What's your favorite winter hat? I vote the Filson Wildfowl - I have one in both Tin Cloth and Shelter Cloth. Pricey? For sure. But they're just so great in adverse weather, from rain to snow to wind. One caveat, it should be cold weather, if its over say 40F or 45F out, you don't want this this on. Also, much below zero and I'd want an insulated hood, but that's just preference I think.

Yay snow today!

I go for either a parka hood or a Seattle Sombrero (the SS keeps the snowflakes off my glasses in most conditions). If it cools off I will put either of these over a watch cap or a balaclava. I am playing around with a gadget that slips over the bill of a ball cap and covers up your ears - it still leaves the blood vessels in your neck exposed, but it has promise.

i have a poly baseball cap for general use..in the car going to the store,that sort of thing.beyond that its a watch cap under a hooded parka.

I primarily use a Headsweats brand beanie. Though I recently picked up a great felt cowboy hat keeps me surprisingly warm with lots of sun protection. I tend to only wear the cowboy hat on the trail and not around town.

I'm wearing wool balaclava with visor for all of my snow trips. It converts to a nice looking Jeep cap when folded up, very adjustable to different weather, easily pocketable, lightweight, but warm and breathable. I bought it from some paper catalog very cheap 9 years ago - it's my favorite winter headwear still.

A high-quality poly-fleeced, bomber style hat with a breathable but watertight shell. It looks like crap, I think it makes me look like a Canadian rube (As opposed to the Florida cracker that I am) but unless I look into a mirror it doesn't bother me.

It keeps the cold winter wind and rain off me and the flip-down ear flap, that also covers the back of the neck, really helps.

I also have a windproof water resistant skull cap that covers the head from the brow to the base of the neck. It fits tight and looks positively medieval but it folds very compactly and tucks into a coat pocket and fits under a hardhat.

Turtle Fur Beanie.

If it's raining or snowing then I have a unknown brand GoreTex boonie style hat I like to keep the wet/snow/rain off me and from soaking in.. sometimes they are worn together but not often.

Well first of all if it really cold the hood on my parka followed by the hood on my fleece hoody (poly fleece not cotton) are my all time favourites.

Then it is a watch cap/balaclava. It can be worn both ways. I have a few of these things.
I have one balaclava that is thin and almost like thick silk. It fits in a pocket really well, and it works as a watch cap, a balaclava or as a helmet liner.
I prefer the balaclavas with the large opening for the face instead of the ones with separate openings for the mouth and eyes. The open face ones do not frost up as bad in the cold.

I do like the watch caps. I will say wool are nice but I have used synthetics for years and they work better for me.

I was never a great fan of the long toques because the extra material is too much extra bulk for what it does. I would rather take a decent cashmere scarf instead of the extra tail on the toque even though the red toques and sashes are traditional for the Bonhomme Carnaval.

If it is not really cold then it is a wide brim Stetson or a Tilley.

My USGI black navy wool watch cap is my favorite.But it has to be like arctic cold for me to wear it.I hate wearing hats normally.

BOATMAN
John

I am in total agreement.

I have started wearing a wide flat brim hat (almost a cowboy hat) that is ventilated for the summer months. It keeps the sun out of my eyes and absorbs sweat in a great fashion.

The only hat that I ever liked wearing was the Garrison Cap. I still have a few but it just wouldn't be right to wear that in public, with civvies.

I don't like to wear hats, either. Normally it's just a hooded parka for me.

If it's really cold, meaning below 0F, it'll be wool watch cap plus hood. If there's a strong wind plus sub 0F, I'll switch to the fleese OR balaclava. That actually makes cold wind almost fun, but if worn in normal weather would probably prompt a visit from the local SWAT team.

This Carhartt is my favorite:

http://www.carhartt.com/webapp/wcs/store...tegoryId=10902#

If it gets cold, fold down the ear flaps (which also cover the back of your neck). If it gets really cold, fold down the face mask that is sewn/tucked inside.

The cap below is a close second. It's long enough that you can pull it way down so it covers the back of your neck.

http://www.carhartt.com/webapp/wcs/store...ategoryId=10902

A very plain and not very thick wool cap, similar to the "USGI navy wool watch cap" I think, except thinner and not with the tacticool lock... Perpetually used together with a very thin wool buff around my neck.

Don't forget the hood! My wool cap will not keep the strong wind out, so up goes the hood. The hood is uninsulated, but blocks the wind.

This simple, plain and thin setup works very well for me in a wide range of temperatures and activities. It will take extreme cold and/or wind to make me put on anything more.

Either a Lowe Mountain hat or a Goretex boonie hat.

Lowe hat for cold wet raining.
Goretex hat if it's just wet.

I wear glasses. I get a trifle tempermental when it's raining and water starts runing down my glasses and off the end of my nose.

Whoa! There are wool buffs!? (Speeding off to Google!)

Wow! 27 Bucks. Hmm, I think I'll have to get one of those, but I think I'll wait until Holiday Shopping is done. Great! Thanks MostlyHarmless!

To be true, mine isn't exactly a "Buff" product but it is the easiest way to describe it. I bought mine last year, I don't think Buff started making wool buffs until this fall... Buff prices where I live are highly inflated (and they're quite a fashion thing), so I try to stay clear of those anyway.


