When fishing and hunting I often wear a Stetson Mountain Sky hat, very comfortable, keeps the sun out of your eyes, but in windy conditions, it can get blown off quite easily.
I often try to wear it in my garden, orchard, food forest, fields… and if too windy well it just does not hang on tight enough.
I need a good wide brim hat, that will stay in place, be comfortable, perhaps have a way to secure on extra windy days, not too hot, keep the sun off my face, neck… probably 3.5-4" minimum brim.
I am part of the generation that put on nothing…or perhaps baby oil, and coppertone when going to the beach… in my kid years… instead of sun block… well because there was no sun block back then.
I have a history of basil cell skin cancer spots… that so far have all been resolved by my Derm Doc, with ease… well some pain for me, but easy for her. She would like for me to wear sun block all the time, but I hate that stuff and sorry but I am just not going to do that. The large majority of my problem areas would be covered well by a nice wide brim hat. I will do that.
Ok… A good HAT should be all of that above and sort of look COOL too
Do you know of any that fit that description well ?
Ok… even if not COOL looking, I might still buy one, if it does the job well.
i too am guilty of not wearing sunblock. ive been using several wide brimmed hats , the ones with the mesh for breathability. not sure what type but the brims are about 6in wide all the way around. no skin problems yet but im covered with hundreds of moles and my dr. warned me to keep them out of the sun. i fish , canoe and garden alot so im probably more expsoed than i should be.
I have a great hat that is no longer made. It has a 6 inch brim, stiffened with some sort of foam that can be washed. The rest is fabric, off-white on top, but black in the bottom side of the brim. It has a draw-string that goes under my chin, but also goes around behind the back, so cinching it tight (Which I do when it’s windy) really keeps it on.
I’m following this thread in case anyone links to something as nice, as mine is getting a bit old.
I love my Henschel hat! They have multiple colors and sizes, a chin strap, and are available in solids or mesh. I have a canvas and mesh one for cooling during the summer, I think the model is called “Aussie Breezer”. But most call it my “Indiana Jones Hat” there is a 5” brim available now. Other good ones are lifeguard hats. Very large brims. I wear a gnat net over mine so I’ve stuck to the 4” brims and I usually don’t need sunglasses when I wear it.
@TrowelandError ---- I found those Henschel hats on Amazon… but finding 3.5" brim hats there…
I normally wear a tee shirt when working in the garden, and do need the lower neck protection upper chest area protection that a 4 or 5" brim hat would help with.
I just downloaded a 2020 Henschel Hats catalog… but found no 4 or 5" brim hats in that.
Still looking… if you know of a website/link to those, I would sure like to check them out.
I found a couple of interesting straw hats on something called Etsy…
The first one is maximum coverage 20x20. My Doc would like that…
I have a friend that spends a lot of time on a tractor and he has a hat very similar to that (HUGE)…
The Fisherman version is not quite that HUGE, but should work. 18.25x17 and ventilated, light weight… That might work.
Never bought anything from Etsy… but my wife may have. These are handmade in Mexico… not very expensive, but good reviews.
Etsy is a site where small sellers can market their wares. There are thousands of different sellers there, many selling hand-made stuff at attractive prices, and also some reselling standard manufactured stuff. It’s sort of like eBay, but more about new things, not resold things.
I have friends who sell photographs and hand-made quilts on Etsy. I’ve bought caps and soap and a custom-made fabric sleeve to carry laptop cables on Etsy.
The site itself is highly reputable, but i assume the sellers vary.
I stocked up on Columbia bonefish hats. Wide brim and neck protection too. Hopefully I bought enough to last the rest of my working days. When windy, the tightness of the brim can be tightened. Works great unless winds are 15MPH or more.
At work in summer I wear them all the time. LOVE the long bill… So much cooler in the hot sun that a regular baseball cap that offers no ear & neck protection and the bill of the cap is always too short.
Think I will give the one below a try. It is the Henschel Crushable Soft Mesh Aussie Breezer Hat… Of all the Aussie Breezers on Amazon… this was the widest brim I could find at 3.5".
I have a Tilley airflo that I’ve had for 7-8 years now.
It was a clearance score but would still be worth the full price.
I got it at first because I needed something for swimming outside. My hair is thin and fine and my scalp would burn.
This hat is comfy, floats and dries incredibly fast. The chin strap works great in high winds.
I use it for gardening as well and it’s easy to wash when it gets a bit grubby. I can even wet it down, if it’s a super hot day.
I’ve been wearing a couple wide brim hats for gardening and working in the sun. They weren’t wide enough, and I liked one Alex was wearing in his Urban Garden thread, so I asked where he got it. I ended up buying 4 of them off Amazon, haven’t used them yet. My dermatologist has been freezing off pre-cancerous cells from my face, so I wanted more coverage for the garden, orchard and mowing lawn or using the rotary cutter on the field. I got two 5" brims and two 6" brims, with a couple of them long in the back to cover my neck. The big ones should be good for the tractor. They have cords to secure them, which I’ll need for riding the Gator or 4-wheeler down the road to the orchard.
I found that I had a old fishing hat in the garage (Magellan brand I think) that had a 3.5" brim and I wore that this evening… It worked alright…
So I am not ordering that one I saw on Amazon that had the 3.5 inch brim. I would like to have something more like 5-6" if I can find that.
@AndySmith… know what you mean about having those pre-cancerous places frozen… I usually get 2-3-4 of those with each visit to my Derm Dr. Some they slice off, and the worse ones they do surgery on. I have had to have surgery once… they sliced it off first, and then had to do surgery to get it all.
I have been seeing my doc regular the past several years… and as long as I do that the freezing is the only torture she has to put me thru
I looked at some 5" brim hats on Amazon today, but did not make up my mind. Had to go plant some stuff… It finally dried up enough that I got me some greens planted in the garden… 3 types of lettuce and some snap peas. Also planted 4 more Raspberries (3 ohio treasure blacks. 1 heritage red that I propagated)… Had a bed that I tried Jostaberries in a couple years ago, they did not like the amount of sunshine at all, and died… I reworked that bed and now it has raspberries.
I started new Josta’s last year in a morning sun only location, and so far the are looking happy there.
I will have to keep searching on the extra wide brim hats.
There’s always this one . . . . . . LOL
(I bought my brother-in-law one of these, as a joke. He does use it when he fishes . . . if it starts raining.)
I wear this one, that I found on Amazon . . . because I have somewhere to put my ponytail, other than ‘under th e hat’. Most times I use a visor, just because hats bother me . . . especially when it’s very warm. And visors keep my hair out of my face - which is a big perk. 'Can’t stand my hair blowing in my face! (But they don’t protect as much as a hat.)
Yes,Tilley hats are my favorites and entirely made in Canada except for the brass buttons made in UK. They come with a lifelong warranty too. I sent back mine that was about 15/17 years old and received a free one. That’s what I call service!
I have an Outback Trading Co oilskin hat that I like a lot. Waterproof, comfy, and has a chin strap that keeps it from getting away. The brim is “only” 3.25 in, but it works well for me. Not sure where it’s made, but the quality is pretty high. The brim is wired around the edge, which is nice for shaping but I worry about long-term durability of the wire.
Edit: I dug it out to check, and it’s made in China. Still high quality, though.
