New Hats

When I was younger I thought that all the old guys wore hats to hide the fact that they’re bald, or heading in that direction. Having qualified as a bald, old guy for awhile now, I can’t say that my perception was entirely inaccurate. I can say that I now know it may not be the complete story.

For a few years now I’ve been developing spots on my forehead and around my eyebrows. Not an uncommon condition in older people, but these were kind of prickly or sensitive to the touch. I was directed to a dermatologist who told me they are were pre-cancerous and probably caused by too much exposure to the sun at some point in my life. It’s not a difficult procedure to fix these. He just pulls out a canister that has some kind of compressed gas and freezes the spots. They look terrible for a week or two, but if I’m lucky they go away after that.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, as you can see by my photo(s) I’m rarely without a baseball hat to cover my skull. I had gotten tired of those lately, and had tried going around without anything on top, but some spots came back. I got a stern warning from my doctor to avoid sun on my head at all times. That’s when I told him I was planning to retire in the Philippines, which did not please him.

I decided it was time to find a new look so I could keep my top covered. Something to replace the baseball cap, or at least to supplement it. I’ve always been fond of fedoras, and I even have a nice wool one that I bought many years ago from a local hat shop, but it’s more of a winter item. I dropped in to see what they might have in a smaller style, summer type fedora.

While they had some styles that were close to what I had in mind, nothing really grabbed me. They weren’t that cheap, either. I went online to see what was available there, and eventually found The Fedora Store. Lots of nice hats here, almost too many if that’s possible.

After many pages of viewing, I spotted a hat that really caught my eye. It’s a Bailey’s model Charlie Pork Pie Hat. It was a bit of surprise, as I never thought of myself as a guy that could wear a pork pie hat, and it may turn out that I can’t, but for now I’m going to give that a try. It’s a paper-braid straw hat, available in three colors. I’m getting the olive. Should be here next week.

I also stumbled on more of what I was originally looking for at a local outlet of a well known chain store this week. Even though I had the pork pie hat on order, this was just too cheap to pass up. It’s a straw, small fedora with a brown band that seems to be in style at the moment. I guess that’s good because it makes them easier to find.

So I’m all set for the summer that we should eventually see here. Maybe one of these will become my standard, or they could be just a passing fancy. Something fun either way.

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