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[zetwal]

Hello all, I'm very new to hat wearing, actually just bought my first non-Walmart fedora earlier this week. However, a few weeks ago I began styling my hair in the Don Draper from Mad Men style... ya know, slicked back to the side with a side part. My question is this: how can I keep my hair looking at least somewhat decent underneath my hat, so that when I am inside I don't look like I just rolled out of bed. I've heard Brylcreem works well, but I wanted to see if anyone else had any experience with this problem. I've looked around for a thread on this and couldn't find one, but this forum is huge, so if I missed it I'd be very grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.
Thanks.

Welcome! Here are a couple threads that you may enjoy,

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?15352

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?44068

 

[Aureliano]

One of my Borsalino hats sheds crazy amounts of moth ball smell when it gets even slightly wet. Any way to get rid of this aliment for good?

 

[scottyrocks]

Okay, I have this Adventurebilt Henry. It is a bee-you-tiful hat. I bought it used from a board (COW or F&G) member. It is my size (59).

Except that it's way too big. Without sweat stuffing it falls down over my eyes. With sweat stuffing, the hat just looks too massive for my face, as in noticeably larger than any of my Akubra Feds, all sized 59.

I'd like to fix it myself, with as little in the way of taking it apart as possible. But if I have to take it apart, I will.

I'm getting the feeling that I won't be able to shrink the body of the hat without taking it apart and soaking it in some sort of woolite and hot water mixture, putting it on my block, and going from there.

Is this going farther than necessary? Any procedural advice would be appreciated.

 

[Aureliano]

I'd avoid the woolite.

 

[jlee562]

Okay, I have this Adventurebilt Henry. It is a bee-you-tiful hat. I bought it used from a board (COW or F&G) member. It is my size (59).

Except that it's way too big. Without sweat stuffing it falls down over my eyes. With sweat stuffing, the hat just looks too massive for my face, as in noticeably larger than any of my Akubra Feds, all sized 59.

I'd like to fix it myself, with as little in the way of taking it apart as possible. But if I have to take it apart, I will.

I'm getting the feeling that I won't be able to shrink the body of the hat without taking it apart and soaking it in some sort of woolite and hot water mixture, putting it on my block, and going from there.

Is this going farther than necessary? Any procedural advice would be appreciated.

Lampshade trick?

 

[scottyrocks]

The only reason I mention it is that I have been reading posts in the hat section here from the beginning, as in 2003. 'Fedora' (Steve Delk) had posted that he had soaked hats in hot water and woolite to shrink and/or clean them. My Henry is pristine so I guess I can skip the woolite.

 

[masiaka]

One of my Borsalino hats sheds crazy amounts of moth ball smell when it gets even slightly wet. Any way to get rid of this aliment for good?

Bed, Bath, & Beyond is currently selling cedar blocks, bags of cedar sawdust, and cedar coat hanger rings. If you store your hat with any one of those it will begin to replace the mothball scent with cedar and still repel insects.

 

[Aureliano]

Bed, Bath, & Beyond is currently selling cedar blocks, bags of cedar sawdust, and cedar coat hanger rings. If you store your hat with any one of those it will begin to replace the mothball scent with cedar and still repel insects.

Thanks! fortunately, we don't have moths. The hat came to me with this unpleasant addition not described by the seller lol

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

Okay, I have this Adventurebilt Henry. It is a bee-you-tiful hat. I bought it used from a board (COW or F&G) member. It is my size (59).

Except that it's way too big. Without sweat stuffing it falls down over my eyes. With sweat stuffing, the hat just looks too massive for my face, as in noticeably larger than any of my Akubra Feds, all sized 59.

I'd like to fix it myself, with as little in the way of taking it apart as possible. But if I have to take it apart, I will.

I'm getting the feeling that I won't be able to shrink the body of the hat without taking it apart and soaking it in some sort of woolite and hot water mixture, putting it on my block, and going from there.

Is this going farther than necessary? Any procedural advice would be appreciated.

If it's that much too big I think you'll have to take it apart. Even if you manage to shrink the hat, the sweatband will pucker and might distort the hat's shape. You can remove the ribbon and sweat, try to shrink the body, then re-size the ribbon and sweat and re-install. OR you can send it out, which is what I would do.

 

[danofarlington]

Bed, Bath, & Beyond is currently selling cedar blocks, bags of cedar sawdust, and cedar coat hanger rings. If you store your hat with any one of those it will begin to replace the mothball scent with cedar and still repel insects.

I'm not a believer in the lasting effects of cedar blocks. I bought some from Home Depot for my closet about ten years ago, and within a year, or less, the cedar blocks lost their smell. They couldn't have repelled anything, and didn't attract me any longer.

 

[scottyrocks]

If it's that much too big I think you'll have to take it apart. Even if you manage to shrink the hat, the sweatband will pucker and might distort the hat's shape. You can remove the ribbon and sweat, try to shrink the body, then re-size the ribbon and sweat and re-install. OR you can send it out, which is what I would do.

Thanks, Salty, this seems to be the way to go. I'll strip it down, soak it in hot water for a while, then put on my block. The sweat will have to be trimmed on one end so it will match the new smaller inner circumference of the hat body. It's such a beautiful hat that I hesitate to take it apart but I don't like the way it fits me the way it is. I'm a do-it-yourselfer, so I'm gonna try to do it myself. Hopefully, the bow will stay intact so I don't have to reform it. It is perfect the way it is.

