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To cover my baldy heid and fair skin in this blistering 17deg heat, can anyone recommend a decent sun hat that doesn't look, well, silly? I need a full brim hat that will preferably cover my neck. Maybe they'll all feel silly, I just feel like something out of a 1920's desert archaeology dig.
Sombrero, obvs.
Baldy ginge here - either use a decathlon cap or a hemp tilley hat. I am fully aware I look a plonker in both. Better than a burnt napper though!
Tilley.
a cap
Sombrero, obvs.
This. We’re laughing with you, not at you.
Honest.
panama.
Leather Bush hat
Trilby sunhat or just go brimfree with some artful buff folding.
Cap and sunblock is the only answer to this.
Stetson
can anyone recommend a decent sun hat that doesn’t look, well, silly?
It all depends. Try lots of different ones on.
Some people are natural hat people. Others are not.
Hat people will recognise their own hats. It’s like magic.
I, for example, in the winter, will rock a six panel duckbill cap and it’s been acknowledged that it looks good on me. Put me in a Peaky Blinders bunnet which is only subtly different and I look ridiculous. You need to find the style that suits your face.
Sombrero, obvs
Style it out.
(Tilley here)
Pith Helmet. Rock that safari/Hunter/colonial vibe!
Tilley owner here. Top quality hat, I really like it, it keep the sun off everything AND as a bonus I look like a plonker. Wife will not allow me to wear it when out with her.
I suspect LimboJimbo has the correct answer; a cap for the top of your dome and forehead, and sunblock on neck and sides of face.
You’ve made me wonder, do toupées come with a SPF rating?
perchy's right (obvs, always) - I have a straw fedora-style sunhat I bought in Greece that just suits me. Plus, I get to pretend that I'm Indiana Jones on holiday.
Always been a fan of the leather bush hat myself. Sure, they make me look like I should be living on a barge in a Deep South bayou but they are also quite comfy.
Another Tilley hat fan.
Mine is over 20 years old and is still going strong.
Tarphat. Been riding in mine today.
Blue disposable face mask on top of the head, elastics under your ears.
It will be this year's summer fashion. Guaranteed
Bucket hats are also pretty good for casual wear
Stetson. Obvs. Dead animal on the front of it, optional
And a big tash to accessorise
eddiebaby
Free Member
Tarphat. Been riding in mine today.
Just came to post that. Bought one a couple of weeks ago on the suggestion of an old thread on here, love it.
My new gardening/dog walking/cider drinking hat. Don't care what I look like, it's purely functional, keeps the sun and the rain off me melon.
Thanks for the suggestions. I like the tarphat, this.
https://www.tarphat.co.uk/products/6/Floppy-Canvas-Hats/20/Floppy-Tarp-Canvas-Hat---Original
Matches my equally shabby, 12 year old cap.. Ordering
Straw fedora from the Indiana Jones ride at EuroDisney. Surprisingly good quality, still going strong.
Knotted hankie ?.
Tanktop and braces optional.
Never liked the Tilley myself - check out Barmah for some alternatives.
I was sporting my blue England cricket hat in the pub this lunchtime. Looks ok according to Mrs S.
That vented tarp looks good.
I was Tilley but now liking a 5.11 Tactical Boonie Hat. Give it a Google. The do sizes which most don’t which was great for my big head.
Got a 20 year old standard Tilley hat, that I've tended to use in rain rather than sun, but the lockdown #2 all over has revealed the extent of my retreating hairline so interested in other suggestions.
Wondered if one of those roll up Panama hats would fit in a frame bag for the pub/cafe stops.....
Tarphat ok but don’t fold or go flat easily. Tilley is easier to pop in a bag or travel with. Tarphat good in rain though.
Microfibre Tilly. They reissued it. Much lighter than the standard one. Had mine ten years.
We sell these in our shop. I know it’s supposedly a ladies hat but it looks good on me. Never had a burnt head, the wind blows through it ,they squash flat and you can breath through it if you put it over your face for a nap.
https://www.powder-uk.com/item/955/Hats/Natalie-Hat.html
I wear either a six-panel duckbill, or a straw trilby or Panama. At work I wear a baseball cap, either a Bike Magazine (US), or a RaceFace, which shade my face well, as I’m outdoors all day - the problem with those is my ears need factor 50 sunscreen to stop them burning, a real issue at the moment! Going without a hat is not an option, I was pretty thin on top anyway, but the stubble that now passes for hair means total sunburn and peeling, uncomfortable and not a good look!
Outdoor research sombrolet.. nice and light weight, well vented.. lots of colours to choose from
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outdoor-Research-Mens-Sombriolet-Sun/dp/B07SMGB75K?th=1&psc=1
Have you considered paint?
