A readers' poll for guys: Hats and Hat Hair, re-posted

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Thursday, January 16. 2014

A readers' poll for guys: Hats and Hat Hair, re-posted

JFK drove the nail in the coffin of mens' hats. Trouble is, hats are a good way to stay warm in winter. They say that, if your head and feet are warm, you're warm.

Unless you are bald or wear a crew-cut, hats give you hat hair and you look like a dork when you take it off.

It's a dilemma: comfort vs. vanity.

Do you guys wear hats when it's cold? If so, what hat?

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 12:00 | Comments (47) | Trackbacks (0)

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No hat for me unless it is brutal cold. I live in Hotlanta so we don't do brutal cold very often. My body temp tends to run hot anyways so keeping head uncapped allows excess heat to escape.

I don't usually where a hat even while skiing...too hot.

#1 phil g on 2011-02-20 12:11 (Reply)

I'm bald and can attest to the idea that "if your head and feet are warm, you're warm." I wear a toboggan, tuque, watch cap, whatever you call it (I've never been sure on the correct nomenclature; I was brought up calling it a toboggan) religiously in winter. I've tried other types of hats but just haven't found anything that keeps my head as warm. I decided a long time ago to go with warmth over vanity. But as I said, I'm bald, so hat hair is not a problem anyway.

#2 beenel on 2011-02-20 12:31 (Reply)

I have not worn a hat since I was seven, about 58 years. But I inherited very thick hair - my grandfather had his thinned by a barber at least once a month into his early nineties.

There was a trick to avoiding [male] "hat hair", as evidenced in movies (or even earlier by the antimacassar cloth on chairs/couches) - various "hair creams" which could also do duty as axle grease.

#3 John A on 2011-02-20 12:53 (Reply)

Dog,

You know not of what you speak. The rule is, "In all hats, chicks look good, in some hats guys look good." It's all about the right hat.

I have, thank God, all my hair and I own something like seven hats. Hats. Not baseball caps. Never wear those except for one with an extended bill for Florida bonefish angling.

The key to the hat is the proporation of brim to head and to body along with the rise of the top of the hat.

I have classic gray fedoras and classic straw borsolinos. My favorite work a day hat is a Stetson model called "The Gun Club." I commend it to you. I have two. One is a dress hat and is new and crisp and worn out only on the town. The other is ten plus years old and nicely broken in and is worn outside in rain in lieu of an umbrella.

BTW, thanks to Mad Men hats are coming back. Slowly. And only among those with careful discrimination. Of which you will become one if you take care in choice and watch brim to body proportion.

Cedric the entertainer has a new line and it's likely to be flash enough even for you.

#4 vanderleun on 2011-02-20 12:54 (Reply)

I wear hats 13 months a year (and in all 57 states, as our pres might say), and have worn hats since youth-hood. They keep the sun and the rain and the wind off your head in summer, and keep your head and hands and feet warm in winter. Looser-fitting hats do not produce head-hair, but are harder to keep on in the wind. Life is a trade-off.

I had always eschewed ball caps until I needed to wear headphones (amateur and aviation radio), or hearing protection (shooting), and only wear them for those purposes. I generally wear fedora-like hats with wider brims. Never cowboy hats: I am not qualified. My "seniors only" hat in college was a Stetson Open Road (ala Truman) "Oredigger" model with a square block. Went through hell and back in that hat but lost it, somewhere. I have spent much of my life searching for the style of hat worn by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Good hats are hard to find nowadays. If one seeks a hat, it cannot be found; the best hats are found entirely by accident One word of warning: if you wear hats, wear them all the time. Wearing hats on a part-time basis causes one to leave them behind. I have left hats in restaurants all over Colorado.

I currently wear a Scala Classico (crushable style, for I am a slob) from Dorfman Pacific. Made in California, USA, of all places.

#5 Richard Lorenzen on 2011-02-20 13:01 (Reply)

When I was younger I hardly ever wore hats.
Now that I'm older and living in Texas, I wear hats all the time.
I solved the 'hat hair' problem by shaving my head.
I made a promise to myself that when my hair started receding I would forgo the stupid comb over and just shave it all off. Been doing that for ten years now and fashion simply caught up with me.

