Washing a knitted hat

A hat, like any other item of clothing, needs to be washed periodically. However, the difficulty is that such hats are usually warm, and therefore are made of wool or other materials similar to it. Is it possible to wash a knitted hat in a machine, or will it damage the fiber irreparably?

Traditional care preferred

As you know, it is recommended to wash woolen products by hand. This way you will eliminate the risk of deformation and damage to the fibers. As for soaking, woolen items do not like it, but by following certain rules, this prohibition can be circumvented. For this:

• pour 5 liters of water at 30 degrees into a container;
• crumble soap shavings there;
• add two tablespoons of ammonia;
• leave for half an hour.

After this, rinse the hat well in clean water and wash by hand according to the scheme described below. For washing you will need a soap solution again. You can make it from household soap 72%, natural baby soap without dyes or shampoo (not only shampoo for humans, but also pet shampoo is suitable). You can add 1 tsp to the resulting mixture. glycerin to soften the composition.

If you need to wash a white hat, do not add bleach under any circumstances. You can replace them with salt and hydrogen peroxide. Crumble soap into water at 30-35 degrees or add another detergent of your choice, add 3 tablespoons of salt and 10 ml of hydrogen peroxide. Let the hat sit in this solution for 20 minutes to half an hour, and then wash it.

Attention! If the hat is fluffy, add hair conditioner when rinsing, the effect will surprise you.

When washing, do not wrinkle, do not rub the hat and generally handle it as little as possible.Any strong mechanical movements may damage the shape of the product.

Let's use the washer

In the end, it’s problematic to go through the hassle of hand washing every time for just one hat. Therefore, it is useful to know how to wash a hat automatically and safely.

• Determine the correct washing program and select the appropriate detergent. The temperature depends on the composition of the product. There are special programs for pure cotton, synthetics or mixed fabrics; the required temperature is already set there.
• Hats where wool predominates in the composition are washed on a special “Wool” mode. In its absence, any delicate mode will do. Don't forget to turn off spinning and drying.
• Use liquid textures as detergent, not powder.
• When washing automatically, the knitting may suffer from mechanical friction against the bulge of the drum. A mesh laundry bag will help prevent this.

Since you can’t wring out a hat either in a machine or by hand, after washing, leave the product in the drum for a while so that excess moisture leaves it on its own. Only then can you take the product out and dry it.

Removing moisture from items

It is difficult to wash a hat correctly, but it is even more difficult to dry it correctly, because it is doubly offensive to spoil a product that has already been successfully washed.

It is recommended to dry the hats on a horizontal surface, placing a cotton sheet or any other product made of durable natural fabric under them. Even better is to find a round-shaped object that roughly follows the contours of the head and “put” a hat on it. By drying the headdress in this way, you can be sure that its shape will be maintained.

You should not wring out the hat, especially in the washing machine.The most you can do is lightly press the fur with your fingers. Some housewives recommend leaving the clothes in the drum for a while after washing them in the machine. The excess moisture will go away on its own, and all you have to do is lay out the product correctly for drying.

Important! A terry towel absorbs moisture perfectly. If you wrap a woolen hat in it after washing, the product will then dry much faster.

If you do dry the hat horizontally, turn it over periodically and make sure that creases do not form on the knitting.

What if the hat has a pompom?

If there is a fur pompom on the hat, you need to find out what kind of fur it is made of - real or artificial. Synthetic fur can be washed by hand. After drying, you can give the fur ball its original appearance using a brush.

Do not allow moisture to get on natural fur, otherwise it will be irreparably damaged. If the pompom is sewn on, some housewives rip it off and return it to its place after washing.

If the pompom is glued to the hat, or it is too small to tear off, you need to wrap the fur part with a plastic bag and tie it tightly with white thread. After this, the hat can be washed by hand, trying to keep water on the pom pom to a minimum, despite the fact that it is protected.

You can clean the pompom itself using a brush and a hair dryer set to a stream of cold air.

The white pompom can be refreshed and whitened without washing. To do this, use a cotton swab and hydrogen peroxide. Rub the lint with a disk, and then comb the pompom.

How to restore a stretched hat?

What should those who have already neglected proper washing and ruined their knitted hat by stretching it do? High temperature water will help return the product to its original size. Pour water heated to at least 60 degrees into a container and place the hat there.

After holding the product in hot water for 10 minutes, transfer it to cold water for 10 minutes. The temperature difference will “shrink” the thing. The first time the previous size may not return. Then repeat the procedure until you are satisfied with the result. However, don't overdo it! Still, reducing the size of the hat is easier than increasing it later.

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