Learning the Truth about Your Felt Cowboy Hat.
Cowboy hat is one of the major staples of the traditional western wear in America. They symbolize an unpolished style and play a very significant role in the history of the modern fashion. You will get these iconic accessories in dusty rodeo in Texas, country music festivals in Nashville. They are produced out of different natural resources. The animal fur and sheep wool are the most widespread raw materials. Fur felt that is normally used is that of beaver or rabbit. The fur felt of high quality is very strong and it retains its shape extremely in the rough weather. The wool felt is cheaper however; it has to be taken care of on a daily basis much more. The first step in long term care is that of knowing which hat material to use. The hats made of fur felt that are of high quality will have an internal X rating system impressed on the crown. The more Xs the higher the percentage of premium beaver fur that was used in the process of manufacturing. The fur of the beaver is waterproof in nature and extremely hardy to external conditions. The hats made of wool are softer and can shrink severely in case they are too wet during rain. Wool variations should be dealt with with a lot of care so as to avoid being damaged permanently. This is an extensive manual that emphasizes a lot on maintaining both kinds of materials in their immaculate state to accommodate the normal USA traffic. A nice hat is an expensive financial purchase and maintenance of the purchase is a shield.
Cleaning Tools that are important in cleaning hats.
It is impossible to work out a decent cleaning job before collecting the appropriate tools. Preparing your favorite cleaning products before is a sure way of ensuring that the whole exercise is seamless and very effective. A high quality horsehair hat brush is your most important tool that you have. You will require a special brush, with hair of a very soft natural horsehair. Artificial bristles made in hard material will harshly scratch the fine fabric and destroy the well-polished factory finish. In case you have several hats of various colors in your wardrobe, then you should always purchase two brushes. A dark bristle brush is to be used when doing black or brown hats. A light bristle brush is only to be used with your white or tan hats. Confusion will cause them to be spilled onto your light hat which is bright. A dry hat cleaning sponge is also required in spot treatment. These are rubber sponges that are specially designed to pick heavy dirt without the use of the slightest drop of water. Have some ordinary talcum powder or simple kitchen cornstarch in case of some accidental grease. A pocket garment steamer is an excellent investment option in terms of money to remodel distorted hats. In case you lack a steamer that you can use readily, you can use a boiling stovetop teakettle. A small bottle of felt hat cleaner spray that is used to do incredibly tough jobs should also be picked up. A microfiber cloth that is clean will be required to wipe the interior of the leather sweatband.
Daily Cleaning and General cleaning.
The secret of a long lasting cowboy hat is to have it done daily as preventative maintenance. All the dust of everyday and the dirt flying about in the atmosphere are precisely like the rough sandpaper on the microscopic felt fibers. They will physically disintegrate the fragile material in the course of time provided they are not under the control of the slightest attention. You have to brush your hat every time you remove it out of your head at the end of the day. Grab the hat quite firmly at the solid crown of the hat. It is necessary to brush the felt counterclockwise. This is an important indispensable principle of all the traditional felt hats. A very specific directional nap or grain is made of the felt. Counterclockwise brushing will automatically put the minute fibres in total smoothness. Going against the grain will cause the fragile surface to be scratched and the whole hat appear hideous. Begin at the top of the hat and go all the way round at the sides to the back. Go to the top of the crown and do the same counter clockwise sweeping movement. The final thing to do is to brush the under part of the brim in the same directional fashion. Apply very sweeping strokes which are very smooth. There is no need to use any form of heavy physical pressure. The bristles will be soft, and will have the hard task of removing the dust on the surface. You should make sure that you put your hat back in the right place right after cleaning it. Your dirty kitchen table should not have it lying flat on it and you should not toss it carelessly on a bed. Put it firmly upside down upon its crown. The set of the heavy hat on its brim will bring the brim down and will give it a cheap look.
Eradicating Greasy Marks and Spots.
