Can You Wash Your Hacky Sack?

Over time all of may dad’s bags became dirtier and dirtier, the white colors being replaced with more gray and just looking a bit beaten up. My dad never cleaned his footbags but this was in the very beginnings of the sport and nothing was documented so he didn’t want to damage his bag.

Can you wash your Hacky Sack? For most outer materials this is perfectly fine though you may need to wash inside something like a sock or jeans pocket. Just be careful with what your inner filling is as you don’t want them to rust out if metal BBs or similar are used it may be better to brush clean.

So now that we clarified and opened you up to the possibility of cleaning your footbags and giving them some quality care we can look deeper into the cleaning steps and how each outer material and inner filler could make the cleaning different.

For example, on metal BBs it is bad to wash as many may rust and then this could cause additional issues for someone trying to use the bag.

These are what you need to think about to properly clean your bag and give it the longest lifespan you possibly can.

Why Wash Your Footbag?

Over time since you are kicking and dropping the bag onto the ground it will pick up dirt and grime on its surface.

Over time as this grime is there and you kick it you will slowly be damaging the outside materials, cleaning consistently helps extend the life by removing this dirt and grime outside.

How To Wash Your Footbag

For most bags the simplest fix for a dirty and beat up looking bag is to take it and chuck it into the washer and dryer to get it clean and new looking again.

Each type of footbag should have care taken to wash and make sure you don’t damage the outer fabrics which can be quite easy with the fancier fabrics on freestyle bags.

NOTE: Many synthetic suede fabrics used in making footbags aren’t 100% colorfast so taking care to always wash them in cold water is always smart.

Synthetic Bags

The best method to use on a synthetic material footbag or Hacky Sack is to use cool tap water and some dish soap. Add the dish soap to the bag while running under cool tap water and massage the ball and soap together to work out the dirt to help the bag last the longest.

You must avoid kicking your footbag while it is still wet as this will typically cause damage to some fabrics used on many high quality footbags.

After you finish washing the bag you want to completely rinse all the soap out of the fabric and then squeeze out the excess water with gentle but firm pressure.

To dry all you want to do is roll it around and then allow it to dry at room temperature as long as required.

Leather Bags

Leather, unlike the synthetic fabrics above, can take much more abuse and will last much longer due to the strong, more durable, fabric.

Leather is so strong that you don’t need to do the same types of cleanup and preventative maintenance on them.

Should your leather footbags get wet though you should try to dry them out though and make sure they don’t rot. Typically you can just roll it around and get the excess moisture out and then just let it air dry at normal room temperature.

As to leather you should look to condition it every so often either after it dries when wet or after a few months of play to keep the leather nice and supple, this will help prevent cracking and falling apart.

I would just pick up some leather dressing to use as this will save you over the long term by managing care.

Crotchet Bags

You can wash these in the washer but you want it to be on a gentle cycle and to keep extra care you could put it inside a jeans pocket or inside a sock to help take better care of the crotchet work as it is yarn and easy to tear or break if too much force is applied.

Use a mild detergent and then you can toss into the dryer to dry on low to dry it out on low to no heat making sure to not melt the typical plastic beads that are contained inside the bag itself.

After dried you should be able to take it out and play right away again with a super clean and ready for use footbag!

Final Thoughts on Can You Wash Your Hacky Sack

Taking the time to properly care for your footbag can extend the lifetime and allow you to play with the same bag for years allowing you to get a better grasp of how it will react when kicked.

It isn’t something that will take too much time or effort, most are 5-10 minutes for proper TLC, hopefully this helped you to learn and understand how to take care of your footbag!

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