'Gimme' caps, cowboy hats, straw hats, I've got more hats that I can find to count 'em all up.

#6 Jake (Link) on 2011-02-20 13:04 (Reply)

Three or four skin cancers on your head, neck and face will make you a hat devotee. Down here in Texas, we are the skin cancer capital of the country, and dermatologists get rich.

My husband wears a hat every time he goes out, even if he's getting in the car and going to the store. But being somewhat of a dandy, he picks hats which are attractive and fun to wear. NOT ball caps, which give you insufficient coverage where you really need it [and besides, they look dorky when a man turns them around, as well as leaving one's nose exposed to the big Cancer Maker in the sky]. He wears Indiana Jones type hats, a version of the fedora, and strange men sometimes speak to him on the street, asking where he got one or another of them.
[I think that's what they're asking him...]

Marianne

#7 Marianne Matthews on 2011-02-20 13:05 (Reply)

This guy makes my hats and does a great job. He specializes in Cowboy hats, but can do any... His 50X is 100 percent beaver; his 100X is pure luxury.

There is NOTHING like a fine beaver pelt on top of your head, summer, winter or anytime between. I long for the days when they made public buildings with hat racks and coat rooms. And I was born much after those days.

Hats improve the civility of our coarsened discourse.

#8 Paul Gooch (Link) on 2011-02-20 13:46 (Reply)

Oops! The link: http://www.jaxonbilthats.com/

Jaxonbilt Hats

#9 Paul Gooch (Link) on 2011-02-20 13:47 (Reply)

I wear a lovely hand-crocheted kipa (AKA yarmulka AKA skullcap) everywhere. These vary from "bottle-cap" size on young turks to.... well, it grows with the baldspot.

I echo Marrianne's observations on hats with brims in sunny climates. Israelis are not formal dressers as all, so the suede Crocodile Dundee-type hats are popular. As are various do-rag type things for hikes (Israelis love to hike, we have a very varied topography for such a small country).

#10 Ben David on 2011-02-20 13:59 (Reply)

My biggest concern is how do you keep on the hat when it's windy?

#11 DrTorch on 2011-02-20 14:52 (Reply)

Dr.Torch dear ... How do you keep your hat on when it's windy? Most people hang on to the brim. Which is why it's good to have one. A brim, that is...

Marianne

#12 Marianne Matthews on 2011-02-20 15:20 (Reply)

Here in Florida, it's the opposite - wear a Panama hat when it's hot.

#13 Juan Paxety (Link) on 2011-02-20 15:34 (Reply)

NOTHING is more of a turn off than those hugely floppy hats with sail like neck shields that men have taken to wearing while driving their luxury, tops down, sports cars around here. Of course it is good to shield one's neck and bald head, and by all means wear these things when you are out in the field or fishing or whatever, but really, dears, a casual scarf or bandana covering the back of the neck, in conjunction with a reasonably masculine hat, allows some measure of dignity while on the road and keeps the wearer from being confused with a nun having wimple/wind issues.

#14 MissyW on 2011-02-20 16:52 (Reply)

I have straw hats, a wool felt Indy Jones hat, watch caps, wool hats, flat caps (wool and cotton), ball caps, a Filson wide-brimmed hat, a sou'wester, and a ball cap with a moose-head and antlers (Alaskan cruise chocolate mousse night), Got a boonie hat and a couple 2"-brimmed bucket hats. Two of the ball caps are for my old missile wing and its predecessor B-17 wing.

I LIKE hats and caps. Parkas, too.

#15 Sam L. on 2011-02-20 16:59 (Reply)

Tilley Wool hat for winter, and Tilley Air Flow for spring, summer, and fall. And a couple of baseball caps for very casual occasions.
The winter hat has ear flaps and a forehead protector that tuck inside when not needed. The summer hat has a strap for windier days.

#16 Rob M. on 2011-02-20 17:36 (Reply)

I were a good hat every day. I buy most over the internet (Miller Hats if someone needs a reference). No caps except for the few times of field work when the old panama Stetson is not at hand. Learned from my Father who wore a dress hat nearly every day of his life. Also a tie but I have degenerated.

