Saturday, December 20, 2008

Breaking in a New 5950 Hat Part II

This summer, we came up with what has become our most popular post about breaking in a new 5950 cap.  Specifically, we've gotten a number of e-mails about shrinking the top of the cap or the "crown" of the hat.  

We've recently invented a new technique for shrinking the crown of these caps - so we thought a new post was  in order to explain our technique.  Once again, this is our most popular cluster of posts - so we invite you to visit our sponsors so that we can keep this page running.  

Step 1 of this new technique is to find a girlfriend and temporarily steal her blowdryer.  The WellDressedSportsGirlfriend was happy to oblige in this case.  Thanks, lady.  


As we mentioned in our previous post on this topic - the 5950 contains a plastic mesh frame beneath the caps logo to keep the crown firm.  The goal of this technique is to heat up the plastic on the inside the cap and shape it to your head.  Don't go overboard here - avoid heating up the cap too much and don't burn your head.

Reader Robb sent us the following tip for this stage: 

I wanted to pass on another suggestion (courtesy of my wife). I took her bottle of Downey Wrinkle Releaser and sprayed the whole outside of the bowl of the hat, with it on my head. I soaked it pretty well. I worked it in by smoothing it out hard with my palms. After it dried, I repeated that; but this time I blow dried it dry. I'm not sure if there was one portion of this procedure that was the kicker (I believe it was the wrinkle releaser/blowdrier) but the whole process has yielded a pretty good result.

Step 2 - Heat up the blowdryer and turn the cap over.  Start heating up the inside of the cap behind the logo.  


Step 3 - Once you've gotten the blowdryer warm and the inside of the cap is a bit loosened up, start pressing down on the crown of the cap, encouraging the plastic mesh inside to bend just a bit. You'll start to feel the heat on the other side of the cap.  Once you start to feel it getting hot shut off the blowdryer and give the cap a second to cool down.  Then put the cap on your head and hold your hands on top of the crown of the cap, shaping it to your liking.   

And there you have it!  Do this a couple of times and the plastic inside of your cap will bend to your liking.  It doesn't require any of the cap surgery that can result in breaking the hat and gives you an excuse to ask that girl you have a crush on for a favor.  Yup, we're just here to help.

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