Your baseball cap is probably dirty—here’s how to clean it

The basic structure of a hat—the brim, round shape, and plastic parts—makes it nearly impossible to just throw it in the washing machine when it comes time to wash it.

But considering daily wear and the fact that many people wear hats to hide dirty hair, it’s clear that baseball caps do need cleaning.

Laundry experts share with The Huffington Post the best way to wash your baseball cap to keep it looking new and smelling fresh year-round. This is what they said:

“So, the funniest way, and my favorite way, but the funniest way, is you can wash them on the top rack of the dishwasher,” Part 1 of Laundry Love: Finding Joy in Shared Housework said the book’s author, Patrick Richardson.

He says you can use oxygen bleach or a small amount of dishwashing detergent (which is a form of oxygen bleach) and put it in a regular dishwashing detergent dispenser.

“You just run them through a cycle, just don’t run the heated drying,” Richardson adds. However, he points out that hot water is great for removing sweat stains.

“It’s really the best way to do it, but it’s interesting because it’s a hack, right?” he said.

“First, what I do is I use a soft brush, whether it’s a stiff or hard-bristled brush, and I use a solution of dish soap and water,” says Australian cleaning and organizing social media influencer Leanne Neiland.

She recommends using two to three cups of water and a few drops of dish soap, then dipping a brush into the mixture and scrubbing the baseball cap with the brush.

This is a great way to freshen up a dirty hat or remove a stain.

“Then if there’s a lot of dirt on the lid, which I know I always have with my kids, I’ll use a mixture of washing soda, so maybe a tablespoon or two of washing soda, and then make a paste of it and scrub it into the dirt Up,” she added.

Washing soda is a more powerful version of baking soda, which makes it great for removing stains, but it can be harsh, so use with caution.

If you want to wash your hat in a washing machine, there is a way. Richardson says you can find hat cleaning cages on sites like Amazon that snap around your hat. This allows it to maintain its shape during washing.

Richardson said this is his second favorite way to clean baseball caps (the dishwasher is his top choice).

“You do need warm water—cold water won’t get rid of that gunk,” says Richardson. “Oxygen bleach may be your friend because it’s great at removing sweat,” he adds.

If you don’t have a dishwasher, you can hand-wash your hat—but Richardson says that’s his least favorite way to clean a hat. He recommends using hot water, oxygen bleach and a few drops of laundry detergent.

“I would put the hat in there and let it soak until… the water was cold enough that I could put my hand in it, and then I would scrub the inside of the brim with a bar of laundry soap and a brush,” Richardson said.

“The reason this is my least favorite is that it’s the least effective at removing sweat rings. It will do the job, but it’s more work and requires more manual effort,” he says.

There’s a reason oxygen bleach is the recommended ingredient in most hat cleaning methods.

“It’s nontoxic, a great stain remover, and it’s great for color, so it won’t bleach your hat,” Niland noted, meaning it’s very different from chlorine bleach.

For very dirty hats, Niland says she soaks them in oxygen bleach overnight, since oxygen bleach usually takes some time to work. After soaking, give it a good rinse.

You can find oxygen bleach online and at any drug store. OxiClean is a popular brand for this product.

If you wash it in the dishwasher, the hat will naturally be held up by the dish rack. But if you choose to hand-wash your hat, you’ll want to make sure to dry it over a bowl or two cups, Richardson says.

He said this would help the hat maintain its rounded shape.

You don’t need to over-wash your hat.

“If you wear hats every day, they tend not to get moldy, but if you put them in a cabinet over the winter, they will,” says Niland. “You should wash them at least once per season and at least at the end of the season.”

Or, for example, if you only wear your hat during baseball season, you should wash it immediately after the season, Richardson adds.

But this is the minimum. If you wear a hat during sweaty outdoor activities, wearing it once a season may not be enough.

“I really think you need to clean it when it feels dirty and looks dirty,” Richardson said.

“I’m telling you, I’ve heard that if a watch band is really sweaty and greasy, it can cause acne,” Richardson said. So, all the more reason to make sure your hat stays clean all year round.

Is there any way to help keep it a little cleaner throughout the season? Spray some hairspray on the inner edge. “This avoids [getting] Makeup on the edge of the hat, because foundation is really hard to remove,” Niland said.

If your hat is a little smelly but isn’t actually dirty, you can spray some vodka to get rid of the smell, says Richardson.

“Vodka can take the smell out of just about anything,” says Richardson. “That’s a property unique to vodka. It can’t be used with any other alcohol… It’s odorless, so you can spray it all you want, and when it dries, it’s completely Gone. It’s very antibacterial, that’s why it works.

Whether you need to spot clean stains, give a dirty hat a thorough cleaning, or just remove odors, there are plenty of ways to keep your baseball cap looking fresh.

“No matter which way you clean it, for God’s sake, just clean it because it’s easy,” Richardson said.