How to wash a knitted hat: subtleties, instructions, useful tips

Expert: Sofia Borisovna Fridman

Washing knitted items is a rather painstaking process, especially when it comes to items made using natural thread. To ensure that such an element of outerwear as a hat does not fade, does not stretch, and generally remains wearable after washing, it is necessary to follow certain rules. Which? Our experts will tell you about this.

Do I need to wash my hats?

Any hat should be washed at least once a month. There are two reasons for this:

• an unwashed hat becomes a real breeding ground for microbes that lead to skin inflammation, dandruff and allergic reactions;
• Shiny spots on the inside (appear from oily and damp hair, due to hairsprays and gels) can affect the shape of the headdress, and it will become unattractively “bumpy.”

The inevitable washing is also caused by visible stains on the outside - a common problem with light-colored hats.

It’s also worth washing the item when spring arrives before stashing it in the closet until the next cold season. This proactive step will help prevent germs from growing in your closet.

What not to do when washing wool products

When starting this difficult task, you should study the most common mistakes, avoiding which it will not be so difficult to care for cashmere or mohair:

• Frequent washing. This is a natural material that is naturally dirt-resistant. It will be enough to wash it twice a year; for freshness, you can simply hang your favorite sweater on the balcony, and dry cleaning is often enough to remove stains.
• You should not soak sweaters and cardigans for a long time - this will lead to severe shrinkage; it is advisable that the whole process takes no more than 45 minutes.
• You cannot change the temperature suddenly. If wool is washed at 30 degrees, then it should be rinsed at approximately the same temperature.
• The material does not tolerate strong friction and squeezing. Therefore, when washing in a washing machine, this mode is turned off or, in extreme cases, set to minimum speed.
• Knitted clothes should not be dried on hangers or on a rope, otherwise they will stretch.

Is it possible to wash a hat in a washing machine?

You can put woolen and knitted hats in the “washing machine”. Such models will not stretch or “shrink” if machine washed correctly.

But it is worth examining the label inside the item and making sure that machine wash is allowed. If the label has a pictogram with a crossed out “washer” and an inscription like “Do not wash”, then it is better to do hand washing.

How to wash a hat in the washing machine

To wash an item in a machine, you need:

1. Without turning the product inside out, place it in a washing bag. It is necessary because it prevents the hat from deforming.
2. Fill the appropriate compartment of the machine with washing detergents and select the desired mode (more on this later).
3. Disable the spin and dry functions. They are quite likely to deform the hat to an unsightly state.
4. Turn on the wash.
5. When the machine stops, remove from the washing bag, straighten it out and put it to dry.

It is better not to machine wash a headdress with a pompom, the color of which does not match the color of the hat itself. Fur can shed even if all the rules are strictly followed.

What is the best detergent to wash?

To properly wash a hat, 2 products are used:

• washing gel (liquid powder) - 1 cap;
• conditioner - 1 cap (provided that no other recommendations are indicated on the bottle).

It’s better to take washing gel for wool, but if you don’t have it, a universal one will do. Both products are produced by most well-known “washing” brands (Lenor, Perwoll, Vanish, Ariel, etc.), so they are sold in any industrial store.

Products containing bleaches (especially chlorine) and enzymes should be avoided. Such substances are dangerous to woolen clothes, causing them to shed and deteriorating the condition of the material, making it rough to the touch.

Setting the washing mode

The following modes are equally suitable for hats made of wool and yarn:

• “Wool” (wool, wolle on a car with a sticker in a foreign language);
• “Delicate wash” (delicate wash, fein wasche).

If the hat is made of a different material, then only the delicate mode remains. The water temperature should be set within 30-35 °C. But this setting is already included in both washing modes, so if the machine does not have a manual temperature input, no problem.

Handwash

If you are unsure of the yarn composition of your hat and do not know how to wash a knitted hat, use the hand washing method.

It is better not to soak a product made of natural wool, but if it is very dirty, you can soak it for an hour in a 30-degree soap solution with the addition of ammonia. To do this, you only need 2 tablespoons of ammonia per 5 liters of water. After this, the hat is rinsed well in water at the same temperature and washed by hand.

White hats are especially susceptible to staining, but bleach should not be used on woolen items. Since washing occurs at low temperatures, bleaching a hat made of white wool yarn will be problematic. Therefore, we recommend soaking the item for a couple of hours in a 35 degree soap solution, which is prepared from 5 liters of water, a small amount of shavings of 72% laundry or liquid soap, 3 tablespoons of salt and 10 ml of hydrogen peroxide.

