Manipulation of the hats is very important in determining the lenght and duration of a hat's life cycle.

Specially the Panama hats are a very delicate items as any hat made from dried, bleached and  stripped leaves of plants like iraca palm, canaflecha, etc are very proned to create cracks in its crown or upper part of hat were it has been treated for angles that created the typiocal shape of the hat. Always handle your hat with clean hands specially if is white or pale colour.

Woollen Hats are designed specially for the cold weather so by nature they are more resistant to wet conditions than their cousins the Tropical, hot weather Panama natural fibres ones. However they have some sensible processes in common like:

-Never leave any hay in the back window of your care extreme conditions like hot weather and sun will dry off the hat fibres more likely cracking them. Same situation with the felt ones where sun and extreme cold would ruin the dyes on your hat and could cause mould.

-In the case the hat gets wet by rain or any similar situation always leave the hat to dry off naturally.

In the case of the felt ones we reccomend to turn off the sweatband of the hat serving as support for the hat to dry on, and try the reshaping process later on.

For the Panama's same situation leave the hat dry completely  maybe hanging from a hat hanger or display head were it gets fresh air through.

The process of reshaping the hats has been suggested by expert hatterers as exposing the hat for seconds to steam from a kettle or boiling pot and turning the brim or top back to the original shape if lost by accident or natural conditions like rain.

For basic stains we do recommend to use baby wipes to try to remove it or a damp cloth with minimal water, It can be tretade in Panama and felt hats.

In the very bad case of oily stains advanced oil stain removers from specialised shops would be suggested or a vist to a hat' s proffessional for help.

If you have finished for the season with your beloved hat, store it in hat boxes it will help to avoid the dust to get to it

We hope this tips could help you to look after your hat with more knowledge, even though they are only home based suggestions.