One of the really nice things about Pussy Caps is that you don't need to wash them all that often, if at all. The animal fibers in the yarns that I use in most of the caps are naturally resistant to moisture, sweat and dirt and will stay looking great for a long time in between washings.
Yes, you can dry clean your Pussy Cap if you want but the chemicals involved in dry cleaning will eventually degrade the natural animal fibers and cause them to lose their lustre, their softness and their elasticity.
Pussy Caps should never be machine washed. It will ruin them.
If your Pussy Cap gets dirty and you feel it needs to be washed, hand washing is the best choice. Simple but important instructions for hand washing your cap follow below.
Cashmere loves to be washed and will continue to soften and plump up more and more with each repeated washing. So if you have a cap with cashmere in it, don't be afraid to wash it - it'll actually improve it.
HAND WASHING
1. Always use cool water. Warm or hot water will either shrink the cap or felt the fibers and leave you with something resembling a cowboy hat without the brim.
2. Fill a sink or a bowl with cool water and mix a few drops of Woolite or a natural, non-chemical or organic soap around in it till it's well dispersed.
Don't overdo it on the soap.
If you can, measure the temperature of the water because you'll want your rinse water to be the same termperature as your wash water. This is very important as the changes in water temperature can shock the fibers.
2. Immerse your cap in the water and gently swish it around in the soapy water for several minutes until you feel it's clean. You can even leave the cap to soak for ten or fifteen minutes if you'd like and then swish it around in the water some more.
3. Drain the water and very gently squeeze the excess soapy water from the cap.
Don't wring. Squeeze gently!
4. Refill the sink or bowl with the same temperature water that you washed the cap in and swish the cap around in the rinse water. Drain and then gently squeeze excess water from the cap. Repeat this rinsing process as often as is necessary till all traces of the soapy water are gone and the water appears clean.
5. After the last rinse, gently squeeze all excess water from the cap and then roll it firmly in a towel to remove even more water. Give the rolled towel a good squeeze but don't wring it. If it still feels too wet, roll it in another dry towel.
6. Lay your cap flat on a dry towel out of the sun and away from any direct heat source and give it a little shaping so that it looks like the cap in the picture below.
7. Drying time will depend on the fibers in the yarns and the conditions in your home. Be sure your cap is thoroughly dry before you wear it again as putting it on damp will stretch the yarns out and leave you with a misshapen cap that'll stay that way until you wash and shape it again.
8. If you feel your cap needs a little fluffing after it's dry you can toss it in the dryer for a few minutes on a NO HEAT setting. A couple of t-shirts tossed in with it will help fluff it even better. Don't use a towel or anything made of terry cloth because the shedded bits of cotton will tangle with the fibers in your cap and be hard to pick out.
My personal recommendation is to wash your Pussy Cap as little as possible unless it's a cashmere cap or has cashmere yarn in it. And if you want your cap to last for a long time and stay looking nice, don't dry clean it. Most animal fibers have no natural resistance to chemicals and will suffer from coming into contact with them. Especially those like alpaca, llama and angora fur that have no lanolin in them.
Remember that when these fibers are on the animals the most they ever come into contact with is ambient temperature water, which is what helps keep them clean.
The yarns used in Pussy Caps aren't necessarily delicate - they just need to be washed carefully to maintain their integrity and stay looking nice.
If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to contact me by clicking here.
