Cleaning baseball, style caps...

[ironglow]

  This is probably the closest forum I could find..  I have several of the popular and ubiquitous baseball style caps that need a good scrubbing.

  So I am asking for your advice..  I don't see how just popping them in the washer would do them any good..being concerned that the "duck bill' may
 just shred away, or otherwise collapse.

    So how about it...what is the best way to clean them?

[scattershot]

I wash mine in the dishwasher (without the dishes). You’ll have to leave them in the sun to dry but it does a good job.

[JoeG52]

I just throw it in with the dog's towels and my hunting clothes. It hasn't been ruined yet. Sometimes I rub a little extra detergent on the really dirty part of the cap first.

[Lloyd Smale]

i just toss them theres probably 30 of them in the closet to replace a grungy one. i keep a couple grungys for dirty work . only cleaning ive done is if the bill gets some dirt a spray some windex on it and wipe with a wash cloth. my grungys tend to disappear. if they get a bit ripe the wife tosses them. kind of laugh because a chewed her ass for it once so now she tosses them and gives me 20 bucks to buy a new one.

[ironglow]

  Thanks guys, I welcome any tips I can get..  Two things I can't do..  1) No dishwasher  2) There are a couple I don't want to toss..because they are
    irreplaceable..

   ..But I can try some of the other methods, and appreciate any ideas I can try.

[Dee]

With some light wire put the cap on an upside down kitchen bowl, and put it into the dishwasher. Might want to put an extra rinse cycle, and just use your regular dishwasher soap. Won't loose their shape, and come out clean every time.

[Bob Riebe]

When I wash my all cloth baseball caps, IF, it has sweat stains, I will brush stain remover, good stuff, into that area before washing.

I put it in with a smaller load, and usually put it over some thing similar in shape to one's head to dry.

[Lloyd Smale]

wife has some dawn laudry spray for stains. i wonder if that and a little water wouldnt do it. she raves about the crap for taking stains out and cleaning her closet full of sneakers

[Ranger99]

Have to keep in mind
Any of the chemicals you put on an
article of clothing, you'll have to get
it rinsed back out if it's something
that touches your skin

[Lloyd Smale]

ever smell you clothes after there washed. that nice smell is a chemical. any time you use a bar of soap your putting chemicals on you hand. ever clean a gun? change oil in your car? we eat chemicals every day. im sure as crap not going to worry about some cleaning crap on a hat.

Have to keep in mind
Any of the chemicals you put on an
article of clothing, you'll have to get
it rinsed back out if it's something
that touches your skin

[ironglow]

  Looks like the bill on those caps doesn't deteriorate in a regular wash cycle, so I will start with a couple that are not valued pieces..

[ironglow]

  Well, I ran 3 caps through the wash today.  They seem to have come out well, but I did learn by one of them, that I should have unhooked the
    adjustrable strap in the rear of the cap,,,DUH ..

  The more stained part on one, I treated with Rustoleum "tough task remover", another with another of my favorites..Dawn dish soap.

  Both came out pretty good...except the one treated with Rustoleum was the one with a broken adjustment starp..so I'll have to pitch it !

  Putting on a "head shape" to dry..    Thanks guys.,,..

[Land_Owner]

I would certainly "experiment" with the least likely caps to keep, or caps of "no value", just in case the method destroys the cap.  The bills are likely cardboard that is sewn through and through.  Water expands cardboard so use sparingly.  A "water-based" method may be the most damaging.

There are plastic cages, "bill keepers", for caps to hold their shape.  "Bill keepers" are certainly not a method for washing but could be of value after the fact in holding shape. 

IDK if dry cleaning is any good, but it could be worth asking if you have some caps of extraordinary value or sentimentality.  Perhaps the dried on sweat and dirt adds to the cap's value?  One that was worn and signed might be of better value than one only signed.  IDK...

[ironglow]

From Land Owner;
   
     " IDK if dry cleaning is any good, but it could be worth asking if you have some caps of extraordinary value or sentimentality.  Perhaps the dried on sweat and dirt adds to the cap's value?  One that was worn and signed might be of better value than one only signed.  IDK..."

    My caps, if autographed, would likely be worth less, due to the scribbling on them..   I don't have any fan club, at least not that I know about! 

[Dee]

I guess washing a baseball cap is more complicated in other places than it is here. They even sell baseball cap racks down here to go in the dishwasher, but I've always just put'em on an appropriate sized bowl and secured'em with those cheap little bungee cords, or an old coat hanger. Dump a little dishwasher detergent into the dispenser and turn it on.
Never had any problems with the bills coming apart or any of that.

[ironglow]

  With no dishwasher, I had to run mine through the regular washer.  I included them in with a regular wash, believing that the bulk of uther clothes would "cushion" the bills..  so far it looks like it worked.

  i know that years ago some kind of cardboard was used inside the bills, so I was quite tenative about what water would do to them...especially  soapy
   water.  ..But so far the y don't seem to have suffered.

   ..I put them on an inverted bowl to air dry.