How to Care for Hats, Turbans & Head Scarves

Cotton gives as you wear it. That is what cotton does, and it is not a fault in the hat. It behaves a little like a pair of jeans, relaxing through the day and tightening up again when it is laundered. The difference is that a quarter inch does not matter on a pair of jeans and it matters a great deal on a hat.

The fix that works. Wash the piece according to its label, press the water out in a towel, and reshape it flat while it is damp. Cotton recovers more than people expect this way, and most hats come back close to where they started.

If it is still roomy after that, you have a fit question rather than a laundry one. Hat sizing tape inside the band, or a thin headband worn underneath, takes up the slack without putting the fabric at risk.

Anything with spandex or lycra in it stays out of the dryer. Heat dries the stretch out of those fibers and there is no repairing it. Wash it, press the water out in a towel, and lay it flat without stretching it. They recover on their own as they dry.

Too snug, or it shrank: block it out flat. Take the piece from the wash while it is still wet, lay it on a towel, and ease it out to the size you want with your hands, working a little at a time rather than pulling hard on the band. Leave it to air dry in that position. It sets at the larger size, and you can repeat it for another quarter inch.

Thinking of shrinking one deliberately? Nearly all of our cotton headwear is labeled dry flat, because heat shrinks cotton and it does not do it evenly. Rather than print a method here, call us first and we will talk it through for the piece you actually have.

That is transit rather than a fault in the hat, and it is worth ten minutes before you decide to send anything back. Soft and packable styles are folded on purpose so they travel safely, and most relax on their own within a day of coming out of the bag.

• Steam into the crown from the inside and push the dent outward once the material has relaxed. A loosely rolled towel inside gives you something to push against, and working from the inside keeps steam off a leather sweatband.
• One area at a time, cooling each before you move on, the same as with a brim.
• Give a structured hat a day to settle before you judge it, resting upside down on its crown.
• If something is broken rather than squashed, a cracked brim or a snapped wire, get in touch and we will sort it out.

Steams well: cotton jersey, bamboo and linen. Wool and wool felt, with the caution below. Natural straw and raffia, which come back better than people expect, so a sun hat that looks badly bent will often recover completely with a couple of minutes of steam. Most polyester, acrylic and nylon. Packable and crushable styles, which are built to recover anyway.

Keep steam away from: paper braid and synthetic straw, which go limp rather than reshaping. Glued trims and adhesive of any kind. Sequins, rhinestones and metallic finishes. Feathers and leather trim. The hair on a hat with hair attached. And any brim material you cannot identify, which is worth testing on a hidden spot under the brim first.

Wool asks for one extra precaution. Lay a thin cotton cloth between the steam and the wool and go lightly. Wool felts when it takes too much heat and moisture at once, and a felted hat has shrunk for good. Brief passes, a cloth in between, and let it cool between sections.

• Comb the hair through before it gets wet, with a wide tooth comb or a wig brush, working from the ends upward. Tangles are much harder to deal with once the fiber is wet.
• Fill a clean basin with cool water and add wig shampoo. A capful is plenty, mixed through the water first.
• Submerge and move it gently. Never rub the hair between your hands or against itself, which is what creates matting at the nape.
• Rinse in cool running water, following the direction of the hair, so the water runs from the crown down toward the ends rather than swirling it around.
• Condition the length only, with a conditioner made for wigs, keeping it away from where the hair is attached. Then rinse again.
• Blot with a towel. Never wring or twist the hair. Press the water out and let the rest drip.
• Air dry away from all heat, hair hanging free. No dryer, no hair dryer, no radiator, no sunny windowsill. A wig stand holds the shape without pulling on the cap.
• Comb it through once it is completely dry. Standard synthetic fiber returns to its own style as it dries. There is nothing to set and nothing to style.

The most forgiving fabric in your drawer and the one most women reach for daily. In the cotton styles we design, the main fabric is 100% cotton and most of it is organic. It softens with every wash, which is why the cotton hat someone bought reluctantly often becomes the softest thing she owns.

Wash in cool water, turned inside out. Use a mesh bag for machine washable styles. Press the moisture out rather than wringing, reshape, and dry flat. Use the dryer only if the label permits. If a cotton cap loosens with wear, wash it and reshape it damp before you reach for heat.

Bamboo is easy to look after. Treat it gently, the way you would a favorite bra.

• Hand washing is best. You can also machine wash on a cold gentle cycle with like colors, turned inside out.
• If your washer is a top loader with a center agitator, hand wash only.
• Lay flat to dry and avoid hanging. A brief tumble on low is fine, but do not let it get hot or it may shrink slightly.
• Do not iron it. Ironing bamboo causes shine and will not smooth the folds anyway. A steamer does it in seconds.
• No fabric softener, dryer sheets or scent beads. Softener leaves a coating that works against the moisture wicking that makes bamboo cool to wear.
• Wash after every few wears rather than every single one.