IMPORTANT! If you use washing powder, it must be well dissolved in water in advance. Do not pour powder detergent directly onto the product itself.

A detergent composition for wool hats can be prepared from shavings of natural white baby soap, laundry soap, liquid gel, hair shampoo or pet shampoo. It wouldn’t hurt to add 1 teaspoon of glycerin there.

You should wash a knitted item very carefully, lightly pressing it with your hands. At the same time, you cannot pull the hat out of the water and lower it into the basin again. Wrong movements can cause the knitting to stretch.

When rinsing fluffy hats, it is advisable to add wool conditioner or any hair rinse to the water.

How to wash a hat by hand

Hand washing is considered more reliable in preserving the appearance and shape. By controlling the effort applied during washing, and the entire procedure in general, you can reduce the risk of damage to the material to a minimum.

Wash like this:

1. Fill a basin with about 5 liters of water at a temperature of 30 °C. Add 1 capful of liquid powder or regular shampoo. Stir.
2. Soak the hat in a basin and leave for 30 minutes. If there are visible stains on the hat, then soak it longer (but no more than 2 hours). Then “wiggle” the product a little in the water and remove it.
3. Rinse. Better - first in another basin (with clean water), and then under a cold stream from the tap.
4. Rinse until the liquid draining from the cap becomes completely transparent, without traces of detergent.
5. Straighten the hat, then leave to dry.

It is best to wash an item with a pompom of a different color by first wrapping the fur ball in polyethylene and tying it with an elastic band. Or act carefully and do not dip the pompom in water when washing the hat. It is washed separately with a wet clothes brush.

What water should I wash my hat in?

The recommended water temperature for hand washing woolen and knitted items is 30 °C. You can go a little higher, but 40°C is the upper limit. Hotter water will lead to deformation and roughening of the material.

Hats made of other materials (synthetic, cotton, etc.) are washed in water at the temperature indicated on the label. It is different for all types of hats. The label is located inside the product.

Which product to choose

If your hat is made of wool or a material with a high wool content, then it is worth using a special detergent. This measure will help maintain the softness of the product, avoid the formation of pellets and deformation.

You can replace this product with an option that does not contain chlorine.

It is important to test for compatibility with the product. To do this, you need to wet a small area of ​​the product in the prepared solution and wait a couple of minutes: if during this time the product has not faded, then you can wash it using the chosen method.

Is it possible to wring out a hat after washing?

It is not advisable to wring out the cap - such actions lead to deformation. But if the product needs to be dried quickly (when there is nothing else to wear), then spinning is permissible subject to 2 conditions:

1. Turn the item inside out, straighten it, then fold it in half and lightly squeeze it with your hands. Repeat no more than 2-3 times.
2. Do not twist the cap when spinning.

Machine spinning is prohibited for wool and yarn. The ban also applies to an ordinary men's beanie hat - even it risks losing its shape during an aggressive spin inside the washing machine.

How to dry a hat correctly

To avoid damage and deformation, dry the hat as follows:

1. Place on the edge of a dry towel (cotton, terry) and cover with the other edge. When such a towel is not available, use any dense fabric that can absorb moisture.
2. You can gently blot with another towel several times to speed up drying.
3. Provide ventilation in the room. Just opening the window a crack will be enough, but even better is turning on the air conditioning.
4. Leave the product until completely dry.

A loose-fitting hat (not following the shape of the head, “baggy”) can be dried by placing it on a glass jar or another round object. The main thing is that it should be smaller than the head of the owner of the hat, otherwise the product will stretch.

Things you should not do when drying a wool hat:

• hang vertically - the wet hat will stretch due to its weight;
• put it on the radiator, next to it - such active heating harms the wool and makes it hard;
• expose to sunlight;
• blow dry.

What to do if the hat shrinks or stretches

It happens that despite the precautions you have taken, the cap stretches or, on the contrary, shrinks. What to do in this case? Reducing a stretched product is easier than stretching a shrunken one. The more wool the yarn contains, the easier it is to shrink.

You need to wet the cap in hot water, 15 degrees higher than the recommended washing temperature. Leave for a few minutes, then rinse in very cold water. It is not necessary to use detergents.

