Sun Hats – Full Brim vs Ball cap with neck cape/bandana

[Ryan Fiske]

This has been my solution, it's not exactly lightweight, but it's fun and sparks conversations on the trail. This was on the JMT last year.

[Jim MacDiarmid]

I ended up ordering both on Amazon last night, and will test them out on this trip. But based on this thread, I'm think that the full brimmed Sobriolet will work best for the desert heat/low wind situations I'll be experiencing on this trip, and the SunRunner will be great for the cooler temps/intense high altitude sun/windy passes and ridge walking on my SEKI hike at the end of July. Plus my black(what was I thinking?) REI ballcap is getting kind of ratty after 4 years and even with sunblock I've gotten kind of burned in the spots where it sweated off the last couple years. The Sunrunner will be great for trail running as well.

Just another case of admitting to myself there isn't one perfect piece of do-it-all gear for every scenario

[Don Morris]

In desert conditions, I much prefer a full brimmed "boonie" style hat, preferably of cotton. Soak that puppy every chance you get and enjoy the evaporative cooling. Air circulation is critical.

[Kevin R]

Does anyone know of a good add on neck cap for ball caps?  I ordered one of the Sun Runners, but I could definitely see it being a bit hot.  It would be nice to find something universal that could attach to different hats and maybe wrap around the neck.  A bandana seems viable, but having something that actually attached to the hat would be nice for windy weather.

[Erica R]

I hike in intense sunlight lots. I love the Sunday Afternoons Adventure hat.

[Gary Dunckel]

I’m with Erica. I picked up a Sunday Afternoons Ultra Adventure this winter, and it performs well in full-on sun conditions. And it allows me to fully embrace my inner dorkiness.

When I worked in Saudi Arabia in the ’80s, a Filipino co-worker turned me onto using a white linen handkerchief tucked into the back of a light-colored baseball cap, which kept the intense sun off the back of my neck. Then on a trip to Viet Nam I bought one of those conical rice paddy hats, which worked quite well until the wind picked up. I finally settled on one of the traditional Arab khafiya scarves that all of the men wore. A white one worked great, but it soiled quickly. My go-to was one like Yasser Arafat always wore (black and mostly white). They really do work – they breathe well, and they can absorb a lot of sweat. I seldom wear one now, so as to not be mistaken for a terrorist. Besides, I now have the perfect dork hat, so I’m all set.

[Ken Thompson]

Ball cap capes by nature are going to hot. Poor design. Not enough coverage for the front of your face either. Been there.

Another vote for the dork hat, Sunday Afternoons.

[Gary Dunckel]

I pretty much agree with you about baseball caps, Ken. But the Head Sweats caps, like the ones BPL once sold, are pretty darned breathable and quite light. I like mine for September hikes in CO, where warmth isn’t an issue and the sun isn’t very intense. It keeps the sun out of my eyes, and it doesn’t scare the kids if my hair is a mess.

[Ken Thompson]

I wear a headsweats cap. Yes they dry and breathe very well but give no coverage. We are talking sun hats here. My issue with the heat is with the cape, not cap.

[HkNewman]

I tried the OR Sunrunner but found the cape blocked any cooling breeze.  Then I lost the cape … So it’s back to a wide brimmed boonie-type hat (light color, sun protective fabric and, most importantly, on-sale since my full price hats usually see some sort of premature demise.

[Lester Moore]

The OR Sunrunner’s benefits outweigh its drawbacks for most of the trips I do. For those who dislike applying sunblock or bug spray, the sunrunner gives you pretty good head and neck protection from bugs and the sun, even if it’s windy. Key drawbacks are extra warmth and moderate muffling of sound when the cape is deployed.

For sun protection, a small dab of sunblock on your nose and under your glasses (plus lip balm) is all that’s needed, even mid-summer in the Sierras. For bug protection, cinching up the draw cord keeps mosquitoes and deer flies off your neck and most of your face. If the mosquitos are really bad, a little DEET applied around the perimeter of the hat’s bill and the front edge of the cape (not on your skin) seems to be enough protection, at least here in the Pacific NW, mid-July to early Aug.

The hat is hot when the cape is down, especially if the draw cord is cinched tight. If there’s any breeze, then loosening the draw cord a little increases the ventilation noticeably. I like to keep the draw cord half cinched and if bugs are not bad, or if I’m hiking through a shady area, I tip the hat backward with the cord still around my neck and let the hat hang/ lay on the top of my backpack. When I hike back into the sunlight, or if I stop for a break and the bugs find me again, I pull the hat back up onto my head for protection.

