Multi-use Head Gear

[DanielL]

When you will be outdoors for several days, what kind of headgear do you bring? What are the multiple uses for each item?

For me, the first thing I bring is a pair of bandanas. I roll one up and use it for a sweat band. When it gets soaked, I switch to the other one. Multiple uses - filtering junk out of water before purifying; wash cloth; pot holder; bandage.

The other item I bring is a baseball cap. Keeps the sun off my head; softens any bumps with tree branches or rocks; if the bugs are really bad, keeps the mosquito net off my face.

Any other items that you like to have on hand?

 

[texascarl]

Caps and bandanas...and safety pins. Pin a wet or dry bandana to the back of the cap if you don't want a 'red neck', the wet bandana will feel really good in low humidity. For about 10 minutes. Or get a fishing cap with the built in flip-up/flip down neck cover.

If I'm not carrying a backpack that'll interfere with it, I often wear a straw Aussie lifeguards hat with a 4 inch wide brim. These are real modern day Sombreros, it keeps my face in the shade (where my ugly mug doesn't scare women, children and small dogs quite so often.) They have a 'stampede string' to keep them from blowing off, pretty good ventilation, cost less than $10.

I also have a couple of porkpie straw hats I wear just to piss off my buddies, who claim it's impossible to pick up women in the company of anyone wearing that kind of a hat. If they'd learn to repay their small-change loans and buy the first round now and then, I might leave the porkpie hat at home. But that's never happened, not likely to happen so I doubt if I ever have to make that choice.

 

[numberthree]

A regular USGI boonie hat is my headgear whenever I'm out and about. I carry a couple of bandannas too, just in case....

 

[RokJok]

Three-part system:
1. Tennis visor with a strap across the back
2. Bandanna
3. Hood on rain jacket

I like the visor because it will vent the top of my head in moderately warm weather, while still keeping the sun out of my eyes. I use the visor & bandanna together for sunny hot weather to make up a fake "French Foreign Legion" type hat with the bandanna keeping the sun off my neck. I arrange the bandanna on my head so it's hanging mostly off the back and about even on both sides of my head, then just slide the visor on over it to pin it in place. For rainy weather, I use the visor under the hood of my rain jacket to keep rain off my face.

I'm also likely to have a lightweight fleece watchman's cap to wear sleeping or when the weather turns chilly. Boonie hats, cowboy hats, baseball caps, and many other styles will suffice for use outdoors. The trick is to have enough so that you'll always have one with you in your pack or vehicle when you need it.