I live in that large part of the US currently getting slammed by a big winter storm. For my hometown, this is a biggie. Usually the big ones miss us, but this one has its aim right at our heart. Anyway, this type of weather I wear a hat (I call it a toboggan which is apparently not a common term), which is not the norm for just cold weather. And so…I have hat head. My hair is all pressed flat on the sides, the top is kind of pinched up and the ends not covered by the hat kind of curl out and up. Not that this isn’t attractive, but if I lived in Wisconsin or North Dakota I would be used to it cause I’d see it half the year or more. Down in these parts it’s just silly.
Using a bulky winter coat with a hood alleviates hat-head. If you must wear a hat, I suggest a wool cap. Nice and warm and soft enough not to destroy your hair. Otherwise, just remember to bring a comb wherever you’re going.
I only have hat head when it snows, but since we live in what Kiminy calls the “fake south”, I don’t worry too much about it. I have an Australian bush hat, which mashes my hair down.
I have been dying for a chance to share this: Earbags!
Like warm fleece Tupperware covers for your ears. No hat hair, no bands to squooze your head. You flip 'em open, slip 'em over each ear and flip them closed. They stay on, they don’t pinch, they’re totally comfy and very warm. (There’s a similar product - Ear Pops - but they’re not as comfy and not as nicely made.) I can’t recommend the Earbags enough. Every time someone sees me put them on, they say, “What on earth…?” Then I show them and they immediately want some of their own.
Generally the Earbags are enough to keep me toasty. When it’s really super-duper cold and I HAVE to go out, I plop a big floppy knit hat on over - my friend knitted it for me and technically it’s way too big, but it keeps my head warm without hat hair or yarn-itch.
Ditto on the hooded coat. I never wear an actual hat, unless 1) it is below 10 degrees out or 2) I’m going to be working outside in the junkyard or poultry yard for any length of time in below-freezing weather.
I only pull out the hat when I really need it. Monday would have been a good time, but I just forgot about it. It’s in the closet somewhere next to my gloves, and I just couldn’t get organized in time.
Seriously, when it gets down to -5°F you need to put a hat on. Especially when it’s windy. I just forgot.
Today it’s a balmy 30-something and I don’t need no stinkin’ hat.
I wear a hat whenever I go outside, winter or summer. Baseball caps in summer keep the sun out of my eyes without having to fumble with sunglasses; a nice fleece or wool cap keeps my head (and ears) warm in summer. I don’t like hoods at all (you can’t look left or right easily).
I’m actually looking for a nice snap-brim fedora just for the hell of it.
Yep, i’m way up here in Wisconsin. Cold but no snow at all yet this year! Green xmas.
i’m with Toadspittle and donning a hat indoors, keeps you much warmer. Yea it’ll get mashed up but i’m going to bed so no biggie.
I don’t have a hood, so i go with the hat. Mine is big enough so it doesn’t mash it up much. but if you’re out for any length of time, yep, hat hair. Throw in some static cling or whatever it’s called and it can be a mess. You live with it, at least I’m not one of these dorks you see running down the street with their hands over their ears trying to stay warm and not suceeding.
LifeOnWry, my head gets cold, not just my ears, so, while Earbags look cool, I’m not going for it.
toadspittle I’m not even asking why you heat your house with a woodstove. We’re keeping out thermostat a little cooler this year, but I don’t think I’ll ever wear a hat inside the house.
And I haven’t worn a hooded coat since grade school. And I remember having a hard time seeing side to side. So I’ll just stick with my hat head as the easiest way, albeit the worse-hair way.
I wear a knitted headband so I don’t get hat-head from my toque (pronounced “tuke” - you know them as toboggans or wool caps). A lot of people do wear toques, though, and just accept the hat-head as the price of keeping your ears.
I usually go outside bareheaded, and when it gets windy, I just pull my hood up on my jacket, bitterly curse the cold, and wish I’d brought along a toque.
Earmuffs work fine for me. Or a Polarfleece headband when I’m at the barn since I can put on my riding helmet right over it. I’ve got earmuff flaps that Velcro onto the chinstrap of my helmet too.
Besides, my hair would completely be destroyed if I wore a hat,and it’s long enough to cover my ears & neck anyway, so that’s my hat.
If it’s particularly cold, and I realize it, I’ll put it up and then wear a hat. But like Exgineer, I didn’t even know it was going to be that cold this Monday. Eugh!
I can’t stand hoods. No matter how I tie them, they always interfere with my peripheral vision, and this drives me nuts. I hate not being able to see what’s going on around me. I wear a hat and occassionally a scarf. I’ve never noticed any hat head on me, but then again, I really don’t have all that much hair to worry about …
I’ve got a pair of these 180s earmuffs that go around the back of the head. They have the headphones so I can just plug my iPod into my earmuffs and go. If it’s gonna be really cold out (like it is today at negative 8 degrees Fahrenheit while walking to work), I take a shower, dry my hair and put on a hat to work. I bring gel/hairspray and a comb and fix my mop at work.
