I’m sure every die-hard gardener has their most very favorite gardening hat. Mine is a Scala hat, very wide brim, that has perched on my head going on three seasons now. It’s made of palm leaves, but very tightly woven and durable. Margaret the Mantis ( a pin) guards the hat against insect predators…….
Anyway, I’ve been noticing that the hat was getting pretty funky looking from sweating in it every day, adjusting it with dirty gloved hands, laying it aside while doing something in the garden that warrants the hat being removed, and just three years of constant use. I bought a new hat, but it just isn’t the same. Sooooo, I began trying to figure out how to wash the hat without destroying it.
I sprayed the entire hat with Shout laundry pre-soak, really soaking the sweatband inside and the dirtiest spots on the hat. I then placed the hat upside down on the top rack of the dishwasher and I put a coffee cup inside it to keep it from moving around in the dishwasher. I don’t have my dishwasher set on what I call the “nuclear cycle” where the washer heats the water so hot it melts plastic, but if yours is set to destroy plastic items I would suggest putting it on energy saver or whatever cycle cancels the water heater. I set it on a short wash and it came out really pretty clean. There is still a very faint spot in the front where sweat soaks through, but now I can once again wear my hat in town without being embarrassed, and Margaret likes it too.
Wild Things Farm 