My older son has this hat he got in Boston several years ago.  It got pretty grungy/stinky so he asked me to see if I could clean it.  You don’t want to put hats in the washing machine or the dishwasher, they can be damaged.  So a hand wash was in order.

First, fill a clean dishpan with warm (not hot) water and put in half a scoop of OxiClean.  Make sure it is dissolved.

Next, find a very soft toothbrush and grab some Dawn.  You need to spot treat the worst parts of the dirty hat.  Squirt some Dawn on the worst areas and GENTLY GENTLY tap/rub with the soft wetted toothbrush to work the detergent into the fiber.  Embroidery must be treated with extra care.  You can rub in with fingers if you are afraid the brush is too much.  Get all around the hat band, which is where they usually get most sweat stains.  This hat was grungy on the bill as well.

Now, drop the hat into the OxiClean solution and swish it around then leave to soak…

After just a few minutes, the water turned rather brown, so I drained it, refilled with fresh OxiClean and water, and resubmerged the hat.

I weighted it with a dinner plate to keep it down.  NOW, let it soak for a few hours.  I went for about 3 but you could go much longer if needed.

Rinse well with slightly warm water, being careful of embroidery.  Hopefully, the hat looks and smells much better.  If not, repeat from step one.

Blot the hat dry with towels, then stuff with a towel and set it to dry, under a fan is ideal.  After a while, you can remove the inner towel and let it finish drying.

BOOM, you have a fresh clean hat!

I hope this is helpful!  Do you have any hat-cleaning hacks?  Drop them in the comment section!