dirty areas of the cap by hand with light detergent, going over it a second time after the hand-washing with a wet washcloth to clear any excess soap.

6. Dry a hat by let ting it sit in the hat form and dry or put it over something head-shaped, so the hat dries close to its original form. Your hat probably won't assume it's pre-wash shape until you wear it a few times after washing.

Tips & Warnings

• Note: There is no guarantee test-washing a vintage hat will not discolor the portion of the material you test. Please be careful when selecting a spot to test-wash in order to not ruin/mar the appearance of your hat.

• Note: It is wise to let your hats air dry in order to avoid shrinking.