Hat for sun and sweat

The Sunday Afternoons hat is the dumbest looking thing ever but it’s also the coolest hat I’ve worn and it does a great job of keeping sun out of your eyes and off your face. Some (all?) of them have a break in the brim that allow it to fold and then it fits right into the front pocket of a pack really easily. It’s a winner.

I use a wool baseball cap that’s sewn with a decent sweatband, paired with a sun hoodie for light protection…and I try to maintain decent hydration habits because if I don’t, I sweat profusely.  It’s truly a ridiculous amount…so although wool might seem too warm for the summer, it actually does a WAY better job of allowing my head to breathe than cotton does.  End result: I drip sweat far less with wool than with any other hat fabric.  I’ve also found that if I wear cooling/wicking fabrics on my torso, I sweat less from the head/face.  Not the lightest or most packable choice, but since I literally always wear a hat (sometimes even when sleeping) I don’t see it as weight added to my pack.

I didn’t know wool baseball hats were a thing. Is there a particular brand you like? Thin wool? Heavy sweater here interested in hearing more details…

I have a huge stack of hats for sun protection in just about every size and shape.

My hat of choice is a cheap wide brimmed straw hat. They are light, readily available in assorted styles and cheap.

The big downside is packability, you can’t do anything with it when its not on your head, plus when bushwacking it bumps on everything, but….

If I’m hiking in places where there’s no place to hide from the sun, they outperform everything else easily, so I put up with not being able to stuff it in my pack.

Use a head band in combination with a straw hat for sweat, and soak it with water for extra cooling.

I was in the Utah desert a couple of weeks ago hiking when it was 107F, the first day I used the OR Sun Runner hat, the second day I used the straw hat.

It was hotter the second day, but I was more comfortable wearing the straw hat.

I don’t typically have sweat running down my face or into my eyes, so my use of a wet headband or buff is just for cooling purposes.

At the trail head you get odd looks for wearing a straw hat, 5 miles out they’d buy it from you for big $$$$.

If sun protection was only needed for brief sections above the treeline, or something similar, I’d opt for something more like the OR hat.

I don’t have the Sunday Afternoon hat, but I do have several similar fabric wide brimmed hats. I find that once they’ve been crammed into a pack a few times they start to lose their shape, so I treat them carefully just like the straw hat.

Since the fabric and straw hats are treated in about the same way, I go with straw because it’s more comfortable and cheaper.

I find straw hats from $6-$20 just about anywhere.

At the trail head you get odd looks for wearing a straw hat, 5 miles out they’d buy it from you for big $$$$.
Which tells you a lot about some people.

Cheers

I didn’t know wool baseball hats were a thing. Is there a particular brand you like? Thin wool? Heavy sweater here interested in hearing more details…

Wool baseball caps are totally a thing: they’ve been around since baseball started, and MLB may still be using them, for all I know.  Since wool is really good at wicking water from your skin and evaporating it, it works great on your head; my caps aren’t all that light – I would call them a midweight fabric – and when you combine the wool properties with an absorbent cotton sweatband you have a very effective sweat-stopper.  They’re also very warm in the winter…but that just goes to show that wool in a cap works just like wool works everywhere else on the body.

As for my particular brand: Stockbridge Sewing Works, which is a small cottage manufacturer of custom and vintage reproduction baseball caps.  Full disclosure: a custom baseball cap is expensive…but since 1) I wear a cap all of the time, and 2) I have a funky-shaped head, the investment was worthwhile for me.  My favorite is pictured below: fitted black wool, no top button or vents, 3″ visor, cotton sweatband and a touch of embroidery to remind me of the high and wild places.  Forgive the battered appearance: it’s seen more than a few miles in the last few months.

Quick addition.  A link to the website:

https://www.stockbridgesewingworks.com/

Sunday Afternoons are the cat’s meow. They provide outstanding all around protection for face, nose, ears and neck.

And: if you’re hiking in trees or with the sun at your back, you can simply reach up and flip up the front brim to allow complete unobstructed sight lines.

I’ve had the same hat for years and crush it in my day pack and backpack; it hasn’t lost its form.

I’m sure that people are sick of me stating the obvious; that is, ball caps suck at sun protection. They leave most of your face, ears nose and neck exposed. They do shade your eyes, which makes you think that your whole head is protected. It’s not. Just look at photos or, better, observe someone wearing a ball cap. Their face and ears etc. will mostly be in sun most of the time.

Oh, and sweat in your eyes after you’ve applied sunscreen to your forehead is murder. Don’t do that!

–signed, blind Willie Jeff

Its nice too know the Sunday Afternoons hat holds up to being stuffed in a pack, I may pick one up and give it a try. I had one in my hands a week ago, but decided not to buy it at the last minute.

I’m sure that people are sick of me stating the obvious; that is, ball caps suck at sun protection. They leave most of your face, ears nose and neck exposed. They do shade your eyes, which makes you think that your whole head is protected. It’s not. Just look at photos or, better, observe someone wearing a ball cap. Their face and ears etc. will mostly be in sun most of the time.

I would not agree, here.  Baseball caps don’t suck; they just don’t offer complete protection…and those are two different things.  If what you’re after is complete protection, you need a system involving multiple pieces of clothing and some sunscreen on top of it; a ball cap can easily be part of that system, as can other hats.  I feel like saying that they “suck at sun protection” is kind like saying that socks suck at keeping you warm because they don’t cover most of your body.

That being said: OPs prime requisite isn’t sun protection.  It’s sweat reduction.  “Sun protection would be nice” came second.  Thus, my suggestion…from usage, as requested, with the inclusion of a sun hoodie to take care of the areas that my cap doesn’t cover.  Your mileage may vary; mine certainly does …but I’m also very out of shape these days.

