Can You Wash a Hat in the Dishwasher? The Honest Answer
Yes, you can wash a hat in the dishwasher, and plenty of people do: top rack only, no heated dry, a little gentle detergent instead of a pod. But it’s a gamble, and on cotton, wool or older caps it can shrink the crown, warp the brim, or fade the color in a single cycle.
Below is how to wash a hat in the dishwasher if you’re set on trying it, what usually goes wrong, and the hand method we’d pick instead.
The quick answer
- Only consider it for a modern polyester or performance cap with a plastic brim.
- Run the dishwasher empty, or at least with no greasy dishes.
- Place the hat on the top rack, ideally on a cap cage or form.
- Use a small squirt of mild liquid detergent. Skip pods and powders.
- Choose the lightest, coolest cycle and turn heated dry off.
- Take it out right away, reshape it, and air dry on a form.
Honestly, though, you can get the same result by hand in about ten minutes with way less risk.
How to wash a hat in the dishwasher (if you’re going to)
The idea caught on because the top rack holds a cap fairly still and sprays it from every side. Here’s the method most people use when they wash a baseball hat in the dishwasher.
Step 1: Pick the right hat (or don’t)
Check the care tag. If it says spot clean or dry clean, stop here. If it’s wool, a fitted cotton cap, a vintage hat, or anything with a cardboard brim, the dishwasher is a bad idea. Synthetic performance caps are the only ones with decent odds.
Step 2: Clear out the dishes
Food bits and grease from plates end up on your hat. Run it alone, or with a top rack of clean-ish glasses at most.
Step 3: Top rack, held in place
Set the hat on the top rack, crown up. A plastic cap cage helps it keep its shape. Without one, the spray can flatten the crown or flip the hat over.
Step 4: Go light on soap
Dishwasher pods and powders are built to strip baked-on food and often contain enzymes and bleaching agents. That’s rough on fabric dye. People who do this usually use a small squirt of gentle liquid detergent in the soap cup instead.
Step 5: Cool cycle, no heated dry
Use the lightest or quick cycle your machine has, and turn off heated dry and any “sanitize” or “high temp” option. Heat is what shrinks and warps hats.
Step 6: Pull it out and reshape
As soon as the cycle ends, take the hat out, shape the crown by hand, and set it on a rolled towel or ball to air dry. Don’t leave it to sit in a warm, damp dishwasher.
The real risks
- Heat. Even a “normal” cycle can get hot enough to shrink cotton and wool. Some dishwashers heat the water no matter what setting you pick.
- Harsh detergent. Dish detergent is made to cut grease off plates. It can fade colors and leave the fabric feeling stiff.
- Warped brims. Heat softens the plastic in some brims and the glue in others. Cardboard brims turn to mush.
- Collapsed crown. Without support, water pressure can push in the front panels, and foam fronts can crease.
- Dye transfer. Red and navy caps sometimes bleed onto white panels or the sweatband.
- Food residue. Anything left in the filter or spray arms can end up on the hat.
- It misses the worst spot. The spray doesn’t scrub the sweatband, so the yellow line is often still there afterward.
That last one is the part people don’t mention. The dishwasher rinses the hat, but sweat stains need a little scrubbing to come out. See how to get sweat stains out of a hat for that.
Dishwasher vs. washing machine vs. hand washing
| Method | Main risk | Gets the sweatband clean? | Our take |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dishwasher | Heat and harsh detergent | Not really | Polyester caps only, if at all |
| Washing machine | Spin cycle bending the brim | Sometimes | Cap cage, cold, gentle, polyester only |
| By hand | Basically none if you don’t soak it | Yes | The one we recommend |
If you’re weighing the washer instead, we cover that in can you wash a hat in the washing machine.
What we’d do instead
Hand washing takes about as long as loading the dishwasher, and you control the water and the pressure.
- Dry brush the hat to get dust off.
- Put a small amount of mild cleaner on a soft brush.
- Scrub each panel lightly in small circles, then spend extra time on the sweatband.
- Wipe away the suds with a damp cloth.
- Air dry on a rolled towel for 4 to 8 hours, out of direct sun.
The full walkthrough is in how to wash a baseball hat, and if you want the general version for every kind of hat, see how to hand wash a hat.
If you already did it and it went wrong
Brim warped? While it’s still damp, gently curve it back over a can or rolled towel and let it dry that way. Plastic brims sometimes recover. Cardboard ones usually don’t.
Crown dented? Stuff it with a towel until it’s the right shape and let it dry fully before wearing.
Faded or stiff? Fading is permanent. Stiffness is often leftover detergent, so wipe it down with a cloth dampened in plain cool water and let it dry again.
The easy way
If the appeal of the dishwasher is not wanting to fuss with buckets of soapy water, our foam cleaner fixes that. It doesn’t need water, so you brush it on, wipe it off, and the hat is never soaked. The Hat Care Kit comes with a soft brush made for the job.
FAQ
Does washing a hat in the dishwasher ruin it?
Not always, but it can. Polyester caps with plastic brims sometimes come out fine. Cotton, wool and older hats are much more likely to shrink, fade or warp.
Should I use a dishwasher pod to wash a hat?
No. Pods are strong and often contain bleaching agents that can fade the color. If you try it, use a small amount of mild liquid detergent.
Can you wash a New Era hat in the dishwasher?
Check the care tag first. Most wool and cotton fitteds should be cleaned by hand. Our New Era hat guide walks through it.
Is the dishwasher better than the washing machine for hats?
They trade risks. The dishwasher brings more heat and harsher soap, and the washer brings the spin cycle. Hand washing beats both.