Headgear often serves as head protection, but it also often reflects the wearer’s sensibility to fashion or it is purely symbolic and indicates the office or rank of the wearer in various ceremonies and official gatherings.
We, at Magical Crete like to spend as much time as possible outdoors, so functional, protective headgear is a must for us. This need has made us experiment with headgear of many different shapes and sizes, and eventually we decided to write a blog post on headgear. It was fun doing this, and hopefully you, the readers, will get something positive and useful out of this.
When you are out and about for the day in hot weather, you need a hat which is functional and comfortable, and doesn’t get in the way of what you’re are doing. We are not interested in fashion or status when selecting this headgear.
Whether you are hiking, fishing, drawing or painting, photographing insects, flowers and everything else, the headgear you select can make or break your day.
From the point of view of day-long use, let’s look at different types of headgear and their pro’s and con’s.
The very first consideration, which is almost never taken into account, is the colour of your hat! If you are going to spend most of your day outside in the sunshine, it is extremely important to consider the effect of the colour of your clothing, including your hat. Darker colours absorb the light and the heat, lighter colours reflex the light away which has a cooling effect. A dark coloured hat will help cook your brain, and light coloured hat will assist in keeping it cool.
The other, equally important consideration, is the body area which will be protected by your headgear.
The most frequently used, and least functional of all hats is the baseball cap.
This kind of hat is sufficient for very short ventures into the sun and heat, but for full day use in hot sunny conditions it is frankly speaking useless.
It offers no protection at all and by leaving
The false sense of protection it creates contributes to the dangers of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wearing this type of hat for a long time in hot weather becomes extremely uncomfortable.
We rate this as a big fat zero.
Often referred to as the “outback hat”, this type of hat is a huge improvement on the baseball cap, but still leaves a lot to be desired.
They usually sit comfortable, the string allows the hat to be secured on the head in windy weather, and the rim provides some protection for your face, ears and the back of your head.
On its own, this type of hat rates as a mediocre 2.
If used in combination with one of the following hats, it does however rise considerably in our estimation and its rating would double.
There is nothing worse than getting caught out in the heat and ending up in a dust or sand storm. On Crete, this is part of life, and an often unpleasant part.
The “desert hat” goes a long way in helping you get out of this unpleasant situation while protecting your head, the back of your head and your neck, and most importantly, your nose and mouth enabling you to breath much more comfortably.
This type of hat is also great for winter hikes as it keeps your head warm and protects against strong winds.
A 3 star rating due to some fitting issues.
An excellent choice of protective hat is the two-part round “outback hat”. With this hat you have the ability to protect the back of your head, your neck and your shoulders, or in less severe heat you can remove that protection and still end up wearing a good, protective hat.
This gets a very good 4 star rating.
But this is not a hat!!!
Well, it’s a “Towel hat” and it’s a wonderful fit over your head, neck and shoulders. In combination with the “outback hat”, this makes an unbeatable pair. What’s the secret?
In really hot weather, under strong sun, this hat can be made wet with cool water if available, and the cooling, refreshing effect is immediate.
The outback hat on top of this slows the evaporation of the water down dramatically, keeping you fresh and cool for much longer.
There are of course many more types of hat to chose from. With this post we simply wanted to show your our experience with a few different, and sometimes not so obvious headgear. Bottom line is this; your headgear is important, experiment and choose wisely!