About Hats

I just spent a few days in a house where there are more hats than you could imagine. Mostly “cowboy” hats, two of which belonged to me. (One of mine stayed home.) And both of those belonging to me I wore, with the choice of which to wear depending on the situation at hand.

You don’t wear a straw when the wind is steady at 15 knots. Horses don’t like seeing your hat fly by their face when you’re trying to get a halter on them. You wear a felt, screwed down as tightly as possible. You wear a straw when it’s hot and the wind is calm or non-existent. Or while driving. Don’t matter – you’re gonna sweat through it anyway.

You learn to tilt your hat into the wind so it’s pushed further down on your stupid head for being out in such elements in the first place. Though I have to admit there are times when being out there isn’t a choice.

You have your work hat. And you have your town hat. Your work hat sometimes goes into town with you, and serves to remind folks that you do actually work sometimes.

For a cowboy/rancher/day laborer, his or her hat is two things: utilitarian and signature. First, it’s shade, mostly covering your face and neck from the sun, rain, snow, whatever. Second , I can spot someone a ¼ mile off from the hat they wear. The hat gets shaped and weathered just as the face and body of the person who wears it does.

You know you understand hats when you feel comfortable wearing one, no matter what the hat looks like and no matter the situation. Let everyone else look and posit questions in their minds – you wear it with confidence.

I have a straw that I’ve worn for about a decade that is sweat stained, dust stained, and the crease has gotten longer and deeper over the years. I’m told that I now have a “Long Trail” crease on that hat. I guess it’s fitting – that hat has seen more than a few miles, both driving and horseback. Truth is, that crease came from removing my hat and/or replacing it as a sign of respect.

We won’t go into a discussion about ball caps… after all, they’re not hats.