Hats!

Muchtygirl, I have a navy blue and white spotted umbrella, that I trimmed with narrow white lace. I use it as a parasol, when I remember, and have taken it on holiday abroad, where it was much admired. Handy for rain and sun.☂

My DH has a Panama hat which he always takes on holiday but never wears. He has to have ‘an occasion’ to wear it and they simply don’t present themselves, but go it must! I carried a pile of stuff down to put in the car this morning, ran out of hands, so stuck it on my head. I caught sight of myself in a glass door and thought “Hmm, this might just look better on me than it does on you, old son!” So I may have acquired another hat. Don’t tell him though !

Wear ANY hat you like, MissAdventure, as long as it's not a bluddy BaseBall cap.

No, no, no!

(Ascot Hats always look super but maybe a bit much just to go round Tesco.)

Wretched auto spell check! Not a collie hat! A coolie hat!!

I really stand by that which I said earlier and there certainly is a hat somewhere which will suit you. I think it is self consciousness when you look in the mirror and see yourself in something unusual rather than how you actually look and I am convinced that if you stand tall with a confident smile you would all look great. Family who laugh are just feeding off the lack of confidence and need to be put firmly in their place!
I find that wearing a hat always gives me a real fillip.
I have always worn quite feminine hats and never tried a Fedora or a Tilley but I think I will have to explore those. Something which can pass unscathed through the digestive tract of an elephant clearly holds a certain cachet!
I stll have some of my mother's hats including a lovely collie hat which she often wore in the 1950s. I have had to undertake several running repairs on it but they are not visible without a magnifying glass and with it's overhanging brim it is very practical in bright sunshine. It reminds me of sitting with her wearing it at summer cricket matches watching my father play in the blazing sun. Happy memories!

Never commented before!! I don’t suit hats either but I’ve been thinking about getting a pretty frilly umbrella/parasol ??

I'm going to need a sou' wester as the weather is at the moment.

I've been wearing a sun hat ever since I burnt my hair and scalp while living in Sydney for two years. Not much use when it's windy but one of them rolls up so I can put it in my bag if I want to. After wearing one for years I don't even stop to think about it now. They protect your ears, nose, face, neck, scalp and hair and protect your eyes from glare. I wear them when I am gardening as well as out and about and often forget I am wearing it.

Mine both have a slightly rolled up, not too wide, brim. My newer one has a sunscreen coating. After 5 years of 'no, no, no' my OH finally bought one this year from M&S, also with a sunscreen coating, to protect his follicly-challenged head and after a few days of thinking he looked ridiculous now wears it without a second thought if it is really sunny. It was only because I was pointing out to him how many men were wearing hats similar to his that I noticed how many women of all age groups were wearing hats.

Try loads on, different shapes and colours until you find one that doesn't feel too bad. We only feel silly because we are not used to wearing them, and often don't look as silly as we think we do.

Hats tend to give me a headache and my very thick hair keeps me warm in winter but if it's very cold I might wear a beret or a knitted hat. But I've slightly got my eyes on a sun hat. On the bus recently a passenger was wearing a cream summer hat and I'd love one the same. It looked as if it was closely machine knitted on fine cotton or linen yarn with the 'knitting' shaped to the head. It was firm not floppy, with a gentle brim that was turned up slightly at the edges and it looked as if it could be rolled up in a suitcase without being ruined. Any Grans recognise my description and where I could buy one?

Have never worn a hat in my life till my brother bullied me into getting one in Hawaii a couple of years ago. Lost it As soon as I could, I look dreadful in a hat.

They also come in some pretty cool colours these days, if you don’t like beige (and who does?).

My ears are sensitive to even a warm wind, so I often wear an ear-band instead of a hat when it's cold. I bought a furry hat with long ear flaps two winters ago but when I looked in the mirror, I saw a high court judge and the hat went to charity.

Nothing silly about a hat. I always wear one with a good brim in hot sun. There are so many lovely ones. When travelling abroad to hot places, I take my Tilly hat, not pretty, fairly plain and utilitarian but perfect. They have a strip of vented fabric around the brim, a little pocket with velcro inside the crown, which fits a credit card and money inside. They are also rainproof and machine washable.

I also wear a warm wooly hat in the winter!

Re Tilley hats. A relative had a surprise birthday celebration in France earlier in the year ( he did know he was 60 , just not what was planned) One of the guests had a Tilley hat which he loved, my relative decided he wanted one but was struggling to get his size. Out at a county show myself and his wife found him one so I bought it for his birthday present. He loves it ,he travels to Africa frequently and uses it there, over the current heatwave he has worn it outdoors all the time Yes they are expensive but they are worth it IMHO

Would you feel less silly using a parasol instead?

Parasols are not easy to find, a Chinese shop would be the best bet, unless you feel a light coloured umbrella would do.

I always worry when I see people with no/thinning hair without a hat in hot sunny weather. The risk of heatstroke is very real, especially in people over 65, and can be life threatening. I had it once and was very ill, but even so I was lucky that the signs were spotted early.

The alternative for those of us who don't look stylish in any kind of hat, would surely be a parasol. I bought one online some years ago and am often complimented on it when out and about in hot weather. It's a cream, lacy thing. Perfect!
www.brolliesgalore.co.uk

Many years ago when on holiday in E.Africa I bought a ' Robert Redford' Out of Africa style' hat to wear during game watching under the relentless sun of the Masai Mara. I cannot recall ever finding the need to wear it in the UK until now when we have had such extreme temperatures and been asked where did I buy it. Any wide brim hat will do as not just for sunburn on the kneck but the glare can do a lot of damage to your eyes..

Had to be binned after journey. Now, Terrystred, if that had been a Tilley......!

Don’t talk to me about hats! Took a lovely straw hat on holiday with the family. GS was car sick. DD grabbed nearest container - ie my hat! Had to be binned after journey.

For winter it’s the limp little wool hat which DD likensto a cardigan sleeve. Charity shop cashmere, goes neatly into pocket, weighs nothing, keeps my ears warm!
Summer is blue cotton hat, pricey souvenir of flower show, worn at a jaunty angle. Folds into my bag.
One summer I borrowed GS’s cream fedora for the Leonard Cohen tribute look!

I'm tall and am convinced that when wearing a hat, I look like a (tubby) standard lamp. BUT in sunny weather I always wear a hat to protect my eyes, as advised by my optician. (Sunglasses too, of course.) It has the added plus of helping to protect my hair from sun damage.

I would love to wear a hat - but have yet to find one that I feel even vaguely comfortable in. I do wear a straw hat on holidays, mostly to keep the sun out of my eyes, as it reflects off my glasses otherwise, but I feel ridiculous in it.

I love those winter fur hats that some people look so fabulous in, and the smart panama straw ones, but on me? No!

Ooo me too Nanna! I look dreadful in woolly hats! I have a big round moony face and when I pull one on that’s all I see, a big ugly mug! And what do you do with the bits of hair? My head is too big, hats feel too tight on me.

My head gets too hot in a hat in the summer, even a straw or cotton one. So I wear a cotton scarf tied gypsy-style round my very thin hair, I look terrible, but it stops my scalp from burning. Comfort before style at my age!