I will agree with both vanderleun & Richard Lorenzen.
Also Richard, thank you for not referring to the Stetson Open Road as the LBJ block, what a hideous term.
Isn't there somewhere in Golden that the square block (oredigger) could be ordered?? Has it all fallen that far?

#17 Ed West Slope on 2011-02-20 18:58 (Reply)

Dang! No one mentioned a Derby. Got one a couple weeks back from Millers in Houston. Walked into my office and everyone said;" Nice Hat!" Got felt Stetson that looks like it got lost by a Texas Ranger, a felt Resistol that could be it's twin, a straw Resistol that's too tight and a couple of handmade mexican imports for hot Texas summers. I like hats, I think I'll wear the Brown Derby to work tomorrow.

#18 Charley Hua Chu on 2011-02-20 19:58 (Reply)

I wear baseball style caps year round. I am wearing one as I type this. It is as natural as wearing a shirt.

The advantages are:

1) They cut down on the glare enabling one to see the better.
2) They are not as likely to blow off in the wind as compared with a wide brimmed hat.
3) They are cheap. Someone is always giving them away.
4) Keep my head warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Hat hair doesn't bother me. If I look like a dork, so what? Doesn't change who I am.

In my opinion, comfort trumps vanity.

#19 feeblemind on 2011-02-20 20:19 (Reply)

But they don't protect your ears.

#19.1 Fred Z on 2014-01-17 22:58 (Reply)

Crushable wool felt fedora for me, straw borsolino/panama in the summer.
It is very important to get the correct size.

I've found that some Marshalls stores will occasionally have good quality fedoras at extremely reasonable price, although my last came from Marks & Spencer in the UK.

#20 Douglas2 on 2011-02-20 20:38 (Reply)

My handsome husband wears snappy fedoras from John Helmer's in Portland. Admiring glances all around.

#21 portlandmermaid on 2011-02-21 02:31 (Reply)

I own and wear several hats as well. Baseball caps, a wide brim Stetson, a couple of boonies. I usually wear some type of hat when I'm outside. I wear eyeglasses and I don't usually wear sunglasses, but the hats keep the glare down to a reasonable level. Don't care about hat hair.

My son recently convinced me to try one of those Peruvian type hats with the big ear flaps. Kept me warm during a late season deer hunt in northern Idaho. I will use it again in the winter months.

@ vanderleun - your comment made me smile ... The rule is, "In all hats, chicks look good, ... Reminded me of that Randy Newman song, "You Can Leave Your Hat On".

#22 altered states on 2011-02-21 03:16 (Reply)

For fishing, baseball style caps from sponsors who still send me free stuff. One of the perks of having won a few big time tournaments back in the day.

For yard work, Resistol cowboy hats - love them. Cool and protective in terms of shade.

Formal wear is a fedora - Indiana Jones style.

#23 Tom Francis on 2011-02-21 08:10 (Reply)

A friend passed along a Russian rabbit-fur Ushanka hat recently that he got on a tdy to Moscow in the '80's. It is so warm that you have to remove it unless it is below freezing. My teen step son took one look, begged to "borrow" it, and it is now his. At a Winter outing, his Scout friends begged to try it on!

#24 Chilibuck on 2011-02-21 09:51 (Reply)

Toques when cold, blaze orange toque when hunting, don't want no fool to shoot me in the head, cheap touristy panama hat when in the sun, or sometimes an Aussie cloth digger hat. Lots of helmets, ski, motorcycle, bike etc, do they count?

Thick hair but I buzz cut weekly, so no hat head, but toques are itchy.

#25 Fred Z on 2011-02-21 11:06 (Reply)

In Winter or any bad weather, I wear a Franz Bittner Loden Crush Hat. Before that I had several fedora-style hats, but nothing beats the Bittner for durability, comfort and protectiveness. I sometimes get sneers because of the semi-Alpine style, but I did decide to opt out of feather wearing, and I don't have my name in glitter on the front.

#26 Martin Tell on 2011-02-21 11:39 (Reply)

The advantage to living in Texas is that one can wear a cowboy hat without it being thought pretentious. (Or not more pretentious than a standard Texan anyway.)

The advantage to being a professor is that one can wear an LL Bean men's Scottish tweed rain hat with Gore-Tex without being thought pretentious. (Or not more pretentious than a standard professor anyway.)