One note on the label, because it worries people who read them. Soft bamboo fabric is made by turning bamboo cellulose into a fiber, so the label reads viscose made from bamboo or rayon made from bamboo rather than simply bamboo. That is the correct name for the material and it is not a sign you were sent something else. See the bamboo collection.

Silk varies more than anything else here. Some scarves are washable and some are dry clean only, so follow the individual label, especially with hand rolled hems, printing, beading, metallic thread or several colors together.

For washable silk: cool water, a wash made for silk or delicates, on its own. Do not leave it soaking. Do not scrub and never wring. Roll it in a towel to take the water out, then lay it flat away from direct sun, which fades silk faster than anything else.

Two products to keep away from silk entirely: enzyme cleaners and oxygen bleach. Both are designed to break down protein, and silk is a protein fiber. They will damage it, sometimes on the first use. Never use chlorine bleach either. If a silk scarf has a stain you cannot lift with a drop of mild detergent and cool water, take it to a dry cleaner rather than escalating at home.

To press it, steam from a distance is better than an iron. If you do iron, use the lowest setting with a press cloth in between, and skip the spray bottle, since water spots on silk can dry in as rings.

Wool felts. Warm water plus movement locks the fibers together permanently, and a hat that has felted has shrunk for good.

Hand wash cool with a mild neutral wool detergent, and do not swish it any more than you have to. Avoid heavy duty detergents, anything labeled enzyme or bio, and bleach, all of which break wool down at the fiber level. Press the water out in a towel and reshape it flat while damp. Never hang a wet wool hat by the band, because the weight of the water will pull it out of shape.

A little pilling where wool rubs a collar is normal. Lift the pills off with a wool comb rather than pulling at the fibers. Some women find wool itchy directly against the scalp, and a thin cotton or bamboo liner underneath fixes that without giving up the hat.

Washable and quick drying, which makes them forgiving, but they still prefer gentle handling.

Wash inside out in cold water in a mesh bag. Skip fabric softener and any detergent with softener in it, because both coat the fibers and cancel out the wicking you chose the fabric for. Air dry, or use no heat, or very low heat only where the label allows. High heat weakens stretch fibers. Keep these away from rough towels and hook-and-loop fasteners.

Volunteer groups and church circles knit thousands of caps a year and give them away, and they are given with real love. They also arrive with no care label, and the fiber could be wool, acrylic, cotton or a blend.

• Hand wash cool, with almost no movement. Machine agitation is what makes acrylic pill and stiffen. Submerge, press the suds through gently, and lift it out.
• Unfragranced detergent, and rinse twice. Yarn holds detergent, and scented residue on something worn against your face is the fastest route to a headache.
• Press the water out in a towel and dry it flat, patted back into shape. Never hang a wet knit cap. Wash it separately from towels and fleece blankets, which shed lint onto it.
• If it pills, that is the yarn and not you. Lay the cap flat and take the pills off with a sweater comb, lightly, in one direction.
• If it is still scratchy, wear something soft underneath. A thin organic cotton or bamboo wig cap between the yarn and your scalp makes an unwearable cap wearable.

And if it never becomes comfortable, that is the yarn, not ingratitude. You are allowed to keep a gift you cannot wear, and you are allowed to say the soft one is your favorite.

Straw does not get washed. Water softens the weave and the shape goes with it. Wipe the outside with a barely damp cloth, spot clean the inner sweatband with a little mild detergent on a cloth, and let it dry on its crown rather than its brim.

Steam is a different matter, and natural straw takes it better than most people expect. Natural straw and raffia relax under steam and can be worked back into shape by hand, which is how a badly bent sun hat gets rescued. Paper braid, synthetic straw, and anything with glued trim or a stiffened finish will not, and steam on those can leave you with a limp brim or a glue mark showing through. If the label does not say and the weave feels papery between your fingers, keep the steam off it.

A badly misshapen or valuable straw hat is worth taking to a hat cleaner rather than experimenting at home.

Take off anything detachable before washing. For trims attached permanently, hand wash or spot clean unless the label clearly allows the machine. Do not soak glued decorations, do not let the embellishment rub against the fabric, and keep feathers and leather out of the water entirely. No steam directly over adhesive, sequins, stones or metallic finishes.

Worth knowing while you are wearing them too: rhinestones, sequins and buttons snag both the hat itself and whatever you pull on over your head. A heavily embellished or mixed material piece is safer with a professional cleaner.

