If you’re wearing your wool hats to keep you warm in the winter, the odds are your wool hat will get wet. The real question is, can wool hats get wet?
Yes, wool hats can get wet. Wool is naturally water resistant so just getting wet won’t hurt your hat. But, be careful how you dry your hat, lay it flat to dry. If you put your hat in the dryer or agitate it will shrink.
We’ll unveil the mystery behind why wool shrinks when you dry it and how to properly dry your wool hat if it does get wet. Then, for an added bonus, we’ll tell you how to waterproof your wool to keep it from getting too wet in the winter months.
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Can Wool Hats Get Wet?
Wool hats can absolutely get wet. In fact, they’re one of the best kinds of fabrics to wear when they’re wet. Here’s why:
Wool is naturally water resistant. So, even if it starts raining on you, it’ll take a long time for the water to actually soak through the wool and make it to your skin.
I did a study about how long it takes for wool to soak up water, you can read about that here to know more about the properties of wool.
The real concern with your wool hat getting wet comes from having to dry your wool hat afterward.
You might already know this, but, you shouldn’t put your wool clothes in the washer like normal laundry because if wool is agitated while it’s wet, it will felt.
But, what does it mean for wool to felt?
Each individual wool fiber has microscopic scales that run along the surface of the fiber, think like fish scales. Normally, these scales are aligned and get along with one another. However, when wool felts, these scales grab onto one another and get all tangled up.
This causes the wool to seize up and pull together because all the fibers are stuck to one another.
How to avoid this, you ask? In order to know how to avoid it, you need to know how to make it happen.
The combination that causes felting is heat, moisture, and agitation or shock. So, to prevent felting, you just have to avoid one of these things.
If your wool hat gets wet, don’t agitate it and your hat won’t shrink. This is why you should never put a wool hat, or any wool item, in the dryer.
But, what do you do if your hat does end up getting wet?
How to Dry a Wet Wool Hat
As the good hat owner that you are, you want to take care of your hat. So, let’s talk about how to safely dry your hat to increase the life of your hat.
You might already know this, but, you shouldn’t put your wool hat in the washer or dryer like normal laundry because if wool is agitated while it’s wet, it will felt.
But, what does it mean for wool to felt?
Each individual wool fiber has microscopic scales that run along the surface of the fiber, like fish scales. Normally, these scales are aligned and get along with one another. However, when wool felts, these scales grab onto one another and get all tangled up.
This causes the wool to seize up and pull together because all the fibers are stuck to one another.
The combination that causes felting is heat, moisture, and agitation or shock. So, to prevent felting, you have to avoid one of these things.
If your wool hat gets wet, don’t agitate it and your hat won’t shrink. This is why you should never put a wool hat, or any wool item, in the dryer.
So, then, how do you dry it?
1. Remove Excess Water
To help your hat dry as quickly as possible, you first need to remove the excess water.
For a felt hat, shake the hat to remove any excess water and then gently pat it dry with a clean towel. Do not wring it or you will ruin its shape.
For a knit hat, gently squeeze the hat being careful not to wring it. Then, place your hat on a clean towel and tightly roll the hat into the towel. The towel will absorb the excess moisture from the wool.
2. Let it Air Dry
Wool can absorb a ton of water, so it can take a long time to dry. Don’t be tempted to speed up the drying process by placing it in direct sunlight or near a heat source.
This direct heat could cause your hat to shrink or become mishappen.
Be patient and allow your hat to dry slowly indoors. For knit hats, hang it on a drying rack or lay it flat on a towel, be careful not to hang it by one corner or side. The weight of the wet wool will stretch it down away from that point.
If you place it on a towel, be sure to flip it over every once in a while to help it dry evenly and completely.
For felt hats, set your hat on a flat, clean surface or hang it on something round like a doorknob.
Since felt hats are already felted, they won’t deform or stretch as easily as a knit hat but you still need to be mindful of hanging on anything too pointy like a coat hook.
3. Reshape or Brush as Needed
If you have a wool beanie then you can skip this step. Your hat should be ready to wear again once it’s dry.
However, if you have a felt hat, there are a couple more things you might want to do.
Before you do anything else to your hat, you’ll want to brush off any dust or gunk that might have gotten on it during its rainy day adventures.
I recommend using a soft bristle brush to brush off any dirt. Here’s a good soft brush from Amazon (I’ll earn a small commission if you use my link.)
You can use a lint roller to clean your hat but a lint roller will stick to anything on the hat including the wool fibers it’s made out of which is why a hat brush is a better option.
