Summer Hats
Do you wear a hat in the summer? Now I’m not talking about one of the glorious fascinators that we saw at the Royal Wedding. I’m referring to a basic summer hat designed to protect you from the sun.
While I dutifully slather on sunscreen several times a day, I never think to put on a hat in the summer. Well, to be honest, I don’t even own any summer hats. An offhand remark by a friend has me thinking that it’s time to rectify that fashion deficit.
The other day a friend — who has also added daily walks to her exercise routine — mentioned that she’s going to look for a hat this weekend. She commented that she’s starting to get a sunburn on the top of her head. Oops! Talk about feeling stupid. While I’ve lectured numerous people on the dangers of being out in the sun without sunscreen, I’ve left my head unprotected in my daily walks.
As a person with fine, thin hair, I suffer from hat hair in the extreme. As a result, I tend to avoid hats except on the very coldest days. But since I do the majority of my walking either before my morning shower, or after work in the early evening, hat hair really isn’t going to be an issue. I doubt if I’ll don a hat when I make a quick run to Starbucks in the middle of the work day, but I’m determined to wear one for my daily walks.
All this means I need to find the perfect hat for walking, and quickly. I’ve done a bit of searching on the web and have come up with a couple relatively inexpensive possibilities at Target, Eddie Bauer, and H&M. So later today, after my hopefully last unprotected head walk, I’ll be heading out to the stores to check out hats.
What about you? Do you wear a hat in the summer? If so, what kind of hat do you wear?
LinnieGayl
dont you have kids? or parents? or siblings? do you consider them as ur family?
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VictoriaS, I never thought to look at Penneys! Your hat sounds perfect. And the one from the craft fair? That sounds really unique. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that at a craft fair. Very clever.
I’ve got two. One I just bought recently at JCPenneys, looks like it’s gonna be my summer go to hat. The crown is shaped just like the one on your model, but instead of a wide floppy brim, it’s got a turned back brim, and is also made of cotton. I got it in brown, and am going back to see if they have a white one. The best thing about the JCPenney hat is that it fits my big head :-) It had a drawstring(which I immediately took out!) to make it smaller if needed.
The second, is one I bought at a craft fair last year. It’s made of paper! Paper in honeycomb shapes, and when you put it on it expands. Once again allowing it to fit my rather large head. When on your head, it’s kind of shaped like the old pith helmets with a small brim and a fabric rose. It is also brown. At the stall of the craft fair where I got the hat, you should have seen the ladies trying on different colors and shapes. We went nuts over these cute,inexpensive hats!
I wear a Nike cotton baseball hat that just has a swoosh for a decoration (thank goodness). It has a longish brim so that’s more protection for my face.
Linnie, hurray on the hat purchase!
But yes, with humid, higher heat weather, it is going to be difficult to know whether it was the hat or just the weather that made you feel so sweaty and sticky. Hopefully you’ll get a better idea tomorrow.
Oh my goodness, Missie! That sounds absolutely miserable.
Well, back from my shopping expedition with a hat from Eddie Bauer with SPF50. I wore it on the walk back from the mall, and by the time I got home I was sweating pretty badly underneath the hat. I’m not sure if it was just the weather, or if I made a bad selection. Will give it a try tomorrow when it’s supposed to be a bit cooler and a lot less humid.
Oh, and to give you an idea of how swollen I was — it was rather like bread dough: you could literally stick a finger in my forehead and an indentation would remain.
That was a bad, bad burn — it was probably nearly 20 years ago, and I still have vivid memories of it. *shudders*
Hat shopping — how fun!!
If I’m just, say, walking to the mailbox and back, or going from the car into a store (even if I’ve parked at the farthest reaches of the parking lot), I don’t worry about wearing a hat.
But if I’m outside working or going on an extended walk, then yes, I wear a wide-brimmed straw hat. I have two that are my “go to” hats, and both have adjusted corded straps on them so that, if the weather is windy, I can adjust the straps to keep the hat on my head while my hands are otherwise occupied.
I sunburned my scalp and forehead once, and it was MISERY — I never want to go through that again. In addition to the pain and discomfort of the sunburn (plus, of course, the worries about long term damage one has when one suffers a bad sunburn), my scalp and forehead became quite swollen, and the swelling (or, rather, the accumulation of body fluids that caused the swelling) gradually traveled down my face as they were dissipated/reabsorbed by my body, so at first, my scalp and forehead were quite swollen…then my eyes and nose….then nose and cheeks…then jaw and mouth area…then jaw and upper neck….it was over a week before I could look in the mirror and saw a recognizable reflection blinking back at me.