The golden rule with a stain is speed. The second rule, which most instructions miss, is to start with the mildest thing that could work rather than reaching for the strongest. And treat the two kinds of stain differently, because that is the difference between lifting one and setting it.

Water based, such as coffee, tea, juice or wine. Blot with a clean white cloth to soak up the excess, working from the outside of the stain inward so you are not spreading it. Do not rub. Dab with cool water. If water alone does not lift it, work a little liquid detergent into the mark, give it five minutes, and rinse cold.

Oil based, such as foundation, sunscreen, lotion or butter. Do not reach for water first, because water spreads oil and drives it into the fibers. Lift off anything sitting on the surface, work a small amount of liquid detergent directly into the mark with your fingertip, give it five minutes, then rinse cold and wash as usual.

Fingertip, not a toothbrush. Bristles on a soft knit raise a fuzzy patch that never lies back down, and that patch will show more than the stain would have. Keep the piece out of the dryer until the mark is completely gone, because heat sets whatever is left.

A stronger product is not a better product on delicate headwear. Do not move automatically to an enzyme cleaner or a stain spray. Enzyme and oxygen based cleaners break down protein, which means they destroy silk and wool. Chlorine bleach damages silk, wool and spandex. Test anything in a hidden spot such as an inside seam, and rinse every trace out afterward. And never mix cleaning products together, bleach with vinegar most of all, which releases a gas you do not want to be breathing over a sink. For silk, wool, structured hats or unknown fabrics, blot it and take it to a cleaner rather than working through a series of home remedies, because each one you try makes the next harder.

Makeup along the inside band of a turban or a fitted cap. It is oil based, so treat it that way rather than dabbing at it with water. Catching it the same day makes it easy.

Sunscreen that leaves an orange or rust cast, which is not the sunscreen alone but a reaction between one of its ingredients and iron in your tap water. Treat it as an oil stain, wash it promptly, and keep it out of the dryer until the mark is gone. If you have hard water, rinsing in filtered water helps.

Scalp perspiration has nowhere to go when there is no hair to hold it, so it goes into the fabric. This is one of the quiet embarrassments women tell us about, usually after apologizing first, and it deserves a plain answer: it is normal, it is not you, and it is fixable.

Wash more often than feels necessary. Rotate two or three pieces so nothing gets worn damp. Wear a liner and let the liner take it. For a piece that has already picked up an odor, air it first in a shaded, well ventilated room, then a cold soak with a spoonful of baking soda before washing lifts smell better than more detergent will. Baking soda is fine on cotton, bamboo and synthetics, but keep it away from wool and silk, where it is alkaline enough to damage the fiber, and off naturally dyed or woodblock printed pieces, where it can shift the color.

White vinegar does the same job by the opposite route. It is acidic, so it knocks back the bacteria making the smell and strips out the detergent residue holding onto them. A splash in the final rinse, or a cool soak before washing for something stubborn. Use one or the other, though, never both in the same wash. An acid and an alkali cancel each other out and you get the benefit of neither.

Do not double the detergent. Excess detergent creates its own smell and its own stiffness. And skip the fabric refresher, the scent beads and the softener. Adding a second scent on top of the first usually makes it worse.

This distinction catches almost everybody out, and it matters on something worn against a bare scalp. Unscented usually means a masking fragrance was added to cover the smell of the product itself, which is still perfume sitting against your skin all day. Fragrance free means none was added at all. Look for the words fragrance free and dye free together.

Then use less of it, and add an extra rinse. A small splash of plain white vinegar in that last rinse neutralizes leftover detergent, which is the usual culprit behind a hat that itches, and it leaves no scent behind. Most people with sensitive skin do better skipping fabric conditioner altogether. Also worth avoiding: scented detergent, scent beads, dryer sheets, perfume or fabric spray applied to the hat, and heavily fragranced stain removers.

New textiles often carry a finish odor from the factory. It usually fades with airing or a wash, but treatment can sharpen your sense of smell enough to make it unbearable in the meantime. Air the piece out for a day or two before you decide anything, tags still on. Once you know it is yours, wash it in unfragranced detergent, or give it a cold soak with a spoonful of baking soda first if it is cotton, bamboo or synthetic. Not on wool or silk. It passes.

Our woodblock printed and naturally dyed pieces often arrive smelling faintly of the dye. That is normal and it is not a fault. It is the smell of the dyeing and rinsing rather than anything wrong with the piece, and it is part of why the color sits a little differently on every one. It washes out, usually in the first wash and sometimes after two.

