A felt cowboy hat is not exactly cheap. So it is worth your while to take good care of it. If you take good care of it, it will not only last you longer but it will look every bit as good as it did when you bought it!

Proper care begins with prevention. If the hat doesn’t require cleaning or repair, that much remedial care is also avoided. The cardinal rule is: Don’t let the hat get dirty! One very simple way to keep the hat from getting dirty is: wash your hands before handling the hat. Cleaning a felt hat is very difficult, and leads to material damage.

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.

Keep the felt cowboy hat in its own box. If you don’t have the box for the hat, then hang the hat on a hat stand. The hat should be stored upside down to help it keep its shape.

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!

Don’t let the hat get wet. If by chance it does get wet, then dry it out very carefully! You may have to reshape the brim. Let it dry naturally. Turn the sweat band inside out. Then rest the hat on the sweat band. When the hat dries out, reshape the sweat band and the rest of the hat into its original form.

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.