Getting Rid Of CoOoTies

[Naphtali]

Those look like dust mites, if that's what they are you are literally crawling with them. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't they live off of dead skin cells?

If Artie is accurate, my method is totally non-invasive while being reliable.

Obtain a couple of heavy-duty plastic garbage bags, or better, biohazard bags.

Put hat(s) you want to treat inside the double-layered bags.

Put in one box (more if several hats being treated) of "unscented" mothballs and seal. Unscented mothballs still stink. They stink less.

Leave execution chamber untouched for minimum two weeks, three is better.

When you remove hats, cooties and any eggs are dead. I suggest you buy cedar shavings and replace mothballs with shavings for another couple of weeks to mitigate the stink.

This procedure does not physically remove the cooties' corpses.

Hope this helps.

 

[gtdean48]

I use antiseptic, antibacterial wipes on every vintage hat I get as well as the freezer treatment that I learned from HarpPlayerGene. For smells, I use the newspaper trick I learned from RBH. Really nasty lids get a naptha bath!

 

[Pilot99]

This is scary stuff, lol. I have looked in to naphta and have learned like you said that it is dangerous. Looking forward to hearing about what Mr. Fawcett is cooking up.

 

[Artie]

Naptha is a little dangerous to work with but very effective. Just make sure you use it in a well ventilated space away from any source of ignition and wear gloves and a proper ventilator. I guarantee that a naptha bath is going to kill anything living on the hat.

 

[CRH]

Don't forget to check your brush for spider webs before you scratch your hat.

... and you better check your hat too, before you don it. lol

 

[kw]

Hat sanitation

Very informative. My wife had a slight problem when I put my pistol brass in the dishwasher to clean. Now wait until she gets her nightly dish of ice cream.

 

[Memo]

:eusa_clap GTDEAN, That's exactly what I need to do. What kind of antibacterial wipes do you use? What is the newspaper trick?
-Memo

 

[gtdean48]

:eusa_clap GTDEAN, That's exactly what I need to do. What kind of antibacterial wipes do you use? What is the newspaper trick?
-Memo

The wipes came in a first aid kit, sure the drug stores have some.
Crumple up newspaper & put them & the hat in a big trash bag & close up. Let the hat stay in there 2-3 days. The newspaper sucks out the smell like a filter.
HTH

 

[Musashi]

This thread is really helpful, except for that picture of the microscopic creepy crawlys.. that wasn't helpful AT ALL.

Q. Freezer. How long.?? a couple of days enough? weeks sounds overkill.

Wouldn't Naphtha hurt the dyes?
(I have no experience with naphtha but it sounds like the chemicals I use in my scale modeling and those are seriously nasty, not to mention the hat would PERMANENTLY smell like chemicals)

 

[Mario]

This thread is really helpful, except for that picture of the microscopic creepy crawlys.. that wasn't helpful AT ALL.

Q. Freezer. How long.?? a couple of days enough? weeks sounds overkill.

Wouldn't Naphtha hurt the dyes?
(I have no experience with naphtha but it sounds like the chemicals I use in my scale modeling and those are seriously nasty, not to mention the hat would PERMANENTLY smell like chemicals)

Naptha IS nasty stuff but it's also great stuff for cleaning hats and it had been used for that purpose for a long time.

Rusty made up a great tutorial on cleaning hats with Naptha not too long ago. Look here.

 

[Bill Greene]

Naptha

Yes, Naptha is not a good chemical to become sensitive to, but as others have said, it's a very effective cleaning agent, easy to come by (cheap), simple to use, kills anything and leaves no smell whatsoever (once naptha has evaporated).

Here's the simple steps:

1 Buy two gallons of naptha (any paint store; VM&P Naptha is fine)
2 Pour into a 5 gallon bucket
3 Pull liner out of hat, brush hat, vacuum hat, hat dance, etc.
4 Submerse hat and liner in naptha until covered. Leave hat for a day(or two).
5 Pull hat out, and brush thoroughly. Place hat back in naptha for a day.
6 Rinse hat off with clean naptha if possible, if not, do the best you can with what is left in the bucket.
7 Let hat and liner drip dry
8 Replace liner
9 Reshape hat as desired.

 

[Musashi]

This sounds like a good experiment to do with the old motheaten Dobbs 20 i got the other day, it is gonna be my 'experiment hat.' Unless someone who wear's a size 7 needs a hole-ridden dobbs 20 to wear for a clown outfit. '

However, the hat I'm concerned with now has no stains or discoloration at all, i just want to make sure it's 'bug-free' Its currently in the freezer, in its box to keep it from frosting up or whatever.

P.S. Thanks for all the advice. Would you Naphtha a hat thats got no stains? or go simpler routes?