• Take it out of the packaging and air it first. Hang it somewhere with air moving through, out of direct sun, for a day or two. A good deal of it leaves on its own.
• Then wash it in cool water with a small amount of fragrance-free detergent, on its own the first few times, since naturally dyed pieces let go of loose surface dye as well as the smell.
• Expect to repeat it once. A second wash usually finishes the job. That is the nature of natural dye rather than a sign something is wrong.
• Dry it in the shade. Natural dye fades in direct sun faster than commercial dye does.

What to skip here. Leave out both baking soda and vinegar, even though each has a use elsewhere on this page. Natural dye colors shift with pH, so baking soda can move them one way and vinegar can move them the other. Plain cool water and a little mild detergent is all this needs. And do not try to cover the smell with perfume or fabric spray, which is the quickest way to end up with something you cannot wear at all.

One more thing, because women mention this to us and then apologize for mentioning it. Chemotherapy can sharpen your sense of smell enormously, so something a friend can barely detect may be far too much for you. That is a real effect of the treatment and not fussiness. If you know you want a particular piece for a particular week, open it and start airing it the day it arrives rather than the morning you need it.

Fabric absorbs the smell of wherever it has been, and infusion rooms have a smell of their own. Weeks later, putting on that particular cap can bring the nausea straight back with it. Women describe this to us as though it is irrational. It is not. Smell memory is real and it is powerful.

Wash the piece in unfragranced detergent and air it outdoors for a day, which is usually enough. Keep one designated cap for appointments so the association stays with that one and not with the hat you love. Do not try to cover it with perfume or fabric spray. And if a hat never lets go of it, you are allowed to be done with that hat.

Use a lint roller to lift loose hair and particles off hats, scarves and turbans. Tape wrapped around your hand with the sticky side out works just as well in a pinch. Choose the tape kind rather than one with an abrasive surface, because the abrasive ones damage delicate fabrics, silk in particular. Test it on the inside first. For silk, loose wool, velvet and trims, use a soft garment brush or lift particles off by hand.

Soft knits and bamboo carry static, and static pulls pet hair toward them. If you live with a dog or a cat, keep your everyday pieces in a closed drawer rather than out in the open, and give a hat a pass with a lint roller before you go out.

One more, in the other direction: while your hair is growing back in, a lint roller over your own stubble picks up the loose hairs that would otherwise end up inside every hat you own.

Pilling is usually abrasion rather than a fault in the fabric, though some fibers and knits pill more readily than others. It shows up in three predictable places: the back of the crown where a cap rubs a coat collar or a car headrest, the side you sleep on, and along a band that gets pulled on and off several times a day. Rotating between two pieces halves all of it, and turning things inside out in a mesh bag stops most of the rest.

To fix it, lay the piece flat and use a sweater comb or a fabric shaver in one direction, lightly, on a dry surface. Do not pull pills off a knit with your fingers, since that takes the loop with them. Keep a shaver away from seams, thin spots, silk, open knits, embroidery and fine bamboo.

You can, but it is the harder way and it goes wrong more often. Headwear is small and curved, so an iron cannot reach the places that crease, and several of the materials react badly to a hot plate. Bamboo can take on a shine that does not come off, and silk marks. A steamer does it in seconds. The method is in the steaming section above.

If you are going to iron, use the lowest setting, work on the inside of the piece, and keep a press cloth between the iron and the fabric. Not on bamboo and never directly on silk. And smooth a piece flat with your hands while it is still damp from the wash, which prevents most wrinkles before they set.

No, and we do not recommend spraying any of our hats with it. Vinegar does not set the dye in a finished hat or scarf. When it looks as though it worked, what happened is that loose surface dye rinsed away. The color that remained was already fixed, or it was not.

What actually protects color: follow the care label, wash deep and saturated shades separately the first few times, use cool water, keep the piece out of direct sun while it dries, and stop washing it if color is still transferring heavily. A color catcher sheet in the first few washes is worth more than any of the home remedies.

That said, vinegar does earn its place. Just not for the job people reach for it for. A quarter cup of plain white vinegar in the final rinse does two things worth having.

It softens, by taking away what makes a hat stiff. Laundry detergent is alkaline and vinegar is acidic, so it neutralizes whatever detergent is still sitting in the fibers. Given that the most common cause of an itchy hat is leftover detergent rather than the wrong detergent, that is a real fix for a real problem, and it does it without fragrance, softener or anything coating the fabric.

It helps with smell. Perspiration odor comes from bacteria and from the residue they cling to, and vinegar helps with both. For something stubborn, soak the piece in cool water with a quarter cup of vinegar before you wash it.

It rinses away clean and takes its own smell with it as the piece dries, so nothing is left behind. Three things to watch: keep it off naturally dyed and woodblock printed pieces, since natural dye shifts with pH in both directions; do not use it in the same wash as baking soda, because they cancel each other out; and never combine it with bleach or any other cleaning product.