On cool mornings with no bugs, I fold the cape and the cord up inside the dome of the hat and wear it like a normal baseball cap. This provides added insulation on top of the head and improves hearing since the cape is not covering your ears. And if you take a nap after lunch laying in the sun, you can wear the hat with the dome over your face and the cape over your neck to protect you from the sun.

[Sean P]

This is a reasonable compromise

https://www.outdoorresearch.com/be/en/activeice-cap/p/2434390050222

I still have to apply sunscreen to the front of my neck with an open collar shirt but this works in bright mountain sun even in situations of high UV reflection where the back of my neck has been burned wearing a wide brim sombriolet hat.

it is far cooler and less claustrophobic than the sunrunner, with most of the sun protection.

 

[D M]

Visor with TWO bandanas sewn together. It’s multi use and very functional.Upside down but you get the idea…..for some reason this site wont download it upwards. :-(

[Kevin R]

Jack sent me a link to the Glacier Glove Universal Sun Shade (http://www.glacierglove.com/universal-sun-shade-ii-grey/).  Anyone have experience with fit and breathability for those?

[Casey Bowden]

Regular ball caps with 100% cotton dishtowels works for us…

[Nick Gatel]

First step: What do you want the hat to do?

Most of the time I just want something  to shade my eyes because I hate sunglasses. I wear a super light baseball style hat that is sold in running stores. It is lighter than most visors. In the wind it doesn’t stay on.

When it is hot.. think 100+ F then I want a hat to keep my head cool. Tilley LTM6 works great. The double cinch strap is effective in wind. Before this I used a surplus military boonie hat that wasn’t as effective as the Tilley.

Having a dark complexion I am not as worried as most about UV protection. Plus, I am less likely to get a sunburn because I am outside almost everyday, so I have a tan. Those with sensitive skin, do need to worry about skin cancer. The better you block the sun, the better off you are. However, blocking the sun well is probably going to reduce ventilation. Everything is a trade-off. If you need to protect your neck, a full brim hat, like the Tilley, won’t do the job.

Where I live, we have about 120 days per year where the temperature is above 100F.  Those who work outdoors all day (gardeners, construction, roofers, street pavers, etc) mostly wear a baseball cap and a bandana that covers their ears and neck. Keep in mind though, the majority here are Latino and already have dark complexions. Dipping the bandana into water every so often creates an evaporative mini-environment around the neck. Also, most wear long sleeve shirts (white or light cooler) usually a cotton/poly mix. Almost all wear long pants too — even in 120F weather.

 

[HkNewman]

I actually do have a couple Tilleys.  Great hats but my mostly mesh LTM8 only fits after a fresh crewcut. The other is a discontinued all-nylon boonie in a darker grey.  Got something similar to the latter except in an almost whitish grey for this yr (a Sunday Afternoons model on sale); which works but would like some airflow if possible.

 

Another follicle challenged guy recommended slathering sunscreen on a shaved head.  The ultimate in simplicity I guess..

[jimmyjam]

Anybody tried the Frogg Toggs boonie or bucket hats?

[Ethan A.]

I wear the SA Adventure Hat and have worn a Tilley before. Looking to try a Tilley-style hat again with a DIY back cape. The SA won’t win you style awards but offers the best coverage for the weight. Two negatives – one, it’s hard to get the brim to hold a shape without playing with it every time and two, there’s no dead air space above your head between the hat fabric and your head.

Ideal hot weather sun hat would have:

1) Good shade coverage over front and sides of face. This is a shortcoming of the baseball caps + neck shade combos – the brim doesn’t do a good job shading the sides of your face.

2) A cape for back of neck coverage that is offset enough from your neck to preserve airflow. The SA Adventure hat does this well. Caped baseball hats keep the cape too close to the neck.

3) An airspace above your head between your head and the hat. A Tilley-style hat works better for this the SA Adventure Hat which sits right on your head. That air space is going to insulate your head from the heat.

4) Extra credit for a dark underbrim to minimize reflected light.

[jscott]

“1) Good shade coverage over front and sides of face. This is a shortcoming of the baseball caps + neck shade combos – the brim doesn’t do a good job shading the sides of your face.”

+1.  If you look at Ryan’s picture above, you’ll see that his entire face is shaded by his big hat. If you look at people wearing baseball caps in the sun, you’ll see that most of the time large portions of their face is in the sun as they change positions.

