The idea that hats keep you cooler...

[MattJH]

Well said, everyone! I agree that there are advantages that I need to come to terms with for wearing a wide-brimmed hat in the heat. I just hate being hot so much, despite the orders from my dermatologist. What I'm more getting at is the advertising that comes along with wide-brimmed hats that they "keep you cooler." No, they don't, they keep you safer but warmer. It's basic science, and an easy way to prove it is to wear one during a hot, hazy, humid summer day here in Philadelphia. I'll last about 5 minutes before giving up. I'll try harder next summer.

 

[suitedcboy]

I think most of us would agree, it is not so much about keeping you cool as it is about making you cool...............

 

[KY Gentleman]

I think most of us would agree, it is not so much about keeping you cool as it is about making you cool...............

Agreed!:eusa_clap

 

[Dr Doran]

I hang out in the shade.

If there's no shade, I don't go there.

Once in Turkey everyone was going out for the day to some salt flats. It was about 90 degrees and this was a place where the ground was composed of hard white salt. I thought about the glare and I thought about the reflected heat and I instead found a bar and hung out inside drinking raki.Eventually the rest of the crew came back, beet-red and boiling only to see me chilling inside a dark bar sipping a icy fennel liqueur.

With a tall glass of ice water on the side.

I stay in the shade.

 

[randooch]

Here in Oregon

Just now walked to the store (a mile) with an old Dobbs felt on, and it was great on the way there, but that was mostly DOWNhill. The way back I had to carry it. Still, I'm happy not to have been wearing a ballcap. Sometimes style trumps function, and other times they intersect nicely.

 

[thomasrodd]

Grommets on a fino fino

I put four brass grommets with 3/8 inch holes, two in each side of a panama i got from panama hats direct, because it was simply too uncomfortable to wear otherwise. I took the idea from my tilley hat. OK, it's not the maltese falcon look, but i wanted to wear the hat a lot, and now i do, it's quite light and actually looks quite sporty. i also ripped out the leather hatband and put in a coolmax fabric band that looks disturbingly like the waistband for a pair of jockeys. very light and comfortable, as i say. walking a 1/2 mile to work in the mornings in an easterly direction, the snap brim does a great job of keeping the already hot summer sun out of my eyes. grommets are good!

 

[thomasrodd]

a cool customer thanks to grommets

works for me!

 

[ET]

I put four brass grommets with 3/8 inch holes, two in each side of a panama i got from panama hats direct, because it was simply too uncomfortable to wear otherwise. I took the idea from my tilley hat. OK, it's not the maltese falcon look, but i wanted to wear the hat a lot, and now i do, it's quite light and actually looks quite sporty. i also ripped out the leather hatband and put in a coolmax fabric band that looks disturbingly like the waistband for a pair of jockeys. very light and comfortable, as i say. walking a 1/2 mile to work in the mornings in an easterly direction, the snap brim does a great job of keeping the already hot summer sun out of my eyes. grommets are good!

A picture is worth a thousand words - let us see this masterpiece of creative re-engineering

 

[John in Covina]

In this here vicinity the sun can be quite strong and without the shade of a hat, my head will get pretty cooked in the direct sun. The shade helps keep my head face ears etc from getting sun burned and being a light skinned guy from Scandinavian descent that is important too.

However, if my physical exertions are enough that I am now hot from excercise or work, the hat now keeps the heat from radiating off of my head and I will take it off and even fan myself with it for short periods. But the sun protection is very important and so is the shading of the eyes in sunny weather.

Solar protection and insulation all in one great product.

There are hats with built in fans that run on photo-electric cells if you don't mind how they look.

 

[Lefty]

Sometimes, it is about style. I take my cues from Fonzie, who famously "jumped the shark" without sacrificing his greaser panache.