Once your hat is sparkly clean, check your hat to see if it’s still the original shape. If it is, wonderful, if not you’ll need to reshape it.
To reshape your hat, you’ll need to steam it and then gently reform it how you want. You can do this with the crown of the hat as well as the brim.
Here’s a good video that shows how to reshape a felt hat.
Once your hat is reshaped it’s ready to go out into the world again.
If you don’t want to go through this drying process every time you wear your hat in the rain, there are two ways you can waterproof it.
How to Waterproof Wool
If you wear a wool hat all the time and want to know how to prevent it from getting wet, then you’ve come to the right place.
Wool can be waterproofed so it sheds water more easily and prevents your wool hat from getting wet in the first place.
There are a couple of different ways to do this. You can put the natural wool grease, called lanolin, back into the wool or you can use a commercial waterproofing spray.
Waterproof Your Hat with Lanolin
Lanolin is a natural waterproof grease produced by sheep to protect their wool. When wool is cut right off the sheep it is full of this waterproofing agent. However, when you have a garment made out of wool or wool yarn, it has usually been washed and the lanolin has been removed.
You can put the lanolin back into the wool to make it water repellant.
To do this, you wash your wool with a lanolin water mixture. You can do this with anything made out of wool including yarn and finished items.
However, if your felt hat has a leather sweatband or other materials on the inside of the crown, you won’t want to wash it in lanolin as it will stick to this material and make it gummy.
To get started, you will need a wool wash or mild liquid dish detergent, lanolin wax (See on Amazon), and two sinks or tubs (one to soak your wool and one for the lanolin wash).
1. Soak your wool
First, you want to soak your wool in hot water, you can let your wool soak while you prepare your lanolin mix. This opens up the wool cuticles which lets the lanolin soak into the wool more thoroughly.
Fill up a tub or sink with hot water, as hot as your tap will go will be perfect. Once you have enough water to cover your wool item, gently place the item in the water and press it down gently.
Remember, don’t agitate it! This will cause your wool to felt and seize up.
Just push it into the water and hold it down so it soaks in all the water. Do this gentle up-and-down motion a couple of times to ensure your wool is thoroughly soaked.
Let it soak while you move on to the next step.
2. Make the lanolin mix
Fill up your second tub or sink with very hot water, you might even have to boil some water and add it. This water has to be hot enough to melt the lanolin wax.
Now, add your lanolin and soap. For a small garment like a hat or a single skein of yarn, you only need about a teaspoon of lanolin wax. For a larger garment, you’ll have to add an amount proportionate to its size. A good rule of thumb would be a teaspoon of lanolin for every pound of wool.
Be careful when adding the lanolin. You can add too much. If you do, you will overlanolize your wool. This will cause it to be a sticky, greasy mess. It doesn’t have to be a precise measurement, just don’t go way overboard.
After you’ve made sure your lanolin has melted in the water, add in your soap of choice and mix it together. If you don’t have a wool wash, just using a mild dish soap like Dawn will work. You only need a small drop of soap. This will open up the cuticles of the wool even more.
3. Wash your wool
Finally, take out your soaking wool and gently squeeze the water out. Don’t twist your item or you could felt it. Add your wool item to your prepared lanolin wash.
Once again, gently press the item down into the water without swishing it around. If the water is too hot to press down with your hand, a wooden spoon or a potato masher works great. Let your wool soak in the water for about 15 minutes.
Then, remove your wool from the water and gently squeeze out the excess water. To remove all water possible, roll your wool yarn or item up in a towel and squeeze it to get any extra moisture out.
Finally, just lay your wool out to dry, and voila! You have waterproofed, or lanolized, your wool.
If you’re not happy with the amount that your wool is waterproofed, you can repeat the above process until it’s waterproofed to your satisfaction.
The other way to waterproof your wool is to use a commercial wool waterproofing spray.
Waterproof with Commercial Spray
If you don’t want to try the hassle of lanolizing your wool hat, you can use a waterproofing spray. Silver Canyon has a great waterproofing spray option that can be used on felt hats, leather, suede, and any natural fiber (See on Amazon).
You’ll want to make sure whatever you’re waterproofing is clean and dry before you begin. You also want to make sure you’re working in a well-ventilated area.
With your clean wool item ready to go, hold your spray about six inches from the surface and spray away. Try to get an even coating over the entire surface.
Then, allow your wool to dry completely before using it again.
When in doubt about how to use a waterproofing spray, follow the manufacturer’s directions.
While commercial wool sprays aren’t as labor-intensive as lanolizing wool, it doesn’t last as long. So, you may have to reapply the spray more frequently.
