Life hack: How to clean a hat without ruining the shape

We all know by now that sun safety is absolutely vital for our health and well-being, especially living in Australia. The ‘slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen, and slap on a hat’ message is well and truly ingrained and followed almost religiously.

This hack is aimed at those hats that we all wear everyday to protect our skin from the sun’s harsh ultra-violet rays, hopefully preventing potential skin cancers, and even protecting against ageing! The trouble comes about in the laundry, where no one is quite sure what to do with hats because they don’t want to wreck the shape by chucking it in the machine. 

No matter how clean you are, everyone has at least one hat that is a little bit grotty because you don’t want to risk ruining it by washing it.

Here’s what you can do to get that grubby, seat stained hat or cap looking like new and feeling fresh again.

1. Place the hat or cap in a large plastic container.

2. Fill with warm water, just enough that the hat or cap is just covered.

3. Sprinkle in approximately one tablespoon of washing detergent and put the lid on the container tightly.

4. Gently shake the container. You will see the water turn brown, and you might need to repeat the steps if the hat is very dirty.

5. Dry the hat on a flat surface in the shade (it will go stiff and crunchy in the sun).

Do you have any clever laundry hacks?