I have to disagree with the ‘just a dab of sunscreen on the nose and a dab under the eyes is sufficient’ comment earlier. Look, if you hike at altitude sun rays are much more intense than at sea level. People really need to take this seriously. Not getting a sunburn doesn’t mean that one isn’t getting too much exposure.

When I had a cancerous melanoma sliced out of my face with a knife, my doctor told me that it had formed over the previous 20 years of sun exposure. And I almost never burned. I had the ‘dab of sunscreen’ ethic during that time. So there’s that. (Oh and skin melanoma is largely untreatable if it metasizes and so is the second most deadly form of cancer).

The other thing is, look at the skin of older people who spent lots of time in the sun, thinking that a healthy tan is protecting them. And then ask yourself if spotted old leather is a look that you want to grow into.

My skin doctor says that working on a healthy tan is a myth. Which isn’t the same thing as saying that you have to avoid sunlight.

Finally, cotton is lousy at blocking sunlight, so those kerchiefs hung from a baseball cap don’t really work at all. People really need to use lots of sunscreen and reapply it like it says on the bottle (do you sweat much while you hike? of course you do), and/or use a truly effective sun hat.

This is a topic that pays doing a half hour of research on reputable sites on the internet.

[Mark Verber]

Five years ago,,, when the thread got started I posted that I normally used a Sunday Afternoon hat which provided better airflow than say the OR SunRunner or other ballcap + cape options.  Besides better airflow, the extra wide brim on the SA hats keep the front of the face shaded where the even with a ball cap bill and cape you can end up with some exposure with the SunRunner.  These days I am back to a Tilley LT6 airflow… mostly because I have gotten tired of the teasing from my family about how ugly the SA hat was and because I have been slowly trying to reduce my total amount of gear (minimalism).

I will note from earlier in this thread others have pointed out that the best coverage is an umbrella :)

[Adam G]

I’m a huge fan of sun coverage as opposed to slathering on the sunscreen. Sunscreen just doesn’t work that well.

When I lived in San Diego, I used the goofy looking Sunday Afternoon Adventure Hat. The wide brim and neck flap work very well, but your ears are a bit exposed. The flap in the back was a bit short, so I had to put a bit of sunscreen at the base of my neck. For more ventilation, you can velcro up the neck flap, which is nice if you have hair to cover your neck.

I retired that hat after around 5 years of use because it was terribly sun bleached and the rim had become very floppy. I was very happy with it. I replaced it with the OR Sunrunner cap, primarily because I needed to put something underneath a climbing helmet. The Sunday Afternoon Hat absolutely does not work for that.

I like it except for a few issues. First of all, with the fabric covering your ears, it’s hard to hear. With the neck strap cinched tight, it definitely is hotter, although you can get quite a bit more ventilation if you loosen it up. I think it gives slightly less facial coverage compared to the very large brim of the Sunday Afternoon Hat. The side flaps can obscure your peripheral vision, and I’ve definitely bashed my head scrambling under a rock which I couldn’t entirely see. Finally, the strap doesn’t cinch as tight as the Sunday Afternoon hat, which cinches very tight. I imagine that if you got caught in a very strong wind, it could blow off.

On my last trip, I tried wearing both, and I definitely prefer the Sunrunner.

[M B]

Wide brim

Wraparound sunglasses

Bandana around neck loosely

Im normally looking down at feet placement, very little harsh sun exposure on face.   Might be smart to use sunscreen….then again, some believe. Sunscreen can cause cancer.

 

When it come to hats bigger is better. Not a fan of hat capes. In pinch, bandana can help block more sun if needed.

[jscott]

Yeah, again cotton doesn’t do much in terms of sun blockage. This is worth verifying on the internet. Solumbra makes a true sun blocking fabric. Sunprecautions.com The fabric is also mosquito proof. Their huge drape hat is airy and cool and the drape can be pulled up over your nose for sun and mosquitoes, or un-velcroed and left open in other conditions. In other words it’s easily adjustable.

To me the Sunrunner seems too skimpy after using the Sunprecautions drape hat.

But a big brim on a true SPF fabric hat (not a baseball hat) is good.

[M B]

Sometimes you dont need that much sunblocking, to avoid sunburn.

You can make arguement exposure causes cancer….ok…but thats not everyones immediate concern. There are other factors including genetic predisposition, exposure history, etc.

Sun is only really strong several hrs per day, say 11-3

If exposure is indirect, or only part of time, a low spf bandana may suffice just fine.  Ive sucessfully used that approach before, as many do.  It will stave off sunburn….time will tell about cancer.

But i prefer wide brim hat for starters.

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