Rituals have a purpose. To care for your Borsalino hat, follow these simple step-by-step tips:
To maintain its shape, with both hands lift the hat using both the front and back brim. Do not pick up your hat from the dome, or "crown." This will permanently re-shape that '3 finger' pinch area ( which it is not) and over time will break or crack most straw hats.
Your hat has been 'blocked' into its particular shape by using steam. If your hat has lost some of its desired shape, you can always re-steam parts of it to encourage the original shape back. A column of steam from a tea kettle can provide this steam. Allow the felt to get moist or 'rich' with steam and then you can coach the felt into shape with your hands. Then allow it to dry in this shape.
Be extremely careful not to burn yourself in the steam- 200 degrees!!
If your hat has any brim shape other than 'flat brim', it's best not to rest your hat 'right side up' on any surface. This will tend to flatten the brim. If you are leaving it on a flat surface ( back seat of the car for example while driving) let it rest upside down, resting on its crown.
To remove dust, using a pure bristle brush - a soft piece of spongy foam will also work very well - brush the fibers in their natural direction- almost always counter clockwise around the crown. Felt, like velvet, has a nap, a result from how the hairs/furs are transformed into felt. You can feel this nap- stroke around the crown one way and the felt feels very smooth. Stroke the opposite direction and the felt feels slightly rough, or prickly. Brushing it around the crown "in their natural direction" ( smooth) will lay the fibers ( hair) down and remove the dust resting on the felt.
Keep your hat away from direct sunlight, humidity, and heat. Leaving it in a hot car repeatedly for example will drive the moisture out of the felt ( or straw) and cause your hat to shrink - obviously affecting the fit.
Repeated exposure to direct sunlight will adversely affect the color.
Most of all, enjoy your hat. Leave it near the front door so you can don it often!