Those two get me through most of the year.

#27 Dr. Dave on 2011-02-21 15:46 (Reply)

Cotton ball cap with wool knit cap over when its cold.

Other times i don just the cotton ball cap.

But not indoors!

#28 Leag on 2011-02-22 14:49 (Reply)

Ahhhh, hats! Too many to count but a few of the ones I wear most. First choice is a driving or flat cap. I have two linen and three wide weave coconut fiber for summer. Wool, leather, tweed and felt, lined, for cool or cold. My favorite here is a tweed Stetson. Straws come next, mostly knock off panamas, in the medium wide brim Fadora style that I get whenever I can make to the Gulf Coast states. Mobile, Biloxi, down the Gulf Coast of Florida. The Atlantic States have some really nice ones but tend to be more Planter's style with really wide brims. I have two felt cowboy hats, one black, one gray for formal events - buckets of $10 and $15 straws to protect the ears while working outside or golfing. Ball caps for hunting and fishing.

Nye Nestman
The Colony, Texas

#29 Nye Nestman on 2011-02-24 20:47 (Reply)

I used to wear a cap ("ballcap" as it were) when my hair was a mess but since I went to having my hair cut shorter, it's rarely necessary. I will still wear a ballcap when I'm out in the sun a lot and my gf gave me a fedora that I like to wear sometimes. But if I could get a Raylan Givens style Stetson, I'd wear that sucker ALL the time. I just hope I could carry it off.

#30 BlogDog on 2014-01-16 13:08 (Reply)

Much body heat escapes through the head. With a good hat you can ski naked. That said, I've got my best hats either from Lock's in London or from antique shops. There is nothing like a vintage pure beaver Stetson, Dobbs, Lock or etc. As to "hat hair," if you carefully choose the right size hat with a fine leather band you will not get hat hair nor will the hat blow off except in the most robust gusts of wind. They keep your head warm and dry, you get the inestimable pleasure of tipping them to ladies and taking them off in their presence (to the consternation of certain fems). Also, they top out a suit, sport coat or trenchcoat in matchless fashion. Good old fedoras or trilbys are great most of the time, but a fine dark gray, black or true navy Homburg is the thing for evenings, funerals and more formal occasions.

#31 Ralph Kinney Bennett on 2014-01-16 13:11 (Reply)

Where would one go to acquire said fine hats.

#31.1 phil g on 2014-01-16 13:24 (Reply)

A good place to start might be Worth & Worth, in New York. I think you can get there by www.hatshop.com. There are also a number of "hat" blogs which will be easy to find. They really get "into it" a little more than may be necessary, but some of them sell and trade really good hats.

#31.1.1 Ralph Kinney Bennett on 2014-01-16 16:44 (Reply)

I wore hard hats at work for 40 years and always had the hat hair, then about 20 years ago i just cut my hair real short and really never had that problem again. If it is cold i will pull on a stocking hat.

#32 Kelvin on 2014-01-16 13:30 (Reply)

I wear a wool baseball cap in the summer for protection from the sun and a Stormy Kromer cap in the winter when it is cold. Happily I am old enough that hat hair just doesn't matter to me any longer.

When younger I used to wear Dobbs Felt Fedoras and would just comb my hair when I took the hat off.

#33 Paul on 2014-01-16 13:55 (Reply)

Only wear hats to keep the rain off my glasses when I'm outside. Otherwise, no need for a hat. Only wear ball caps.

#34 Curtis on 2014-01-16 14:33 (Reply)

I have a fedora style I picked up for my train commute at a hat shop in Union station when stationed in DC. It definitely was a warmth improvement over watch caps and such. In winter, I tried not to commute in uniform when possible because the Navy dress uniform and combination cover are worthless for weather protection. I now use the hat when it rains, mostly in winter.

It is interesting that the military dress uniforms have covers that are essentially useless as anything but affectation.

Also interesting is the loss of interest in hats in urban areas where the routine need remains most with users of public transportation and needing to walk blocks to your destination. We in suburbia, just park and walk 20 yards to the store entrance.

A wide brimmed canvas job I use when working the estate. I've noticed quite quickly the couple times I tried to mow without it. I have a full head of hair but that sun bakes through anyway, not to mention the shadow of the brim over the eyes, neck, and ears.

