Cleaning sweat and salt from a hatband

[Spitfire]

hello gents. I have been searching and searching for answers, but in vain.
Question: When you wear a straw Borsalino - or any hat for that matter - in the summer, it's usually hot.
You sweat inside that hat.
And the sweat leaves white "salt" marks on the hatband.
Is there any way to clean that up - or is that part of the "vintage look"?
Any advice and comment most welcome. The hat season is coming up.

 

[RBH]

I cleaned my band on my VS milan just this weekend. I wet a cloth [almost to the point of the cloth dripping] and gently rubbed the sweat stained area. On my hat when it dried their were no signs of the stain left.
I have had this method work many times, but a badly stained hat will not clean as well.
I hope this helped!

 

[Rabbit]

If stains remain after cleaning the sweatband with a wet cloth, you might try shoe polish (not the hard wax variety, obviously, but either water-based or mixed solvents) or other types of leather conditioner. The mixed solvent shoe creams with both water- and turpentine-based solution (like the one from Saphir) is very useful for the purpose; the turpentine draws dirt and stains out of the leather, at least to some extent. At the same time, it's less aggressive than the cheaper petroleum-based polish solutions, but those are the next best option. Their gasoline content may dry out the leather eventually, but that is not an issue with a sweatband in good condition, as long as one doesn't use such polish very often; either way, the leather can be re-conditioned using a water-based cream anytime.

 

[Spitfire]

Thanks - Rabbit, thanks for the advice - but I meant the "outside" cloth hatband.

 

[mayserwegener]

I follow a similar path as Rusty. I use distilled water and sometimes it requires wetting the entire ribbon and bow.

 

[Rabbit]

My bad.
+1 to the recommendation of distilled water. Wetting the entire ribbon generously usually takes care of the salty stains, while wetting merely the affected area most often just transfers the problem to the new "border" to where the ribbon remained dry.

 

[Undertow]

If you're planning to leave the ribbon on the hat, a little dabbing with water should work (as the others have mentioned).

If you're pulling the band off the hat, you can use some white vinegar and water. That's always worked well for me.

 

[Spitfire]

Thanks, mates. It worked beautifully with plain water.

 

[RBH]

Thanks, mates. It worked beautifully with plain water.

Glad we could help!