Can a hat keep you cooler than wearing no hat (without soaking the hat with water)?
To personalize the matter, I’d like a wide brim hat that protects my head from UV, and that doesn’t make my head feel hot. With the hats I own, after 20 minutes in the sun I’ll lift them up and perch them atop my head like a cartoon derby.
My hat collection is a mixed bag: a Tilley canvas hat, a couple of Gore-Tex rain hats, a tightly woven Coolibar UV blocking hat, a couple of too-tight cowboy straw hats, I use to have a cheap poorly-fitting woven jungle helmet.
So, what do you recommend (preferably from personal experience)?
Addressing the end of your post: straw. I think mine’s a looser weave, maybe different materials. Light and comfortable, buy it cheap and replace as needed.
I’ve found that a simple white Panama hat does an excellent job at keeping my head cooler during the summer heat. I have one I wear to the beach, and I’m quite happy with it.
A warning, though: you have to be over a certain age to pull one off. A man in his 40s in a Panama hat looks distinguished, or at least harmlessly eccentric; a kid in his 20s looks like a douche.
My mom got me a UV hat post melanoma treatment. The brim is a good stiffness but still flexible. The material touching the head is extremely thin and has a band of mesh for extra breathability. I’ve never had a sweating problem.
I’ll have to check the brand when I get home.
I like the canvas Tilley. Looks pretty goofy on me. But does the job well. Worn it in equatorial heat and humidity. Mine has snaps to take the sides of the brim up like a cowboy hat. Looks less dorky?
I often wear a stiff canvas bucket hat. It’s great for protection from both rain and sun, and when I’m out in the summer without it, I find that I overheat much more easily.
I once had a hat that was perfect for me, It had a band of looser weave as part of the crown that allowed for the wind to make it’s way inside. However, it was natural material that eventually fell apart. There was no brand name and I found it in a boutique in Ottawa that’s gone. I have plenty of other hats but this one was perfect. I feel verklempt when I think of it.
Amazon has quite a selection to choose from. But not my hat. Dang it.
If you’re willing to throw fashion right out the window …
I spent four months be-bopping around much of Central America a while back. It was hot. I mean … hot – tropical hot (high temps, high humidity).
My Tilley hat – beloved though it was – wasn’t cutting it.
Plan B – that I was carrying with me – was one of these:
IME, it was much cooler than the Tilley. It also did a great job of keeping the sun/rain out of my eyes and off my face and protected the back of my neck from the sun.
I actually got compliments while wearing it, but there really is no accounting for taste
I had an authentic pith helmet. Wore it for yard work and it was great, compared to a ball cap or straw hat. Too bad it looked like a cartoon costume because it had the best practical function.
I spend a lot of time hiking in the desert backcountry (I’m at the Grand Canyon right now). A hat is absolutely indispensible - after shoes, probably the most important item of clothing. When you have experienced being outside in intense direct sunlight for more than a few minutes, you will be in absolutely no doubt that almost any hat keeps your head cooler. The effect of blocking direct sunlight from hitting your head and neck far outweighs any loss of air circulation. Cowboys weren’t just making a fashion statement.
But a hat can be thin and light and still block virtually all sunlight without feeling heavy on your head. Lightweight synthetic fabrics will also allow sweat to evaporate easily. Outdoor Research make great hats for hot weather, I use something like the Helios -
My beloved Dorfman has mesh sides for good air circulation and a nice thick brim that is heavy enough to keep it on my head during the constant AZ wind.
Seems like a decent strategy, altho my noggin is in the XXL realm, so “one size” hats often won’t fit.
I always look like a douche, so no problem there. The brim might be a bit stingy — my face is susceptible to brown blotches, and my nose burns very easily.
Nice style, but there’s gotta be a brim.
Looks cute and practical — but they definitely need better product shots.
That might be next on my list. I’ve got the OR Seattle Sombrero (rain hat) and it’s well designed.
Yeah, it’s annoying to have a brim flip up in the wind and let the sun blast your eyes. My Outdoor Research hat has some velcro patches that let you fold up the sides (Aussie style), which keeps the front of the brim from flying up. I have bought a mesh Dorfman, but the fit was a trifle off, so I gave it to my brother-in-law. I might get another. They do look overly spiffy for my usual self-image, and I’d probably worry about getting the hat dirty.
The spiffyness wears off after a while. It took almost a year to get the brim to sag like I wanted, my idea of functional and cool looking is possibly different than other people’s.
If you get another, check for fit and then put it in the top rack of your dishwasher. When it comes out, put it on your head for a couple of hours to allow it to start learning the shape of your head. Then drape it over a porch railing so the brim starts to droop down front and back. Try to get in the habit of rolling the brim when you are standing around holding the hat, that helps get it in the proper (for you) shape.
I stopped needing to mess around with the sape and fit after a few months, after that I’d toss the hat in the dishwasher when it needed washing and drape it over the porch rail to dry.
I don’t know why I can’t make the first link work, do look at it, that is what my 35 year old hat looks like after daily service in the protection of my eye and nose.
Ahh, sorry Ms. Doe42 — actually the hat I owned was a Henschel Breezer. Similar mesh around the sides, but definitely a different beast.
Thank you for the photos and story.
Which cannot be overstated. My brother and I are very, very fair-skinned which is to be expected as redheads. And there’s a special hell in getting sunburned along the part of your hair. A hat keeps that from happening, and a head that’s not sunburned is cooler.