It is a fact that sometimes even a simple brush used on a daily basis cannot be used to complete the tough jobs. Thick mud or greasy forehead or food grease may be common to you in your day to day affairs. These stains should be dealt with with care so as not to cause the dirt to go further into the fine strands of felt. Always allow wet mud to dry, then you will never even attempt to take it off. Wet mud will simply smear violently on the surface and leave an even greater mass of stain. After the mud is bone dry then take your hat brush and violently beat off the loose chunks of dirt. Dry cleaning rubber sponge Take your dry cleaning rubber sponge and rub the deep stain left. The dirty stuff that is microscopic will be physically held by the sticky rubber substance and straight up of the felt. Clean the sponge with a sharp pocket knife to remove the dirty used layer removing an edge of the sponge that is always perfectly clean. The oily stains and grease also demand a totally different approach of chemicals. A layer of standard kitchen cornstarch to the offending spot of grease should be sprinkled with an extremely thick layer. Just leave the white powder lying there and do not touch it at the most during three full hours. The liquid oil will be soaked by the dry powder making it automatically absorb on the felt fibers. Sweep the powder remaining off fiercely with your clean hat brush. The whole powder procedure should be repeated in the event that the grease stain has not disappeared. A special hat cleaning spray of liquids, which is used in case of a serious and stubborn stain, may be applied carefully. Apply the chemical cleaner on soft microfiber cloth and dab the stain. Spray the rough cleaner in no way on the real surface of the hat. Do not rub the wet stain bitterly against the cloth. Dabbing so as not to press the stain out, but to raise it, the delicate nap grain is taken out.
Addressing Water Damage and Water Shaping.
The weather in America is very unpredictable and your hat may be drenched in heavy downpour. It is not a cause to panic when your costly felt hat is soaked in water. It can be easily saved in case of following the correct drying processes. Wet hat should never be dried using a hot bathroom hairdryer. Ever never put your hat anywhere that has a hot space heater or a home radiator. The extreme heat will be caused artificially, and the leather sweatband will quickly contract, along with the entire felt structure that will not be able to be fixed. The only method that is absolutely safe in drying a wet felt hat is through natural drying in the normal room temperature. Push the upper crown completely out in order to have it standing straight up and tall. Roll up the inside leather sweatband completely in order to dry it completely. Wet the soaking hat tipping on its crown on a clean dry towel. Keep it all to itself till it is perfectly dry to the touch of a human being. When it is completely dry one may easily see that the general outline is somewhat distorted or tilted. This is at this point that the hot steam turns into your best friend at all costs. Keep the distorted hat in place, so long as running garment steamer or boiling water teakettle. You have to ensure that your bare hands are nowhere in the hot steam. Allow the heavy steam to enter the stiff felt some few seconds. The hot and humid weather will miraculously make the stiffening agents that are hard and embedded in the felt fabric soft. Then, it is possible to use your own fingers to press the floppy brim or the dented crown into the right original form gently. Keep the shape of the shape maker in position till the felt is totally cooled to room temperature. When it cools it will be locked permanently in that very position.
Looking after Leather Sweatband.
The surface that is exposed to the outside receives all the attention of the general public yet the inside receives all the hard work. The sweat band inside of it is very violent in absorbing the daily sweat and natural skin oils which are directly taken in your forehead. It will soon dry up and shatter into bits in case you do not pay any attention to it. A torn leather sweatband is painfully unbearable on the skin and it is extremely costly to repair it by a professional. The sweatband is to be thoroughly washed on a regular basis in order to maintain its soft and supple texture. Using a slightly damp soft cloth, wipe the whole band of leather cleaning it of the dried white salt and dirt. Wet sweatband should be left out in the air to dry fully in the inside out state. Take a minute dose of high quality leather conditioner, put it on a separate soft cloth. Massage the deep rich conditioner into the leather with circular small motions. Dry off all the excess conditioner using a dry towel. This is a very easy maintenance procedure that can be completed within five minutes but provides numerous long years to the overall life of the favorite hat. One should always ensure that the oily leather conditioner should not come in contact with the outside felt material.
Long-term care should be properly stored.
