Friday, December 5, 2008

The Care And Maintenance of Felt Cowboy Hats

By Ned Dagostino

A good quality felt cowboy hat is quite expensive. Apart from the money value there will also be a pride of ownership associated with the hat. Naturally, you won't want to see the hat become unwearable in a year or two. To prevent that from happening you must take good, proper care of the hat. Good and proper care will see the hat last for a good many seasons, its looks gaining character, so to speak.

Your great looking felt cowboy hat won't look great if it is all grimy and dirty. Getting the dirt out of a felt cowboy hat is the devil itself. The felt is likely to get damaged in the process, too. As the old saying goes: 'An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure'. It means that instead of spending time over cleaning the hat up, it will be better not to let the hat get soiled in the first place! The most common reason of soilage is the sweat and grime that gets transferred from your hands to the hat when you pick it up, or position it on your head. Moral: Make sure your hands are clean afore touching that felt cowboy hat.

Another point is that you should handle the hat by the brim, not the crown. The hat will lose its shape the more you push and pull the crown. The crown will be cleaner too.

When you're not wearing it, store the hat away in its original hat box. If you don't have the original hat box, then find another one of suitable size to accommodate your hat. Never leave the hat lying around on a table or other exposed place. Do you know the proper way to keep a hat in storage? The proper way to store a hat is upside down! Store it on its crown not on its brim. The brim will "wilt" with the weight of the hat if it is stored for any great length of time. If you choose to hang the hat on a hat stand, then of course, the hat goes right side up!

Protect the hat from strong heat sources. That means you don't leave the hat near the radiator or the furnace. Doing so will shrink the sweat band and that means you'll not be able to get the hat to fit you again!

Getting your felt cowboy hat wet is not going to improve its looks or its shape. Felt does not take kindly to water. It gets all shrunk up, and crumpled, and bedraggled. Felt doesn't get back into shape very easily. If your felt cowboy hat does get wet, the best thing to do is to let it dry out. This must be done naturally. Do not attempt to use a hair drier on it or a blower to get it to dry faster. There is a trick or two in getting your felt cowboy hat to dry out properly. Rest the hat on the sweat band not the brim. Turn the sweat band inside out, so that it forms a sort of collar on which the hat can rest without putting the weight on the brim. You will have to apply a little finishing touch here and there to work the creases out of the hat.

A felt cowboy hat will tolerate a little rain, now and again. But it will really be better if you use a hat cover for those rainy days.

I hope you understood the tips in this article. They'll help in keeping your felt cowboy hat in perfect condition for a long time to come. - 16083

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