 

[masiaka]

You should keep cedar blocks stored in a small space (like a hat box). The bigger the area they're trying to protect, the less they work. I usually put one in each garment bag in my closet, and a couple in each drawer of my dresser.

 

[56FordGuy]

Good evening, y'all. I'm struggling a bit with the purchase of a first hat.

I'm looking for a nice western hat. Living just north of Nashville, one would think that would be easy to find. Unfortunately, that's not been the case and I'm a bit unsure where to even begin. I've found that most hats with a cattleman's crease sit too high on my head. I'm 6'2", tall and thin with a similarly shaped head. When the bottom of the crease sits down on top of my head, the bottom of the brim sits far too high above my ears, causing the hat to look like it's barely perched up there. Hardly a good look, to be sure. Unfortunately, I can't find many other types of hats locally to try. Most of the hat stores around Nashville seems to keep a lot of inexpensive, "We're in Nashville for the weekend" type cowboy hats in stock, mostly black or white with the cattleman's crease and not much else. You can buy one for $5.00, though! :eusa_doh:

I've seen plenty of other options online. I just don't want to order a hat (especially my first 'good' hat) without trying it on first. I've thought about trying a custom hat, but I'm not sure if there are any shops around middle TN that could do that for me, or if it would be in my price range. Since this is a first hat, I'd like to stay around the $150.00 price point.

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm just not sure where to go from here. Order a hat, hope it fits and looks right, or potentially have to make a road trip to a custom hat shop? Surely, there must be some middle ground.

Thanks!

 

[Grizzly Adams]

In TN, I would pay this gentleman a call.

 

[jlee562]

[video=youtube;NQABSZxjkBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQABSZxjkBE[/video]

Is there a name for this style of hat that Elvis Costello is wearing here? It looks vaguely like some "gambler" style westerns I've seen but seems to have a shorter brim and looks to be a straw of some sort?

The shape of this hat is great, and I think I might want a felt version.

 

[danofarlington]

If you're just starting to look, a custom hat is probably too pricey. They're great and I own one, but bought a lot of off-the-shelf hats first. The very cheapest way to experiment with quality hats in my view is buying them from EBay. There are many styles and eras represented, and you can easily pick out a few that suit your style. If you don't like them, then the investment won't be too much, and you can re-sell them on EBay too. For new hats, at $150 I think you're talking about Stetson and Akubra, although you may have to pay more for some of them, which by the way I don't consider a bad deal. I agree about going to the store to try them on and wherever possible you should do that, but some years ago I decided to just buy online for the variety available, and most of the time it came out OK. Just for the record, what could go wrong in an online transaction? First, you don't like the style on you; solution is to return it. Second, the size is wrong--I've bought hats (especially Borsalinos) that are larger than my size (usually because of a cloth sweatband rather than leather), and smaller than (because of a thick sweatband like lambskin). Again, you can just return them--or learn to live with it. For the ones larger than my size, the solution isn't always to get a smaller size; that may be too small; just pad the sweatband with something or use the sizer foam tape that is available; no problem. A small hat though should be returned for a larger size; don't mess with stretching a hat, it's hard and doesn't always work. But that is the extent of problems I personally have had with online buying, and I consider those problems manageable.

 

[tealseal]

You should keep cedar blocks stored in a small space (like a hat box). The bigger the area they're trying to protect, the less they work. I usually put one in each garment bag in my closet, and a couple in each drawer of my dresser.

When my cedar blocks lose their scent, I've found that a quick couple passes with a fine sandpaper will revitalize them. YMMV.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

I own several Sun Body Guatemalan palm hats, and you need to soak them every month so that they don't get brittle. I own a three or four year old Panama, and I just purchased a Milan. Do I need to spritz them with distilled water every so often so that they don't get brittle either?

Are there any other "maintenance" type things to do with Panamas and Milans? I looked up Panama Hat Maintenance and primarily got data on re-blocking.

Thanks

 

[jthix]

First Panama

I've posted something similar in the Panama Hat thread and thought I'd try here as well. I'm new to the world of hats and have recently purchased my first fur felt - an Akubra Squatter. I love the hat! But now, since we're going into the spring and summer months I really would like a Panama. I plan on using it more for practical purposes rather than show (so it'll be fo when I'm cutting the grass and going on hikes) so I don't want a nice expensive one.

I think I'm narrowing it down to something from Panama Bob - I am very attracted to his low grade Cuencas. Does anyone own one of these cheap Panamas? I'm talking about like a grade Cuencas 1 or 2, would that be fine for what I need the hat for? I really would like a Cabellero in natural.

And which weave is preffered, a Llano or Brisa? And for a very low grade, what type of outer band will come with it? Should I expect a cloth sweatband and is it easy to swap out to a leather one (and is it even worth doing so)? And will Bob be able to honor a 3" brim request on a cheap hat?

I know that's quite a few questions, thank you in advance!

 

[qhepfinger]

antique Sinclair & Co top hat

Hello,
I am relatively new here and new to the wonderful world of hats! I recently picked up this antique Sinclair & Co hat and would love to learn more about it. Anything that you could tell me would be very much appreciated! It is some type of fur, and the inside label reads:
Sinclair & Co.
149 Regent St.
London

(I tried uploading photo but wasn't able to get it to work...just kept getting a red exclaimation point...)

Thanks!