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How I Cleaned My Husband’s 15-Year-Old Baseball Cap (and It Worked!)

A few weeks ago, my husband was frantically looking for his baseball cap. He coaches our oldest son’s baseball team, and we were rushing to leave the house for a game. (If you’re a baseball family, you know we can’t leave without a hat! 🙃) In a bind, he grabbed an old hat that he’s probably had since way back when we were in college.

It wasn’t until we got home that I noticed how gross the hat was—literally covered in sweat stains and brown on the inside (I’ll spare you the photos). I couldn’t believe it!

Recently, I saw in a cleaning Facebook group I’m in that Pine-Sol is the magic sauce when it comes to tough stains (and smells!). I figured it was worth a shot and thought I’d share how I managed to clean the cap using some basic household products you probably already have on hand!

What I Used:

• Dish soap (I used the generic version of Dawn but any will work)

• Lysol Laundry Sanitizer (sport version – the green one)

• Lemon Pine-Sol (but any Pine-Sol should work)

• A small scrub brush (optional)

This cleaning method worked so well that I’m planning to do a separate post on how to get sweat smells out of stinky work uniforms. But for today, let’s focus on the hat!

Step-by-Step Process for Cleaning a Baseball Cap:

1. Prepping the Hat

Start by filling a large bowl with water and adding 2–3 capfuls of Pine-Sol. Pine-Sol has special chemicals that break down sweat and bacteria, which is super important when dealing with something this dirty.

Since this hat hadn’t been washed in over 15 years (yes, we’re older millennials!), I wanted to make sure the solution could penetrate the grime. Make sure not to smash or wring the hat while soaking it—you just want to submerge it gently. Let it soak for about 10 minutes.

Pro Tip: When you come back, the water will likely be brown and murky if the hat is as dirty as ours was. Gross, but satisfying!

2. Wash with Dish Soap and Laundry Sanitizer

fter dumping the dirty water, refill the bowl with clean water and add a few squirts of dish soap. I didn’t measure exactly but aimed for a nice, sudsy solution. Add about half a cap of Lysol Laundry Sanitizer for good measure.

Make sure to put the soap into the water before adding the hat, so you don’t get concentrated soap stuck in the fabric. Swish the hat around in the soapy water, fully submerging it, but remember—no wringing!

3. Rinsing and Drying

After the second soak, dump out the water and rinse the hat in clean water. This took about three rinses to feel like all the soap was gone.

Next, pat the hat dry with a towel, especially around the brim. Squeeze gently to get the excess water out, but never wring it, or you risk deforming the shape.

Since it’s fall here in Maryland, I set the hat outside to dry. It wasn’t too hot, but the sun helped disinfect it further. I imagine this method would work in any weather, but the sun is always a bonus when drying.

The Results:

I couldn’t believe how well this method worked! The hat looked almost brand new after drying. Have you ever tried cleaning a baseball cap like this? Let me know in the comments if you found this method helpful or if you have a technique that works for you!

Happy hat cleaning!

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