A wool buff is one of those garments that are so simple and genius that it is hard to understand why more of these aren't manufactured....

My favorite winter hat is a Akubra "Snowy river" it´s pretty much an all weather hat. If I expect more than a couple of hours in the rain I choose my Australian waxed cotton hat. Those two kept me warm and dry so far.

Much of this depends on what you define as "Winter". Hereabouts that means temps between the teens and -30F, not counting windchill.

My favorite winter hat is a thick homemade wool hat. Has to be custom made because of my Charlie Brown sized head, the "one size fits all" types do not fit all!

If it gets much colder due to wind chill then the hood of the parker goes over the hat.

Having just come back from a 2 1/2 days of survival and awareness training I learned that my favorite winter hat-type will not do. It has been a brimmed, insulated hat with turn-down insulated ear flaps with either a chin strap or fastener to a jacket.

But I discovered that a brim seriously compromises my ability to see, and reinforces a habit of rarely looking above eye level. And, of course, ear flaps compromise my sense of hearing.

The instructors seemed to wear either nothing or tightly woven wooolen caps, but I think my brain bucket would welcome something more substantial and capable of converting to more complete coverage in conditions were hypothermia threatens. I am going to re-visit buffs and some high-tech balaclavas.

Our winters are pretty warm and comfy. We usually have about 0° (first Celcius than Fahrenheit). On really cold days it´s about -20°F.

Just got a very cool Christmas present apropos for this thread.

A friend just got back from a month in Nepal building medical clinics. He met a local woman who handmade wool caps, and even stitched in a wind blocker liner. He took it to Mt. Everest base camp and took a picture with it.

A nice red wool hat similar to the classic watch cap for winter. When I need to keep sun/rain off my head in summer, I have a wide brim tilly, and my go bag has a now well crumpled boonie cap that has a LOT of 550 cord laced around the rim, for those times I don't have a hat, and suddenly need one (A brimmed cap keeps the rain off my glasses, and makes life a lot safer)

Nothing fancy or hi-tec and no cool name but how about this:

http://www5.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=53006&CatID=53087&GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=16b4a05&attrtype=&attrvalue=&CMID=53006%7c53019&Fltr=&Srt=&QL=F&IND=13&cmVirtualCat=&CmCatId=53006|53019|53087

Wish I knew the secret to making that appear as an actual link. Just copy and paste it in your browser. Very warm. I carry one in a parka pocket through the winter. On the down side it's not waterproof on its own but covering it with the parka hood does nicely for keeping dry. I also like just a plain old synthetic balaclava. Wear it as a watch cap in milder temps and pull down when the temps drop.

Haertig's Carrhart is a nice one too. I emailed that page to DW. Too late for Santa but maybe as an after thought

above freezing (and not windy) - felt fedora (Cabela's Three-Forks) as the brim nicely keeps sleet and other crap off my glasses and from going down my neck.

below freezing - an old fashioned watch cap (well the new fleece version, the classic wool having become harder to find).

nasty, windy or single digit temps and below - a Windbloc Headsokz. It is just plan cozy in the worst cold weather.

http://www.buyhappyfeet.com/Headsokz

Gotta get me one of these it looks like:
http://www.carhartt.com/webapp/wcs/store...tegoryId=10902#

+ GoreTex on top would be awesome!

If I`m doing "WORK" outside my hat normally comes off shortly, unless it is snowing or raining. Even with a shaved head I warm up rather quickly!

I have an acrylic watch cap that's quite warm. For Christmas I got myself and my wife wool Buffs. The big advantage of this combo for me is that I can keep both in the pockets of my coat with a pair of gloves, so my outdoor gear is largely self-contained and easily adjusts to various levels of activity and the very changeable weather around here. If it gets nasty I can make the Buff into a balaclava, put on my hat, and unroll the hood of my parka on top of that.

I've become a fan of Tilley hats. I bought my first one because I just couldn't find a nice had big enough for my giant mutant head.

For summer I use a Tilley LTM6 - with the mesh panel around the top and the wider brim.

For winter I use a combination of Carhartt knit hats (I like the blaze orange ones) and a Tilley TW2 Winter Hat. I like that the brim of the Tilley hat keeps the falling snow off my glasses, plus it has an ear warming flap and a forehead warming flap.

I was kind of surprised to find that the Tilley TW2 Winter Hat is dry clean only, though I've yet to need to clean it.

My favorite Cold Weather (winter) hat looks something like this .
I was just searching for an example of my hat, and saw that style called "trapper", "trooper", or "bomber" on different web sites.
I had always called it my "Russian hat", because you always see some guy on TV named Leonid, standing on a podium watching a parade of tanks go by.

I "customize" mine a little bit, by putting on a regular "ball cap" first, and then putting the Russian Hat on over that. That way, I have a "Russian hat WITH BRIM" !!!

I had one of those bomber hats when a kid. I loved it. I tried to buy one from Cabelas - got their XL size, but it didn't fit my mutant giant head ... gave it to my son - who enjoys it.

Giant Mutant head? I know I'm bad because Tilly's largest size is tight!