Switching seasons also tend to imply you may pack your heavy felt hat in the wardrobe a few weeks in the summertime. Long term storage that is done properly will ensure that there is no destruction of moth and heavy dust deposits. A cardboard or plastic hat box is the most durable one and is the best storage solution. A fine protective hat box will also save your monetary investment against the accidental squashed brims and sun-damaged colors. You can support the heavy hat in the dark box to ensure that the fine brim is not in physical contact with the hard bottom surface. A cheap cardboard hat ring or the simple rolled up clean towel can be easily used to support the inverted crown. Store the closed box into a cool and absolutely dry indoor bedroom closet. Never keep your hat in any uninsulated dusty attic or the damp dark basement. The seasonal changes in temperature will be too severe completely destroying the fine felt integrity. It is not advisable to leave your hat in a parked car that is hot or in a sun-covered truck dashboard. The solar heat is trapped and is heated like the baking kitchen oven. It will fiercely downsize the hat several times over and permanently distort the brim that is hard to bend. You simply have to treat your cowboy hat like a fine piece of tailored clothes and it will be happy to serve you happily over the next decades with their daily services.
Frequently Asked Questions
I have a felt hat, may I put it in the washing machine?
A felt cowboy hat must not by any means be placed in a mechanical washing machine. The physical agitation which is violent and the scalding of hot water will totally ruin structural integrity of the hat. It will immediately drop off its shape of custom and reduce to the size of a tiny that can never be worn. Never wipe your delicate hat harshly, but do it by the hand by means of dry brushing, as much as you can.
What about a hat which has been crushed to death?
A dented hat is hideous enough yet it can be normally mended at home. Heavy thick steam should be applied to the crushed section that is in deep down, with the help of a handheld garment steamer. The internal chemical stiffeners that are used in keeping the felt together will quickly be softened by the hot steam. Poke all the deep dent right out of the inside with your hard thumbs. Flatten the warm felt to its full extent with it still hot and than leave it to cool.
How does one clean a white felt hat?
The darker the dirt applied on the white hats it is bound to show much faster than any other color that can be applied. You have to be extremely careful about using a special brush of light bristles, which has never been in contact with a dark brown or black hat. Cleaning sponge This should be a clean white dry rubber sponge used on any dark spot. The generic white blackboard chalk can also be rubbed lightly all over the dark stubborn spots to effectively conceal them in case they are not removed by normal cleaning.
What is the schedule of cleaning my cowboy hat?
Having a horsehair brush, you should brush your hat lightly after each daily use in order to prevent the massive amount of dust. Major chemical cleaning is actually only applied when one has some dark stains which are highly visible or when one has gone through a summer of excessive sweating. Incidentally, when you over clean your hat using severe liquid chemicals, you tend to destroy the natural felt fibres in the hat very gradually.
How do you know what the X rating of my hat means?
The X rating that is printed on the sweatband shows the exact quality of the felt blend to be used. An increase in the Xs will indicate the existence of a high percentage of high quality wild animal fur than low quality sheep wool. The high X rating hat will automatically have a long life span and be able to resist high rains as compared to the low X rating hat.
Is it possible to apply ordinary soap and water on the stains?
Felt material should not be washed using normal household soap and liquid water. Once liquid water is completely dried on the hat surface, it is easy to obtain a long-term dark water ring. The chemicals in the house soaps are usually much too harsh and will strip the fur felt of the natural protective oils. Always use dry rubber sponges and cleaning sprays that are used to clean hats.
Final Thought
It is a very great experience to own a high quality authentic western hat on a daily basis. It is a masterpiece age old fashion accessory that in an instant gives a piece of authenticity to any outfit. This is a necessary life technique, and the person who owns a felt cowboy hat should know how to clean it. The overall maintenance procedure solely involves the basic patience and the appropriate basic tools. Daily brushing is an extremely long way in ensuring that beautiful factory fresh appearance is upheld to the letter. Do not forget to always give a deep respect to the natural counterclockwise nap of the felt and apply a lot of care in the use of hot steam in the process of reshaping. The tighter hat of yours will feel as natural and as possible and fully customized the more time you decide to wear it out. Keep your felt hat in good condition to-day and it will be with you proudly on all your outdoor tours in the next several decades.
