Too Small?? Too big? Just right? or How to wear a hat!

[Visigoth]

Tipped to the side, yes: my hats always touch the ear on the lower side.

But two finger widths? That's the accepted wisdom? On my avatar, I suppose that's about what I have, but that's on the high side, when cocked.

 

[scottyrocks]

I never thought about measuring the distance before, but I just did. I wear my hats, as seen in my avatar, barely a finger 'width' (and thats from the top [nail] to bottom [print] of my finger, not side to side) above my ears, as I dont cock my hats to the side. Two fingers 'widths,' even the way I just measured, from nail to print, sits ridiculously high.

 

[Tomasso]

"If a hat is properly fitted it should stay on in quite high winds (35mph or so)...... "

I'd like to see this.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Let's ask this gentleman

Nope still blows away.

This hat will stay

 

[CRH]

I'd like to see this.

Follow me............

 

[bolthead]

The hatline, like any decent haircut, should be two, I repeat, TWO finger widths above the ear, unless of course you want to look like somethin from a Bowery Boys movie....

I think this is close for most members here, but there are a few exceptions that wear them much, much higher, Metropd, Jerekson are two that come to mind. [huh]

 

[Tomasso]

Follow me............

Sure.....Across this bridge......35 mph breeze....You can't touch your hat.......lol

 

[mannySpaghetti]

I dunno. Two finger widths seems awfully high to me. I wear mine low.

 

[dr greg]

whisky vision

Well, like a drink, I suppose it depends on your fingers, but that's what my old barber who had been cutting since the 40's told me

 

[Gatsby84]

The Finger Test...

Personally, I like mine so it's the width of my index finger above my ear. It stays on pretty well, especially after I start sweating a little and it adheres to my forehead. It works, for me, for the constant 20mph winds we have here in the Black Hills.

-Allen

 

[Ande1964]

It's Personal

It's dependent on what you like and how your particular melon is shaped. I wear mine almost touching my right ear, and about a finger above my left.

Anj

 

[suitedcboy]

heads are not standardized. About two fingers above my ears is an area on my skull flat enough to retain a hat well. A hat wearing friend of mine has to wear a hat maybe 3/8 inch above his ears or it falls off just walking. (his head obviously got wet at some point and developed excess taper)
He does not wear a hat as much as I do or have done in my life and I think maybe I have a ringed skull with a hat detent now. I keep telling him to keep his lid on except for sleep and showers but he won't listen. [huh]

 

[Dewhurst]

The interesting thing about the original question is that there is no answer. It is entirely a matter of what is in vogue during the period of fashion, and what your personal preferences are.

The two finger widths is basically useless unless people tell you what part of the finger they are using. The pointing bit is quite small, the first knuckle larger, and the knuckle near the body of the hand fairly large.

These days, many people prefer wearing their hats somewhere from 0.25 to 0.75 inches above each ear most of the time, in my experience. The Indiana Jones crowd prefers a very low seating position.

Really you should just go with comfort. If a hat that sits about 0.75 inches or so off of each ear is uncomfortable and a hat that sits a bit lower and looser near the 0.25 inch range is, you really can't argue with your head. Any hat that sits above the ears doesn't ever really look too large, it is only when it starts to fall down over the ears that they look ridiculous.

If the hat is snug, not binding, comfortable, and doesn't wiggle all around if you flick your head about then you should be good to go, no matter how low or high the seating position is. Frank Sinatra typically wore his way higher than many of us would, and one assumes he wasn't walking around with raging headaches all the time.

For "vintage" wisdom, you would go with a good medium seating position so that you can put that dramatic tip in your hat. But if you look at old photographs, you know that this is not the standard way to wear the hat. There were people who preferred high, and people who preferred really low, even back then.

EDIT: Oh, right, I forgot to mention this. People with chronic sinus problems generally seem to prefer low and loose hats as well.

 

[avedwards]

This also relates to crown height of the hat. My Stetson Chatham has quite a low crown for someone with a long head like me, but even though it fits higher than its predecessors it is equally comfortable (now that I figured out I no longer need the foam strips behind the sweat band).

I agree with Dewhurst, do what is comfortable for you. I think asking where a hat should fit is like asking which colour hat to wear, it depends on what suits you.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I made a statement somewhere (re wind trolleys) that many men that i've seen wear a hat that i would consider too big. My standard for deciding if a hat fits me or not is whether i need to hold it on when a tube train is entering the platform. If i feel that it might blow off, it's too loose.

My hats, therefore fit quite tight and quite high. My head here is tilted towards the camera so you don't get the true naure of how high it is. It is about 2.5 fingers above the point where the ear attaches to the head. My ears are big so the crest of the lobe is close to the brim. My academic photograph:

Tomasso, my hats don't blow off on that bridge [huh]

bk

 

[rumblefish]

If you shave your head, the question becomes; how low should a fedora sit? And the answer is- till it stops. Unless of course you stretch or pad it.

 

[Dewhurst]

It is about 2.5 fingers above the point where the ear attaches to the head. My ears are big so the crest of the lobe is close to the brim.

See, this is exactly what I was talking about above. bk is measuring from the place where his ear and head are actually physically attached. I measure from the top of my ear (the high point where the ear actually stops and you just see hair on the side of my head. I always measure THAT space between the bottom of the hat and the top of the ear).

 

[EVEN-STEVEN]

In my opinion, how high or low is beside the point.

Position the lid on your bean so as to optimize comfort. In other words, put it where it feels good.

 

[Belegnole]

I have a tendency to agree with Even-Steven. How others view me in a hat is not as important as how I feel in it. I find that part of where that hat sits is determined by the hat itself. For example my every day Royal Stetson rides a bit higher than I would like, but the top of my heat is at the top of the hat. It is a good fit but because of the shape of my noggin a hat with perfect fit would have a taller crown and be just a touch bigger....because of my larger ears it would also ride closer to my ears.

 

[scottyrocks]

See, this is exactly what I was talking about above. bk is measuring from the place where his ear and head are actually physically attached. I measure from the top of my ear (the high point where the ear actually stops and you just see hair on the side of my head. I always measure THAT space between the bottom of the hat and the top of the ear).

While I agree with the 'wear it where it feels/looks good to the wearer,' I'm not sure I see the validity in measuring from where the ear meets the head, due to the differences in ear shape from person to person. The brim of the hat meets the ear at the top of the ear, not where the ear meets the head.

Ah, irrelevent, anyway. Wear it where you like, I say (with the others).