Girls Floppy Khaki Fisherman Style Hat

My favorite hat to wear during summer is a floppy khaki fisherman-style hat I got while I was in Florida which cost me about ten bucks on sale. I got it on a vacation with a couple of friends on an oppressively hot and humid day. Amazingly, it not only fits (I’ve got a big head, so hats usually don’t suit me), it gives some nice shade and works well whenever it’s overly sunny out and I don’t have my sunglasses with me. Pretty good for ten bucks!

Summer Bandanna Looks

My favorite summer hat to wear can be found at practically any store and is usually under three dollars! I love to wear bandannas because not only are they forever cool, but they protect your color-treated hair very well. When I wear them to the beach, I mix and match the colors of my bandannas with my swimming suit. I usually like to wear a bandanna with my tie-dyed dress for that hippie chic feel, but with skinny jeans, ballet flats and a black tee shirt when I’m going out to give that cool, bad ass look. Plus, the best benefit of wearing a bandanna (besides that it universally looks great on anyone) is that you can easy hide a bad hair day while still pulling off a good “hat” day! :]

Womens Paperboy Hat

There are very few hats that I wear during the summer as it just gets too hot, but I do have a tendency to wear one hat. It is like a paperboy hat that is low profile and has a small lip in the front. It is dark and has a Guinness logo on one side. I wear it to work, the beach, hiking, parties. It is small but I have a tendency burn my scalp, so having it covered really helps. It was $10 when I got it from Target. Actually I bought it for my boyfriend and he wore it until it shrunk, so now it is mine. People have a tendency of saying “that’s a cute hat”, so I guess it looks alright. I tend to usually feel pretty self conscious in hats, but this one is different for some reason.

Beautiful Straw Fedora

Every summer my husband and I take our daughter to Europe. Several summers ago I found a beautiful straw Fedora. I was never one for wearing hats, but this one seemed to fit me just right. I pin my hair in curls just at the base of my neck and I feel as though I have been transformed into a movie star, or some European royalty, as though I just stepped off a yacht. I bought the hat for about $50 at a small boutique on the water front in Bodrum, Turkey. Now, every summer, my lovely Fedora has its very own box when it travels with me. My husband loves the hat and always teases that whenever I wear the hat my personality changes just a little. We call it, ‘the celebrity effect.’ I wear it to the seaside or to lunch. I wear it with sunglasses and sometimes a light muslin scarf in a beautiful shade of lavender.

My Columbia Tough Top Hat

My favorite hat has got to be my Columbia. It’s not a fashion hat, but if you live in a tough terrain like I do it’s a great asset. Coming from Tennessee I knew nothing of alpine passes, summer afternoon hail storms, lightening without warning and sand dunes. When I moved to Colorado I took up hiking and photography. My first multi-mile hike in the Rockies, I passed two old timers who were coming back from the trail i was just starting on. I said “what a neat walking stick”. They said, “where’s your hat”? I said, i only wear easter hats and summer visors. They laughed at me and said I must be new to Colorado. I didn’t pay much attention. Over the course of many hours, I was sunburned in my face (never happened in tenn.) being two miles closer to the sun, tends to do that. The high altitude winds windburned my face and neck, and before I got back, I also had hail hit my head repeatedly on a beautiful summer afternoon and in the valley on the way back, I enjoyed stinging sand from screed hillside slopes. I soon went looking for a really good hat. I found a Columbia brand for about $30. at a ski shop. This one has a tough top for those hail storms, but is still thick fabric and flexible. It has side air vents to allow your hair to breathe, when you can’t catch your breath at over 11,000 ft. It has a wide heavy brim to shade your eyes from sand and sun. And most of all it has a wonderful, complete necessary chin strap to keep it on in high winds. It even protects me from light rain showers. I’ve learned a lot about living here. And one thing I will never go hiking without in the Rockies is sporty well built hat.