Questions for those who sometimes wear hats

[Kayleena]

Hi, everyone! :) Okay, I know these may seem like dumb questions, but I’m a hair idiot, so I need help figuring this out. Two of my favorite ways to style the top of my head – a quiff {pouf} and a toss-over where I anchor it so its shape goes up a little and then over – get completely flattened or weird looking after wearing a hat. I have only one light layer of bangs/fringe across my forehead, and even those look awful and are difficult to re-style after being under a hat. I, my DH, and a friend of ours will be taking a trip to Colorado in mid-August, and if I want to keep my skin and scalp from burning to a crisp, I will have to wear a hat with a brim while dayhiking in the mountains. I would like to take it off when we eat supper each evening, but my hair is certain to look strange unless I have lots of time to wet it down and re-style it. Many people have said I should be wearing a hat every time I go out in the winter as well; I get cold very easily. My questions are: for those of you who wear hats outside but take them off indoors, how do you keep the top of your head looking good? Do you just style the hair flat against the head all the time, or do you have to re-style your hair each time you go back inside? Oh, yes, that brings me to another question: if you have your hair in a bun, do you position it lower on your head so that it doesn’t interfere with the hat or higher on your head so that it helps the hat stay on? I will most likely wear a braid {with hairties at both ends}, or a ponytail, but I might try the one updo {braided rope bun, pinned, no hairsticks} that I know how to do. I might even try to hold my bangs back with a headband with the rest of my hair down or contained and then put on the hat. Anyway, if I should wear hats more often in general, not just on this trip, I would hate to have to permanently give up the two hairstyles I mentioned above. Again, it may seem that these should have common-sense answers, but I’m entirely stumped. Maybe there are some tricks out there that I don’t know about; please enlighten me if you can. Thanks! – **Lady Kayleena Victoria of the Performance Stage in the Order of the Long-Haired Knights**

[HappyEeyore]

I pretty much have to wear my hair in a low ponytail, low bun, or two pigtail braids when I wear a hat. I still have to tidy it up when I take my hat off though. I suppose if I sprayed it down really well with a strong gel or hairspray could help here.

When I wear a bun higher, I have found I have to wear a visor, though they don't shade my face as well as a wider brimmed hat.

I'm curious to see what others do too.

[ole gray mare]

I usually wear a single braid (or doubles) when wearing hats.

I've discovered, to my delight, that I can fluff my hair up quite easily again after wearing a hat. I just massage my scalp and lift the hair up. It works quite well, and I would have never believed it if I hadn't tried it.

My other thing is that I quiff my hair at night before braiding for bed. So maybe it just has a little built in lift that's easy to get back after taking a hat off? I don't know, but it works!

[Curlsgirl]

I have bangs too and when I wear a hat I push them to one side sort of straight and tuck them under the hat or better yet clip them with one of those bendy clips. I do this when I wear my motorcycle helmet too. It is the best way to keep my bangs from being funky. When I take it off usually I can just pull my bangs back down and sometimes they look sort of sideswept but still much better than trying to leave them down or smushed with the hat on. I wear a plain braid also or a low bun. I can't wear a high bun under a hat, won't fit. The hair on top of my head is always flat sort of anyway so don't have to do anything to that really.


Olegraymare, what is "quiff" if you don't mind? :)

[Anje]

Hello hairtwin!

I don't wear a hat as often as I should (I find they make me warm even while keeping the sun off), but when I do, my style is normally a low braid. I've not managed a bun that's low enough yet that the back of the hat didn't hit it, and I'm not sure anything but a pointy witches hat would contain a high bun for me without making a bizarre lump (I live with bizarre lump hats in the winter, though). I normally wear my hair flat against my head and no bangs, which won't help you at all. A quick re-smoothing takes care of winter hat hair muss well enough, but I'll usually take my hair down, re-comb it, and put it back up at least once if I've had a hat on and off from running around campus all day.

[berr]

My other thing is that I quiff my hair at night before braiding for bed. So maybe it just has a little built in lift that's easy to get back after taking a hat off? I don't know, but it works!