I have a leather bush hat which I'm still convinced makes me look like a rugged frontier cowboy, even though it blatantly makes me look like one of the village people. I like it, a lot, it's good in the rain too, the only downside is it doesn't stow that well compared to a cloth hat.
More people should wear hats.
I have (I think) something similar to what Northwind describes. It has a kangaroo on it. Not a real one.
Tilley gets my vote for sunhat. Lifetime guarantee including 'oops, I lost it' cover.
I wore one of these for many whole days out in the middle of farm fields in my detecting days. Good at both keeping the rain off and the sun.
Boonie bush hats. The UK military style hasnt got as wide a brim as the US type. I prefer the US type both functionally and aesthetically. The string loop can go over the top to hold the sides up for full safari look.😁
You can go full "Lone Survivor."
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270584593754
They are cheap but surprisingly rugged, mine lasted for years. This is the same ebayer I bought it from. Strangely, in metal detecting circles, the desert camo colouring was and is in vogue... Together with the matching army surplus jacket and trousers.
Must have been an odd sight for passers by to see about 60 guys on a farm field all wearing desert camo gear... in a farm field in the middle of winter...
I just went through this. Mainly driven by wanting Bob Mortimer's fishing hat I wound up on the Stetson website. They don't stock that one any more but there's loads to choose from. I went for a linen trilby but sort of wish I'd plumped for something with a wider brim. I haven't been brave enough to wear it in public yet. In the mirror I can't decide if I look cool or a total dick. But I'm getting fed up with having things cut and burned off my face so I know it's time to grit my teeth and style it out.
A panama hat looks good with basically anything. Just ask scarecrows or members at Lords.
H&M do a good basic one for about a tenner.
The VW Golf of hats. Suitable for everyone.
Arc'teryx used to do a cap which incorporated a roll-away Foreign Legion-style neck flap. Looks like a normal cap but if needed, you can simply unroll the flap and protect your neck. Makes you look like an extra from a Foreign Legion film rather than a wannabe colonial settler from the British Empire. More importantly it works really well. Do a search for legionnaires cap if you want something authentically military.
But seriously, all sun hats look 'silly' to various degrees. it's just how they roll.
The VW Golf of hats. Suitable for everyone.
Illegally doctored emissions?
Tarp hat, still going strong after about 7 yeas, works in the sun and rain and isn’t too lummie!
Tempted for one of their peaked ones for walking doggo.
I like the military bush hat. Decent back up option of the tarp hat isn't right.
https://www.military1st.co.uk/10713w-gi-ripstop-bush-hat-6-desert.html
The VW Golf of hats. Suitable for everyone.
Not in Scotland, it's not!
I see that the Tarp hats come in very big sizes, which is useful for those of us who were given a melon in place of a normal head.
Thanks for the suggestions. I like the tarphat, this.
I'm sure you could get a new one at that price.
We sell these in our shop. I know it’s supposedly a ladies hat but it looks good on me.
But not as good as it looks on the model I'll be bound.
I quite like a bigeard cap - protects that red neck as well.
Knotted hankie ?.
buff in a pirate stylee
I want a Bob Mortimer too.
I like Bobs hat, but having bought an M-65 jacket on the strength of him wearing one while fishing, the hat too might have me looking like a fat lookalike
I've just ordered a desert camo ripstop job one off Military 1st (who I also bought the M65 jacket off) so thanks for the link. My present Outdoor Research one has been great but I've had it a few years and its a bit tatty
Very smart. Actually the hat looks good.
Bandana. Job Done.
Cut your cloth at 70cm * 70cm.
I use mine all the time, in the garden looking for pink rabbits, at work outdoors, on the bike under the helmet when its a bit nippy, hobbo bag used for everything.
Dont matter if you lose it, cut a another one.
And you can play a being a pirate 😉
Ps Makes a good face mask.
That don’t look silly
You’re thinking this wrongly. Win + silly with a wide brim straw boater, legionnaire etc.
The other thinking is the Serious Indiana Jones Dad On Holiday without a hint of irony. Decide wisely.
Those trousers need taking up.
Can’t believe nobody has suggested a Kangol. Worn by many style Gurus from LL Cool J to many of Manchester’s finest!
Those trousers need taking up
You pay extra for too long trousers at Hebtroco it's a thing apparently
Another vote for a Tilley hat, mine's 21 years old and still looking as geeky as it did the first time I put it on. Doesn't help it's got an IBM logo stitched onto the front of it, but it was part of the IT crew uniform for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, so it's got extra sentimental value for me.
Decathlon do quite a few hats, BTW: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/search?Ntt=hats
Patagonia truckers cap here. Maybe I’m too old for it, especially when I turn it round to protect my neck with the sun behind me.
The wife tolerates it (she has a similar style Arcteryx one but seems to work better with a ponytail out the back?) so that’s the best I can hope for.