Hat Care

[Collarmelton]

My Borsalino fedora had a rough winter last year and consequently has become a bit floppy. I'm told that some of the stiffness can be restored by spraying it with hairspray, but I am reluctant to try this without reliable verification that this will not discolor or otherwise damage the hat. I also don't feel like suffering the indignity of standing in line at the store buying hairspray unless I can be sure it works. Has anyone tried this? And has anyone any other suggestions on how to restore the stiffness to a hat?

Thanks.

[Collarmelton]

I stopped in today at JJ Hat, an NYC hat store that's been around for about eight decades, to ask about curing the floppiness I was crying about above. They pulled out hairspray, thereby answering my question. But there is a caveat. One cannot just spray hairspray all over a hat. It must first be cleaned, or otherwise made free of dust and grime, or the hairspray will fix it on the hat. What they did was clean the hat, steam and block it, then lightly spray it and permit it to dry for about a half hour. The restored stiffness is exactly like that of the new hats on display. This is not really a do-it-yourself exercise, and what I take away from this is to leave major hat maintenance to a hatter.