Spread the damp headdress horizontally on a soft cloth to dry. If you are not satisfied with the result obtained, you can moisten the item again and place it on the radiator to dry, covering it with a cloth.

In this case, you need to constantly monitor the condition of the product so that your hat does not shrink to doll size. Usually, using these methods, items can be reduced by 2-3 sizes.

You can stretch the product by moistening it and gently pulling it to the sides. Then, after squeezing it slightly, put it on the head of a mannequin or simply on a three-liter jar. The product should be stretched from time to time.

How to clean a hat without washing

It is easier not to wash a woolen hat on which a stain has formed, but to treat it with ammonia. Need to:

1. Mix water with ammonia in a bowl (proportions - 1 tablespoon of alcohol per 200 ml of water). Sometimes they replace it with gasoline in the same quantity.
2. Soak a clothes brush in the mixture. Sometimes they also take a metal brush and wrap it in cotton wool.
3. Wipe the stain, avoiding touching clean areas of the hat.
4. Leave to ventilate in a ventilated room so that the smell of the chemical disappears.

Fur hats are often cleaned in the same way, but instead of ammonia, use a less aggressive solution of hydrogen peroxide. The proportions are the same. Immediately after drying, the fur hat is combed.

If the fur has turned yellow

If the hat is heavily soiled or yellowed, deep cleaning with a special solution is required. Let's consider suitable solutions and cleaning technologies:

• make a paste from equal parts of starch and purified gasoline, rub it into the product, and after half an hour, clean it with a brush;
• Dilute hydrogen peroxide half and half with water. Soak a cotton pad with this solution and iron the pile; you can spray it with a spray bottle;
• Combine magnesia powder and purified light gasoline in equal quantities, soak a sponge with this solution. Apply to the fur, leave for half an hour, then shake the hat;
• Mix alcohol (100 ml) and rinse aid (10 ml) in a liter of water, wet a brush or napkin with this solution and iron the fur.

Which hats cannot be washed?

An alternative to washing is dry cleaning. Fur and fluff are cleaned with coarse abrasives (fine grains, bran, sea salt), preheating the homemade product to no more than 50 °C. Then they carefully comb the cereal out of the pile.

Hat with pompom

There are two washing options here. If the pompom is made from the same yarn as the hat, then it must be washed together with the headdress.

Most likely, the threads of the pompom have become matted due to washing, so after drying you will have to tidy it up and return it to its fluffiness. This is done with a wide-toothed comb, preferably made of wood. You can also straighten the pompom with a knitting needle, unraveling the thread. Do this carefully so as not to tear the threads out of the pompom.

With a pompom made of fur, things are much more complicated. Natural fur does not need to be wet, otherwise it can be damaged. You'll have to rip off the pompom. The headdress is washed in the described way, and the pompom is simply cleaned by dry cleaning, for example, using bran or starch.

What to do if you can’t rip off the pompom? In this case, cunning housewives came up with their own way of washing. The pompom is simply tied tightly in film and tied tightly at the base. Then the cap is washed by hand, trying to prevent moisture from getting on the bag. Still, a little moisture may seep in, but usually this does not spoil the fur much. When the headdress is dry, the film is removed and the fur is combed with a brush.

Additional Tips

Some useful tips for washing hats and caring for these products:

1. A synthetic or wool blend (wool with the addition of synthetic materials in an amount of at least 30%) can be washed with other things. But it is still packed in a separate bag.
2. After washing the machine, you often run another rinse cycle. It won’t hurt, but it will increase the chances that the material has been completely washed and there are no traces of previous dirt left.
3. When the hat has an elastic band in the headband, the “rim” that fits tightly to the scalp should be additionally cleaned from the inside with a wet brush. Do this between washes.
4. With heavy stains (greasy stains, paint and varnish materials, etc.), it is better to go straight to dry cleaning so as not to ruin the hat while trying to wash it.

Popular textiles

Hats made from different variations of faux fur are quite popular and in demand among all ages, as they are inexpensive, quite comfortable, and warm. Externally, they are often as spectacular as those made from natural fur. This material cannot withstand high temperatures, it becomes deformed, and the shine and smoothness of the pile disappears.

Faux fur hats

If a hat made of this type of textile does not contain elements made of natural fur, it can be washed in a machine, observing the following conditions:

• wash in lukewarm water;
• use special liquid detergents for wool;
• spin mode - no more than 800 rpm;
• dry in the shade, away from heating;
• After drying, it should be combed well.