Hat material temperature

I was just wondering from coolest to hottest where would y'all say common hat materials rank?

Example

1. Straw
2. Palm leaf
3. Hemp
4. Wool


I am mainly concerned with fedora style hats. Not necessarily ball caps or flat caps, etc.

Is a list like this even possible? Aren't temperature feelings going to very from one person to another? Also, doesn't color and quality of the hat effect temperature as well?

I Would imagine wool to be the hottest, and no experience with hemp. Someone who knows what they are talking about should be around soon

RDSBandit said:

I was just wondering from coolest to hottest where would y'all say common hat materials rank?

Example

1. Straw
2. Palm leaf
3. Hemp
4. Wool


I am mainly concerned with fedora style hats. Not necessarily ball caps or flat caps, etc.

Is a list like this even possible? Aren't temperature feelings going to very from one person to another? Also, doesn't color and quality of the hat effect temperature as well?

Click to expand...

Another temperature control would if it has a lining and the type of material used for the lining.
Not sure where it fits in but fur is another material to consider. I would guess similar to wool.

RDSBandit said:

I was just wondering from coolest to hottest where would y'all say common hat materials rank?

Example

1. Straw
2. Palm leaf
3. Hemp
4. Wool


I am mainly concerned with fedora style hats. Not necessarily ball caps or flat caps, etc.

Is a list like this even possible? Aren't temperature feelings going to very from one person to another? Also, doesn't color and quality of the hat effect temperature as well?

Click to expand...

You forgot fur felt (beaver, rabbit), the prime material for high quality fedoras. Indiana Jones is wearing a beaver fur felt Fedora (Herbert Johnson (1-3), Adventurebuilt (4)) in all climates ranging from very cold (Nepal) to very hot (Cairo and Peruvian Jungle).

I would choose straw or palm leaf for the hottest climate. Palm leaf hats can be shaped and are softer than straw hats. I guess it's a matter of personal preference,

The hottest hat is probably the fur felt hat. However, they may not be unsuitable in hot climates. I do wonder how they hold up in an always humid climate, though - maybe they develop a gamey odor (but so would I)?

I would tend to lump the first 3 into one, though I have only worn the palm leaf, a.k.a. Panama hat. Not even sure that any are made with actual straw anymore. Even then the weave makes adifference. Very fine woven, extra extra fino, don'breathe like a looser wrn hat, and some are even woven with open patterns to allow air circulation. Any hat though will be cooler that sun beating down on your head.

For a nice, low humidity area, nothing can beat wool/fur felt. Just thoroughly soak it, and evaporative cooling does the rest. Doesn't work in humid climates

strop said:

I would tend to lump the first 3 into one, though I have only worn the palm leaf, a.k.a. Panama hat. Not even sure that any are made with actual straw anymore. Even then the weave makes adifference. Very fine woven, extra extra fino, don'breathe like a looser wrn hat, and some are even woven with open patterns to allow air circulation. Any hat though will be cooler that sun beating down on your head.

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There are still real straw hats. Animals will eat real straw hats. Ask me or that goat how I know, my Tennessean fellow hat wearer.

Remember the word albedo, if your trying to keep cool.

White or lighter than your hair color is best.

I see people (today, in fact) wearing black shirts, black hats, and sweat pouring off them prior to heatstroke.


AA

Ad Astra said:

Remember the word albedo, if your trying to keep cool.

White or lighter than your hair color is best.

I see people (today, in fact) wearing black shirts, black hats, and sweat pouring off them prior to heatstroke.


AA

Click to expand...

Tell this the bedouins and their black goats, and Ian Malcolm.


"The amount of heat gained by a Bedouin exposed to the hot desert is the same whether he wears a black or a white robe. The additional heat absorbed by the black robe was lost before it reached the skin."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/aug/19/most-improbable-scientific-research-abrahams

By all means, wear head-to-toe black and go to the beach in a black CAR, with black leather vinyl seats.

Take at least five Bedouins along.


AA

With a black car you deal mostly with reflectance (low) and absorption (high). That's why it gets really hot. With a bedouin's clothes, you have to consider the layering. While the black outer layer heats up, the absorbed energy does not penetrate down through the other insulating layers of clothes and air as much as one would expect.

Then there is also the fact that black clothes help absorb body heat and help dissipate it away from the body, which is why there are many black-feathered birds. The SR-71 plane's skin reaches due to friction up to between 600 and 900°F during high-speed flight, which is enough so its fuel tanks start leaking, is painted black so it may shed more heat instead of getting cooked.

Yet another thing to consider is that something that looks black to the human eye can be also high in IR reflectance, while something that looks white to us, may be low in IR reflectance.

Between the Bedouins and the Lockheed SR-71, I forgot we were talking about hats.

They painted the tops of all our school busses here white not long ago, to increase reflectivity/albedo and make them cooler inside. Feel certain painting the tops black would result in solar-cooked children.

Will stand by the statement, a white hat makes your head feel cooler.


AA

If it means anything, black beaver Stetsons are reserved for cooler whether down here, straw for summer. This may not include those who only wear hats to go honky-tonkeying.

Ad Astra said:

Between the Bedouins and the Lockheed SR-71, I forgot we were talking about hats.

They painted the tops of all our school busses here white not long ago, to increase reflectivity/albedo and make them cooler inside. Feel certain painting the tops black would result in solar-cooked children.

Will stand by the statement, a white hat makes your head feel cooler.


AA

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Please don't misunderstand me. I agree that a white hat will keep your head cooler than a black hat will, if that's the only head covering you wear at the time. I merely have a problem with the following general claim and observation: "I see people (today, in fact) wearing black shirts, black hats, and sweat pouring off them prior to heatstroke." That observation should be amended with "if they do not wear layered garments," because you can wear black and achieve heat shedding instead of heat accumulation.

But yes, I will definitely choose a light-colored straw hat over a dark brown felt fedora under a hot sun, unless I want to fry eggs on my hat.

Hot wheels, you are actually backwards on your SR-71 info. The aircraft leaks fuel PRIOR to the expansion of the skin do to the friction heat

Triggs said:

Hot wheels, you are actually backwards on your SR-71 info. The aircraft leaks fuel PRIOR to the expansion of the skin do to the friction heat

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I beg to differ The tanks are sealed with a high temperature sealant, which has been applied to leaky areas according to the fuel drip rate. The sealant expands with rising operating temperatures, but so do the gaps in the tank. Contrary to popular belief and published misinformation, the SR-71's fuel tanks do not seal themselves when the tank panels expand with increasing temperature. When the aircraft reaches operating temperature the fuel still leaks at a very slow rate, but thanks to the expanding sealant at a lesser rate compared to without the sealant. This information was given to me by a former Lockheed engineer who developed systems for SR-71 and U-2 aircraft. Unfortunately, because he passed away a few years ago, I cannot produce him to support what I am saying.

However, the leaky build, necessitated by the expansion of exterior plane components due to heat, has nothing directly to do with the aircraft's black finish. It's just that the black finish improves heat shedding.

Wool without a doubt is the hottest , but I wear all my Hats year round except the straws , which would include straw , hemp , palm leaf . Fur Felt is comfortable to me anytime pretty much , my tallest western is really cool in summer , and warm in winter . They take rain , snow , everything . Wool shrinks if it gets wet and dries too fast , but its not good to let any wet Hat dry with heat anyway , just cool air drying with the sweatband popped out , not in wear mode .