# Hat size? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hat-size/285781 "2005-01-20T20:47:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hat-size/285781/1 "2005-01-20T20:47:53Z")
I have never in my life bought a fitted hat, but now I need to give someone a hat size for an academic flat-hat (that’s a technical term). Even if I had a tapemeasure, I’d have no idea where to put it. What’s the average size for a 6’0" man with typical hair density? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hat-size/285781/2 "2005-01-20T20:50:19Z")
An average size based on height? There’s no such thing. [http://www.thehatsite.com/measuring.html](http://www.thehatsite.com/measuring.html) Go there, follow their instructions, get your actual hat size. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hat-size/285781/3 "2005-01-20T21:06:11Z")
**racinchikki** is right–attempting to determine hat size by height would be no more useful than attempting to determine shoe size by height. I’d also recommend trying a couple of different styles of hats on before determining which size is correct. IME hat sizes differ slightly from one style to the next; I know my trilby is not the “same” size as my mortarboard, and yet both fit well. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hat-size/285781/4 "2005-01-20T21:25:55Z")
**Duke** , your range of experience might be based on shape. Hat sizes have to do mostly with circumference, but they can vary in degree of roundness. A bowler sized 7 1/8 compared to a fedora sized 7 1/8 will probably not have the exact same fit, because the bowler will be rounder and therefore shorter from front to back; the fedora will be longer from front to back. This will of course result in a different fit. This generally isn’t an issue for soft caps that give or stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hat-size/285781/5 "2005-01-20T22:09:01Z")
> [@furt](#): > > What’s the average size for a 6’0" man with typical hair density? I have a good friend of mine that’s perhaps two inches taller than myself. I have a common hat size (7 3/4, I think, but it’s been a while). My friend has _never_ found a fitted hat the fit him. At all. Even adjustable baseball hats that fit him are hard to find. In our younger days, we even had a game you played at the mall called “find Punkin’head a hat that fits”. We never did. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hat-size/285781/6 "2005-01-20T23:50:44Z")
Thanks; the site says 7 1/4 is average and I’ll order that or a bit bigger. I had no idea what hat sizes were at all; if you’d said “135 Double J,” I’d have said “okay.”