I'm not a fan of baseball caps but do use one when driving the Miata, most of the time this eliminates the need for sunglasses.

#35 JKB on 2014-01-16 14:53 (Reply)

Used to wear caps, but after the first sign of skin cancer on my bald head I switched to a floppy wide-brimmed hat (from a company called Outdoor Research) and I'm never going back. It keeps off the sun and the rain; it stays on even in the high mountain winds we get. When it's dirty or sweaty I just drop it in the washer. Love the wide-brimmed hats so much that I got a fancier one to wear when I need to look, well, fancier.

#36 George on 2014-01-16 16:02 (Reply)

So you started this thread back in 2011, in another twenty years you'll have a book.

The Country Gentleman Fedora, as a redhead I need the protection from the sun. Hat hair isn't a issue as my damned hair is so curly (my sisters hated me) the ridge is undetectable. The CG breaths very nicely and the soft felt rim bends effortlessly when I bring a camera up to my face for framing a shot.

My hat story.
Years ago I drove my wife and my mom up to the outlet stores in Maine for early Christmas shopping.
I'm standing around being bored when a woman came up to me and said,"Excuse me, I'm buying a hat for my husband and he has a large head. I see that you have a large head so would you try this hat on please. If it fits you I think it will fit my husband."
I blinked a couple of times as I digested this unusual request (well, I thought so). Then I agreed and placed the hat on my head where it perched like a cupcake on a plate. The woman thanked me saying, "Well that certainly won't fit my husband".
As she walked off I turned to my mother, who had been observing this exchange and unwisely said,"Did you hear what she said about my head?".
Then in the middle of the store, surrounded by other women (including my wife) she stated, loudly," Don't I know it! NINE STITCHES! That's how many stitches I needed after I had you!".

And that's my hat story.

#37 John the River (Link) on 2014-01-16 17:55 (Reply)

I love it when you publish these old posts with comments by Marianne.

#38 Roy Lofquist on 2014-01-16 18:01 (Reply)

I wear a Boonie hat when hiking in the summer. Often a baseball hat when I'm outside at home or go to a sporting event. I wear a watch hat and even a hooded parka in the winter because it snows and blows around here all winter. My fix for hat hair is after taking off the hat I rub back and forth like I'm trying to get sand or dirt out of my hair. It may not e 100% effective but I guess when it comes down to it I just don't care that much how I look.

#39 GoneWithTheWind on 2014-01-16 21:23 (Reply)

I've always been a hat guy. Growing up, every man wore one. My first was a Dobbs Clipper. The last fur felt was (alas) 18 years ago--a Stetson "Gun Club."

I wear many more caps now...it's like I'm doing everything in reverse.

#40 Estoy Listo on 2014-01-16 23:30 (Reply)

Ballcap - all day, EVERY day. Except - when I am out on a boat. Then it's a watchcap so it won't blow off.

#41 The Old Salt on 2014-01-17 00:44 (Reply)

I like hats and almost always wear one when I am hunting. Yesterday I wore one due to near blizzard conditions here. I typically wear a cowboy hat pheasant hunting and a Scottish tweed rain hat while bowhunting.

#42 acher2010 on 2014-01-17 10:24 (Reply)

Warm weather- Tilley T3 Cotton Duck hat

Cold weather- Filson Tin Cloth Wildfowl hat

I never wear them indoors.

#43 Frank the Wanderer on 2014-01-17 11:16 (Reply)

I'm pretty close to bald - what hair I have is thin and I tell the barber "Just run a #5 around all over". So I wear a hat in just about any weather, cold or hot - a sunburned scalp is no fun and an invitation to skin cancer you can't see until it's too late.

I've got all manner of hats. I wear an official B.S.A. Expedition hat in most weather that's not below zero or above 85. Here's a picture. It's actually closer to a dark olive, it doesn't come with that pin and the leather thong broke a few years ago. But it's 100% wool and will take a beating.

http://www.scoutstuff.org/brimmed-hat.html

#44 RonF on 2014-01-17 14:35 (Reply)

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Thursday, January 16. 2014

A readers' poll for guys: Hats and Hat Hair, re-posted