Sunhats- why aren’t these worn more?

[Strawblue]

I’m curious as to why more people don’t wear sunhats given the extreme heat we’ve been getting over the years, and messages about covering up due to the risk of sunburn and melanoma etc? Even the days when it was 41 deg for two days a few weeks ago absolutely no parents were wearing hats at pick-up (many walk to/from school too).

I walk everywhere as I can’t drive and I get boiling hot. I bought a sunhat (like a straw one) last summer and rarely wear it outside of our garden as I feel so self-conscious that you don’t often seen them worn off a beach.

I wondered why people don’t wear them? Obviously this is a question for people who are out in the sun a lot and not those who go everywhere by car so are protected more.

Is it you don’t like hats, ‘hat hair,’ not fashionable, feel you don’t suit them, etc,? I want to wear my hat but feel such an idiot because most people don’t wear one when out walking. FIL says I should do as I like and stop worrying what other people think but I’ve been been able to be fashionable and feel like people are staring at me thinking I look like an idiot!

Because they never flipping well fit my massive head! 99% of women's hats are 1 size, and that size is not big. I've got one this year that I love. Men's from Amazon but is the style I wanted in a women's hat (not too manly). It does make the top of my head/forehead more hot ans sweaty though.

Because I have curly hair and a hat looks ridiculous and when I take them off my hair is flat where the hat was and it looks even worse

People don‘t wear them because they are twits valuing appearance over health.

I struggle to get sufficient hats that fit as my head’s bigger than average and sometimes shop in the mens’ section but I always wear a sun hat. Sure, they can be a bit warm, but it beats sunstroke.

DisplayPurposesOnly an extremely elegant Japanese lady who lives near me uses a parasol. It makes her look even more elegant. I think parasols may be more common in Japan, particularly with older people.

I wear them all the time. I like sunshine more as I age, but detest it on my face always. I have a particularly fetching stripy Nantucket hat from kids lids (as I have a ridiculously small head, so grown up hats look stupid on me) which has an inner
drawstring. I’ve replaced the string with elastic in my gardening and car ones so they don’t fall/ off when I bend down or blow off when I put the top down and they do a super job of keeping my fine hair out of my face. If I could fit into adult ones and find more that suit me I would wear them all the time. (Beanies look ridiculous on me!)

Silly really because people wear hats in the winter don't they and no one looks at them.

I do wear a sun hat as the direct sun makes
me feel ill quite quickly but a hat helps immensely. It’s a straw one from H&M but it’s not quite right. I did see a woman walking along with a very smart sun hat on - I think it was navy straw and it was so neat and not flopping everywhere. But I wouldn’t know where to go to get one.

I wear a hat. I actually feel cooler in one. My hair is blonde, though and I hate the feel of the sun's heat on my scalp. Don't feel self conscious apart from looking at our photos and I'm in the same hat and sunglasses the majority of the time! I have got another but it doesn't go with as much.

Hats are great too for if your hair is a bit of a mess in the heat. It doesn't show as much!

I look awful in all of them!

Once my DD and I didnt have much to do. We were out somewhere and went through the entire hat stand.
Even she agreed that not a single one suited me!

When we moved to Australia 60 years ago it was rare to see anyone in hats, but my dad always mentioned our landlord who was an avid gardener. He always used to tell everyone to always wear a hat and never burn. He’d had a skin cancer removed.He was way ahead of his time.
I remember seeing some lovely south Asian ladies in London, they had matching hats, light jackets and umbrella/parasols in pretty colours with translucent flowers cut in.
But I have a massive head and everything either pops off or I get sweaty head.

I've just been having a look at the straw hats online, but probably better tried on. I used to have to wear a straw hat as part of my summer uniform at school (felt cloche in winter, both with under chin elastic) so I think it reminds me of that and puts me off slightly.

I'm going to look in H & M on Monday for a straw hat as that's been mentioned a couple of times.

I was waiting to do pick-up from holiday club yesterday and saw three very elegantly dressed older ladies, each wearing a straw fedora (just a coincidence, they weren’t together). I though they looked great. I wasn’t wearing a hat because it’s shady where we wait, but I have a black canvas bucket hat and a wide-brimmed straw hat that I happily wear in the sun.

I dont wear a hat in the winter for exactly the same reasons I posted that I dont wear a hat in the summer, dont like my hair down, cant stand things on my head and having a hot head under a hat, plus the pain on my forehead.

I can’t find one big enough for my head. I’ve tried a few times but they never fit.
I do have a Stetson I bought in Texas and wore all the time…it was so normal there and really helped in the sun, but I’d feel like an idiot back at home.

I have got a couple of lovely fedora that I've gotten into the habit of wearing almost all the time including winter sun but I need a summer version as they're too hot for high summer. Fine jn spring, autumn and winter. I'm trying to keep an eye out for a straw or cotton wide brim. I like the look of the Tilley hats but I don't suit khaki, olive, beige or brown.

Can’t tell you why other people don’t wear them, I do. I have a straw fedora I wear all the time when it’s hot and sunny, because it’s the only way to stop my parting burning. And large chunks of my scalp peeling off after sunburn is something I’m keen not to experience again. No hat could possibly look less stylish than that, but as it happens I like the way my hat looks.

I love hats, and caps and interestingly, I've never found one that looks bad on me, I have a face that just suits them.
Unfortunately, the cruel twists of fate got involved and gave me incredibly thick, slippy hair.
So hats either tend to slide up to perch on top of my head à la East 17 or Dappy from Ndubz (which when you're rapidly approaching 50 is not a good look), or I have to have them tightly jammed on which creates a 'hat hair' band that stays in place until I wash my hair.

Also, trying to wear them in summer gets me incredibly sweaty, I've never had a sunburnt head despite pale skin so I assume a thick mop of unruly hair can be a substitute for a sunhat.

The struggle is real! I've never found a decent summer hat to fit my giant head... added difficulty of super thick curly hair and that 2% of bigger hats don't have the room for it!
made some nice winter ones and want to have a go at crocheting a summer hat.

I like them in theory but they make my forehead sweat and mean I can't put my hair up which I find essential in hot weather. Also I constantly flip sunglasses up and down from my face to the top of my head and you can't when wearing a hat. Taking it on and off when you go in and out of shops etc. Just too much faff most of the time.

I hate wearing hats, always have done they make my head feel ridiculously hot. It would be torture in hot weather.

I wear sunhats but I stopped wearing them at pick-up when my DCs' classmates started commenting on my wearing them. They don't need another excuse to pick on DD.
But away from school, I have a collection of hats.

Maybe it’s because so many women have long hair these days and as others have said, it’s hard to get your hair up under one?

I have very long thick hair that I like to wear up on hot days. I sometimes wear a baseball cap as I can put my hair into a ponytail and pull it through, but it’s not the smartest and doesn’t keep the sun off my neck. That said, I do think the thick ponytail helps with the latter.

if anyone knows of any nice hats that can cope with long thick hair up, I’d be interested!

I wear a sunhat, but that is only because my hair is thinner than it used to be and I don't want a malignant melanoma where it won't be spotted. It shades my face too. I hate wearing a hat and never do in the winter.

Not in my case. I love the look of sun hats and have bought several, but find any hats horribly uncomfortable (same in the winter.) I doubt I'm the only one.