Define quiff, pretty please. Google gave me this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiff but I have a hard time reconciling in my mind long hair, flattop and mohawk at the same time.

ETA: Is this what you do? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L3HpYF9k8

[Islandgrrl]

I used to do a lot of camping and hiking (when my kids were little) and my solution was to put my hair either in a braid or in a low chignon before I put my hat on. When it was time for the hat to come off and for me to magically look like I'd never worn one in the first place, I'd flip my head over and get my hands wet, then run my wet fingers along my scalp through my hair to lift the roots a little bit. After a little scalp massage and root lifting, it either went back into a braid or up into a higher bun without the hat.

Worked for me with hair that was between mid-thigh and knee.

[Carolyn]

I hate wearing hats but I do when I am going to be out in the sun for a period of time. My head sweats so much when I wear one. It has to be really cold in the winter for me to wear one. In the summer I do a baseball cap with a single braid pulled through the hole in the back or a bun with the ponytail pulled through and then bunned. I have a couple of wide brimmed straw hats and the only style I can wear with them is a single french braid or English braid. I recently found a brimless hat, and I can use that with a high bun. I've also done the cotton bandana thing but that doesn't shield the face and neck from the sun. With all those styles my hair is flat to my head and smoothed back away from my face so wearing the hat or cap doesn't really do anything to the style. When I had bangs that was another story as they were always a disaster when I took the hat off. I sometimes run a fine toothed comb over the scalp area to smooth it out after taking the hat off.

[frizzinator]

I usually wear a low bun. I will wear a high bun if there is enough room inside the crown of the hat.


I haven't done a quiff in at least 20 years, so since my hair lays flat hats don't mess it up.

[frizzinator]

Berr, a quiff doesn't have to consist of backcombing or hair spray. It can be as simple as slightly twisting the front hair, then allowing it to poof-up a bit in front and on top before securing the twist so that the poof doesn't fall out.


It was a favorite style for me when my bangs were growing out, and were always falling into my face. I took all the bang hair, twisted, poofed, and secured the twist with a side comb on one side of my head, instead of a barrette.

[verene]

I usually wear a low pony-tail or braid for summer hats. In the winter, a low bun. It still "poofs" the bottom of my hat, but I figure that with the collar on my jacket and a scarf about my neck, a poof at the nape isn't all that noticeable.

My hair gets a bit fly-away and mashed looking from wearing hats, so I smooth it out the best I can with fingers most of the time.

[Finoriel]

I often wear a hat :p practically you could say I live in hats, caps, hard hats or bandanas. I guess the secret of being able to wear any kind of head-covering and taking it off, without having problems with the hairdo under it, is to avoid any poofiness. Anything what sits on your hear will automatically flatten out a poofy style, partly or completely, and will pick at other parts of it, creating the chicken-pluck-look when taking it off. Guess there´s no way around that fact. So when you plan to wear a hat I would recommend a sleek low bun like infinity bun or pinless braided bun, simple braids or a ponytail at the nape to go along with it.
Or if it´s just for evening meals while on a hiking tour, out in the nature with some friends, you could try to just ignore the less than perfect condition of your hairdo. I´m sure they will also look a bit wind blown after a long day outside :wink:

[Kayleena]

Hi to all! :) Wow, there *are* actually tricks out there that I didn’t know about! :magic: Thanks for all of the tips! If I just use a simple ponytail, I might have time to take it down & fluff up the roots. I like the 2-braids suggestions, too, & I will try that even if I can’t part it very well in the back – that sounds like a nice style to wear under a hat. I’ll try putting the bangs to one side also. If I braid it, then I’ll try the suggestion to massage & lift up the roots. I’ll see if the quiff at night helps with that, too. Lastly, yes, it’s very true that we’ll all look a bit disheveled, but sometimes we’ll be eating our supper in restaurants. That made me worry about my hair a little, but hopefully, others who don’t know us won’t notice or care, either. :silly: I guess that comes from my parents, who think one should look good at all times, but for me that is sometimes impossible & definitely impractical. Okay, for those of you who asked about the quiff, it looks like a pouf in the front of the head above the forehead. I’m not growing out bangs/fringe, but I still really like the style anyway, and I can do mine without teasing or hairspray. When I’m able to post attachments & if I can get access to a digital camera, I’ll post pictures of what mine looks like from different angles, along with directions in case anyone’s interested. Thanks again to all who responded! :flower: – **Lady Kayleena Victoria of the Performance Stage in the Order of the Long-Haired Knights**