Ball caps can shade your eyes; I give them that. And Bonzos wool ball cap may well absorb sweat. Personally, I wouldn’t want to wear wool on my head in higher temps.

Socks don’t claim to cover your entire body. Sunday Afternoon sun hats advertise spf 50 or better and DO shade most of your head and neck. They do what they claim. I think the socks analogy is a bit far fetched. But then, as Bonzo knows, I’ve offered more than my share of far fetched analogies here.

@jscott

How do the Sunday afternoons do for sweat management?  I’ve seen them at gift shop in national parks and they are super light and looks great for sun protection.  Very tempting

I’ve been looking around and if they are ok at sweat then I’ve come across treadbands that look awesome and pair that with a Sunday hat

And Bonzos wool ball cap may well absorb sweat. Personally, I wouldn’t want to wear wool on my head in higher temps.

It doesn’t absorb it as much as it wicks and assists in removing it entirely via evaporation; I’ve been surprised at how not-soaking-wet my hat has been, overall…but that’s my experience with wool in general.  Cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and easy to care for with simple detergents, so you don’t get rapid fabric degradation from salts and other junk.  The only place that holds any water is the sweatband…which is what cotton is supposed to do.  It’s actually kind of cooling, at times.

I don’t think my sock analogy is off-base: socks don’t claim to cover your entire body, and ball caps don’t claim to provide tons of sun protection for your entire head.  What a cap does do is protect your scalp, your eyes, and the immediate surrounding area…and it’s very good at that, just like socks are good at keeping your feet warm/dry/protected/etc.  I can’t speak on the hat you mentioned, but I wasn’t arguing its effectiveness, anyway.  👍

I have found when backpacking in the Southeast summer jungle furnace with 95F and 100% humidity that when it gets really bad NO HAT is the solution to keep the head from cooking off.  Remember, I’m humping loads up a mountain in direct sunlight with not the slightest breeze.  On rare occasions the hat has to come off.

And what’s my favorite backpacking hat?  Ball cap all the way—but it must be “crushable” with a soft brim.  Like this—

These hats are hard to find but they are great—super light and can be soaked and wrung out or stuffed in a shorts pocket.

A ball cap also allows a bug headnet to stay away from the face—

I have found when backpacking in the Southeast summer jungle furnace with 95F and 100% humidity that when it gets really bad NO HAT is the solution to keep the head from cooking off.  Remember, I’m humping loads up a mountain in direct sunlight with not the slightest breeze.  On rare occasions the hat has to come off.

That’s an accurate description; even the mountains are hot, right now.  I, too, pull the cap off from time to time for a quick wipe-down when the conditions go above 90°/90%.  Sure, you get a few minutes of sun exposure – especially those of us that groom our scalps with a razor – but you’re also avoiding excessive wetness, salt chafing, etc. that can overwhelm any fabric in that kind of temp/humidity situation.

I go nuts from little hairs around my face getting in my eyes and sticking to my lips or my sweaty face, so I often wear a head band or a bandana to hold my hair away and then put a hat on top. You could do the same thing for sweat.

The Sunday Afternoons hat is the dumbest looking thing ever but it’s also the coolest hat I’ve worn and it does a great job of keeping sun out of your eyes and off your face.

Matthew, which model? I believe they make a couple dozen different models  for sun…

Thanks

Hats like this are my favorite.  Broad stiff brim gives good sun blockage and doesn’t droop when wet.  Back flap protects neck without bumping in to pack like hats with a 360 degree stiff brim.

Sun Hat for Men UV Sun Protection Wide Brim Safari Hiking Cap w/Neck Flap Cover | eBay

I always figured that if the brim of my hat bumps into the pack, that the pack is to big, and the hat is the right size.

I prefer runners hats. Adidas, Patagonia Airshed, these breathe somewhat and block uv rays on my head. All hats trap some heat. If wearing a sun hoody consider a visor also.

@bonzo – Thanks for the info about wool baseball hats. Does that brand wash well?

@brad – I don’t think they make the same exact model I have any more. I bought the closest thing I could find for my hiking partner a couple summers ago. There’s a minor differences between the two that makes me favor mine by 1%. I think it was something about how the clasp works in the back. Anyhow, this one is great:

Sunday Afternoons Unisex Ultra-Adventure Hat https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01641EODC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_TYYQYV59SKSN9NJ8C6AE?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

How do the Sunday afternoons do for sweat management?  I’ve seen them at gift shop in national parks and they are super light and looks great for sun protection.  Very tempting

I definitely sweat a lot and could be generously described as balding (read: very much balding) so I don’t have much to slow the sweat from dripping. I think the SA hat does really well in the sweat management department. It absorbs and then evaporates the sweat quickly.

I like a wide brim hat that is highly breathable personally.  I have a straw one I like but it just gets beat to death and is really tired now.  I bought a new hat yesterday to try, hopefully I like it because it was expensive by my standards but I had store credit to buy it with.  My local shop has a gear exchange and I really did not have anything else i wanted from my sold gear so I got a hat by Tilley which is a Canadian maker, wide brimmed, crushing won:t hurt it etc.  I sprayed it with sawyer gear spray yesterday and will bug spray it tonight with regular repellant.  I try to turn my hut into a virtual bug net essentially.

Also I am balding on top so a hat is always a must for a long day outside.  I prefer wide brim for all around protection to a baseball style cap, I wear those just to go for a walk or shorter outside activities.

Yes, they wash well and dry easily.  I prefer Woolite Dark for…well, pretty much everything.  A small amount in the sink with a bit of gentle agitation and scrubbing is all it takes.  Rinse well and let it dry on your head for the best fit.  As with all hats, washing before you totally wreck it with dirt is preferable.