Use with SPF 15.

Do you wear a hat?

I am a hat wearer, but not everyone is. How many times have you seen some shake their head and say, “I don’t look good in hats”? I ask you, what is that about? Some of the people I know wear them but more wouldn’t be caught dead in a hat. Is it the fit or the look or the convenience? People, people, we are having ozone issues.

Well, I for one adore hats. My problem is that I wear a small hat size. Yes, I have a pin head. Go ahead, say it. I generally shoot for a 7 or the smallest one on the rack. Every time I am at a store where they sell hats, I try them on. Most of the time, they just fall down over my nose. If there is a hat that won’t blow off in the merest whiff of wind, I buy it (stiff winds doesn’t count). My mother and sister and I try on hats as entertainment. If we are in a store that sells hats, we try them on each other and laugh uproariously. Many times we have laughed until we cried at Walmart. That having been said, I do own a lot of hats. I have broad-brimmed and ventilated ones gardening; summer ones, winter ones, fancy ones, and everyday ones.

I bought a red straw one in Las Vegas once because it was 120 degrees and I felt like I was frying. I bought a straw pork pie kinda thing at a folk festival since I had forgotten mine and I was afraid of heat prostration. I got an oil cloth Australian number (I am making that assumption because the sides snap up) in Texas at the King Ranch store (good for birding--the hat not the store). I also bought a wooly one in Alaska back in May (it was cold out on the water—the hood--not cutting it). I have 3 in the car at any given time; another 4 or 5 in the hall closet; 10 or so ball caps on the landing to the basement and some stashed in the winter box. You never know when someone will need a hat. I had a friend visit over the holidays last year. It was really, really cold and he lives in the desert where it is not. “Hold on,” I mumbled from the depths of the closet, “there must be something in here you can wear.” And sure enough, although he is of the large-headed clan, there was.

So, why am I going on about this? I wore a huge brimmed number to the state fair this past weekend. The day started out breezy and cool but by afternoon it was blazing hot. My friend had no hat, but bought her daughter a lovely cotton bucket hat. She told me that her daughter “looks good” in hats and likes them. I think she is cute as a button in a hat.



A new generational of hat wearers is coming up. All you milliners out there, take heart, the ozone is giving out and we need you.

I have only 2 negative points about hats. It is hard to drive in a big hat because of the headrest and it does cause hat hair. Oy, I will leave that for discussion at another time.