P.S.: I should mention that when I do my quiff, I leave the bangs/fringe down on my forehead & do the quiff with the long hair right behind them. To achieve the look without teasing or hairspray, I first do a half-up/half-down style, tying the hair a bit away from my scalp with a 2-balled ponytail holder, then I shove it forward to make the pouf, and lastly I anchor it in place behind the 2-balled ponytail holder with a medium-sized claw clip. Those are the only types of hair tools that *usually* stay in place for me with my fine hair. :cool:

[Patty lou]

If your hair is as long as in your avatar I suggest 2 braids and wrapping them around your head "Heidi Style" or "Crown Braid" see how "Stagecoach" wears hers.
That way your hair is protected and if you remove the hat you still look nice.

Patty lou

[Darkhorse1]

I've been going through the same thing with regards to hats. I work outdoors and need a hat to wear, and I've found a tilly hat works very well with a low bun/braid. I braided my hair recently, then used a stick to hold it up off my back. I did a twist braid with my tilly hat, and while it looked good, the twist doesn't hold up to work. It started to fall out within an hour of being at a horse show yesterday. I had to take it out and braid it. :(

[Chromis]

My hair is always flat and would look very silly and likely give me a very sore scalp if I tried convincing it to be otherwise. I have never found this to be a problem and I tend to find poufy styles a bit odd looking really.

I wear a single or double braids under hats. For evening you can always turn that into a braided bun to hide any messiness at the base of the braid and look a little dressier. I find braided buns to be much easier and more stable, esp when just learning as an added bonus!

[sipnsun]

I wear hats all the time and my usual style is either a bun high up on the top of my head (for a beach hat), or french braided (for a baseball cap or viser). I rarely leave my house for outdoor activities without some kind of protection and this has worked well for me. The only problem I have is if it is hot out and I sweat, my hair may look a little oily.

[Amberlee]

I'm the same as sipnsun. If its a sun hat or a "church" hat, I look for a higher top and wear a high bun under it. When taking that hat off - I just take the bun down and go with the curls therefrom as a style. I have fringe that I sweep straight back into the brim - that way they have a little height to them when I damp 'em and pull 'em forward.

I rarely wear a ball cap or visor, but if the hat hasn't got a higher top - then I go with a french braid and my fringe clipped straight back. That stays fresh enough looking to just need a little aloe vera gel to get the fly aways when I de-hat.

[Kayleena]

Hi, everyone! :bluesmile Thanks for the additional replies & suggestions! :flower: Yes, my hair is now a little longer than my avatar, & it sounds like the crown braids would help hold the hat away from my scalp & help my hat stay on, too. My hat is just a little big on me; a good wind can definitely blow it off my head. If I can position my rope-braid-bun high enough to get under my hat, I’ll try that, too. I agree that updos are much easier with braids, although the rope-braid-bun is the only one I can do so far. I can’t seem to get the regular braid to look right when I wind it around, but I’ll keep trying. I’ll try the suggestion to sweep the bangs/fringe straight back as well; I’ve thought of that before, but I wasn’t sure if they would be too difficult to style forward again, but it sounds like that works for you, Amberlee. Darkhorse1, my rope/twist braids don’t always stay in either, but sometimes I have success if the hair ties are tight enough & also if my hair was wet to start with. From what I looked up online, my hat sort of looks like a tilly hat, but it’s all denim & the brim isn’t quite as wide. Well, my DH & I are leaving for our Colorado vacation in a couple of days, so I might not have time to check in to TLHC until after we get back a little over a week later. :waving: Again, thanks to all who responded!