Nursing caps

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 28, 2013

I actually went to Kay's Caps and found out I could get them to recreate mine (my university school closed) for eighteen bucks! I'm tempted. Hallowe'en is so close...

SurgicalTechCST · Apr 19, 2017

Kay's Caps is SO AWESOME when it comes to finding and having your old cap recreated for under $20!!!

They have not only all their what they call Stock Styles," which you can see on their website catalog, and order right up front from their online order site, which is of course all safe and secure, like most everyone else's is, for less than the special caps price - I think it's about $12 or so - but still cheap at almost any price! This includes those organdy fluffy, pleated ones that look like cupcake liners turned upside down, and some with three sides to them! And some smaller versions of these standards - I can't imagine keeping something much smaller than what I had secure on my head! - but if that's what you need, they've got it.

And, the special US Army and US Navy uniform hospital duty caps, too. When you were in the military branches, you wore THEIR cap, no matter what school you graduated from. You were an officer in the Army or Navy, and you wore their designated uniforms, including caps, period, on duty or not. And Kay's has them. US Air Force nurses wore the Army style, once the US Air Force became it's own separate service in 1948, but after a while, instead of plain white, they added a sky blue velvet stripe around the cuff of their caps, not to show rank like the Navy did with theirs, but to differentiate between them and the Army Corps nurses. Army and Air Force officer rank was shown with collar devices, just as everyone else in both those services. US Navy nurses showed rank with the size and arrangement of their gold over black velvet stripes. That's why you may see in older movies where different Navy nurses' caps look different.

Back to Kay's Caps - when they created special designs for specific schools, of course they kept those patterns. Now, here's where it gets EXTRA COOL - when two other large companies, who also made caps, went out of business, due to the market for them hitting the bottom of the barrel, Kay's Caps bought them out!! And this was of course including ALL their patterns as well! SO - if the cap had originally been made by White Crown Caps (what a great name!) or by Fort Orange Caps, you can STILL get your cap remade. They have over 3,000 patterns in stock! For the same price. Shipping for one cap is the same, no matter which kind you get. But, of course they still do group orders, when needed, so if you think you want to get your own cap, there may be a few others of your coworkers who do too. So, check and see if Kay's will give a break on the shipping for ordering more than one cap, and shipping them all to the same address.

Now, if your cap turns out to be one that originally included embroidered initials of your school's name, or a fabric stripe sewn on (see the "Nurse Betty" style cap in their catalog, with the wide gray stripe, to see what I mean) they do that too. BUT if your cap is supposed to have a velvet stripe applied on the cuff, whatever color, that's on you. Most fabric stores carry velvet ribbon, in many colors, so you can get it there and apply it yourself.

Now, here's a secret every "Old School" nurse knows, for how to put those ribbons on, so they stay PUT, but are easily removable in order to wash the cap. KY Jelly! A smear of KY along the back side of the ribbon is all it takes to get it stuck on, and you can still wiggle it around a bit before it dries, in order to get it perfectly straight. Don't EVER use a hot glue gun!!! It's a disaster waiting to happen, believe me! You'll never get that ribbon off without wrecking it, and it can damage the cap too.

The KY washes off just fine, and after the cap is air dried, and pressed flat again, if it needs it, with a warm iron, then you can start again with the same ribbon, or a new one if you wish, and KY it right back on the cap again! Leave it at least 24 hours to dry, and remember to put the ribbon back on AFTER you have buttoned the cap back in shape!! If you try to put it on the cap while it's flat, and then bend it round and button it back in shape, you can imagine what happens! It pops right back off again!

Anyway, that's all I know (I think) to share about caps, getting them from Kay's, and taking care of those ribbons! Yes, I got my cap in nursing school, yes I wore it everyday of clinicals, no, I didn't wear it on the job, yes still have it, and yes, I am a cap collector and researcher!

Purple_roses · Apr 19, 2017

That's a bummer that you don't get your cap! I certainly wouldn't want to wear it on the job (I think I would fidget with it all day), but I like it for pinning. Maybe it's because it's unmistakable---nurse. If you're wearing that, people know you're a nurse (whether it be graduate nurse, LPN, RN); and dammit, we've worked hard for that.