Got a new hat

[FedoraFan112390]

Hi

I just bought a circa 1960s stingy brim Churchill fedora and I think it may have been mothballed or something--there's a slight smell that I can't place. Very slight. It could just be an ''old hat'' smell, since it's 40 or 50 years old. It looks new and feels stiff and new-ish (the only time I've felt a hat this stiff is at the hat store) I forgot to sanitize it and am worried about the mothballs and the possibility of getting something from it. The problem is, I've already worn it on my head and had it on my coat rack. What should I do now?

Is it possible there's nothing at all to worry about?

 

[Orvil Newton]

Hi



Is it possible there's nothing at all to worry about?

It is very possible that there is nothing to worry about...

On the other hand, perhaps you should have an ambulance standing by.:whistling

 

[Stoney]

Tell me that you didn't actually put that thing on your head before freezing it, misting with Lysol and singing with a flame thrower.
lol lol lol

Most likely the hat has not been worn for a number of years and anything nasty that was on it has been dead a long time.

 

[DominusTecum]

lol I better call an ambulance right now! With all the old hats and coats in my closet, who knows what virulent disease is waiting to get me

Nah but seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. The thing that you have to remember is that the clothes we're buying vintage are in buyable condition precisely because they were "good" clothes. They were, as a result, only worn very occasionally (or hardly any at all, as the case may be) and as a result, they're still in presentable shape today. I had an old hatter tell me that this is why vintage hats often are in very small sizes. (Compare the number of 6 7/8 hats and 7 1/2 hats on OFAS if you want a graphic demonstration.) It's not that people were "smaller" back then (heads don't get fat!) Rather, the most common sizes are the larger ones, both then and now. The smaller hats which were produced then in lesser quantities have stuck around because most people can't wear them. So unless your hat has obviously seen better days, it's probably not been worn nearly enough to render it so gross that 2nd-hand-wearing is out of the question.

I've actually found that the "vintage-y" smell of an old hat is pleasant, at least moreso than the unnatural chemical smell of some new hats. Wear the thing, and soon in the air it'll lose whatever smell it's got, and instead, it will smell like your hair cream of choice.