 

[Undertow]

When it comes to fur felts and most panamas, hats do not cool me off one bit; they tend to make me overheat in fact. However, I often wear a good straw cowboy hat to keep the sun off me if I'm out midday.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I have had hat wearing experience working all day in the 90 degree humid Arkansas sun. For myself I would say my thin felt Resistol was much cooler then having the sun beat down on my head all-day. I think so many people plunk a hat on their head, go out in the sun for a few minutes and then decide that hats are hotter than bare heads. For me initially bare-headed is cooler, but if I go bare-headed for a long time my head heats up and on an average is noticeably hotter (that sun just beating down mercilessly on bare skin).

Without hat=temporary coolness(unless you are in the shade; then it is cooler)
Without= horrible sunburn (under direct sun working conditions)
Without=hard to think because your brain is getting cooked.


With hat=On average cooler than sun beating on bare head.
With=looks darn good.

That's my two cents, I wonder how many here that think a hat makes you hotter have actually tried working in the sun all day without one. I don't recommend it!

 

[Dinerman]

It depends on where you are. In Maryland in 90 some degree heat, with all the humidity, it doesn't do much. Out in Montana, where it was a dry heat, it was incredible what a difference the brim made as far as staying cool.

 

[Colby Jack]

Well here in Florida...up until this week...I've been sweating through the ribbon. So I'm careful to only wear an older hat if I'm doing anything strenuous...however...I think I'll be getting some grommet equipment soon...:eusa_clap

 

[Andykev]

We can change daily here in this climate

Here in the SF Bay Area...we get a LOT of "MICRO CLIMATES". I wear the straw anytime there is a sunny day. If I wear a felt, in the sun, then you become over-heated and uncomfortable. Now if it is a windy, cool day, the felt is fine. But any "full sun" environment REQUIRES a straw. Now, it is October..and we are in for a rise in temps the next few days. It is still straw hat weather.

But the mornings are cool, so a felt in the AM is fine, and tonight I transitioned to a felt 'cause the yard grew cold.

We are soon into the FELT ONLY season. Ah...which is better?

I like both.

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

Hats, especially felts of course, make you feel hotter in hot humid weather. However, the fact that a hat keeps my long hair away from out of my face (you know, sticking to the sweat and all that) in most cases far outweighs the disadvantage of higher heat.

Where a hat makes a world of difference, is when the weather gets cold. And when wet (I know it's supposed to be a no-no, but...). Yesterday, I stood outside in the rain, having my daily chat with Tony, the street sweeper (his team wears orange Bikkembergs overalls...hee hee!) and when, later, I tilted my head forwards, a swimming pool of water ran off the upturned rim of my homburg. My head was warm and dry. I don't care too much about the homburg (a German Mayser).

 

[Tomasso]

Here in the SF Bay Area.

You might just have the weirdest weather in America. :eusa_doh:

 

[ScionPI2005]

We are soon into the FELT ONLY season. Ah...which is better?

I like both.

Here in Albuquerque I consider it felt season by now. Call me odd, but I really prefer felt season to straw season. Overall, I just really like fur felts better than straw: the styles, the feel of the hat, etc. I do wear straws and linen newsboys during the summer, but it's just not the same.

Anyone else feel this way?

 

[Akubra Man]

Here in Albuquerque I consider it felt season by now. Call me odd, but I really prefer felt season to straw season. Overall, I just really like fur felts better than straw: the styles, the feel of the hat, etc. I do wear straws and linen newsboys during the summer, but it's just not the same.

Anyone else feel this way?

I am with you on this. I wear panamas and the other odd straw during summer. But come September when the weather changes I am back to my fur felts and wear them right into June when the weather really goes back to hot again. As much as I love summer I do miss my felt hats.

 

[Lon Goval]

Felt for Me!

Felt hats are my preference. But here in San Diego the weather is not "felt weather" very often. Evening time is about the only time I can wear felts this month. Even today and tomorrow the temps are going to be around 90 degrees, so I'm still wearing straw! Maybe by next month I can start wearing felt regularly.

Ralph