The 14 Best Hats to Wear All Summer Long (2024)

FAQs

Which color hat is best for sun protection? ›

Black and dark colors absorb more UV rays than other colors, which will ensure they don't hit your skin as much. Essentially, the darker the color, the more sun protection it will offer. Besides black, other dark colors that can provide a level of sun protection include navy, maroon, and dark gray.

A great alternative to 'Wear Many Hats' on a resume could be 'Multifaceted' or 'Versatile'. These words convey your ability to adapt to various roles and responsibilities.

Broad-brimmed, bucket hats with a wide brim and legionnaire style hats provide the most protection. Baseball caps do not protect the neck and ears.

Breathable Hat Materials for Hot Weather

Materials like cotton, linen, and straw are all excellent options when it comes to breathability.

So, what is the best hat colour for a hat when it comes to UV protection? The answer may surprise you: it's actually dark blue. Dark blue hats reflect most of the UV away from your head and face, which helps to keep you cool and protected from harmful UV rays.

Choose dark and intense colors for sun protection

A study conducted in Spain found that fabrics with darker or more intense colors tended to have better UV radiation protection than lighter colors. Of all colors tested, dark blue offered the best levels of UV protection, making it the best color to wear in the sun.

Sun Hat Benefits

let's start with the most important benefit: protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. Sun hats can block up to 97% of the sun's UVB rays, making them an essential part of any sun protection plan.

Choose a hat made from tightly woven fabrics like cotton, nylon, or polyester. These materials offer better sun protection than hats made from straw or loosely woven materials which generally have a much lower UPF due to the holes between the weave. Less holes, less sunlight.

The wider the brim of your sun hat the better for maximising coverage for the face and reducing indirect UV. A sun hat is considered by the Cancer Council Australia to have a wide brim when the brim length is more than 6cm for adults, 5cm for children.

Uncoated cotton, linen, nylon and polyester are all classed as breathable fabrics to some degree – meaning they allow sweat and heat to escape through the material. They're different to wicking fabrics, though, which actively pull water from your body.

Is it good to wear a hat in summer? ›

Wearing a hat is an effective way to shield yourself from direct sunlight and reduce the risk of UV-related skin damage. Hats with wide brims provide substantial coverage for the face, neck, and scalp, while also offering additional protection for sensitive areas like the ears and shoulders.

Hats can protect your scalp from radiant heat, but they can also lessen evaporative and convection cooling. “Most research shows that although skin head temperature increases and you feel hot, core body temperature does not,” Steinmetz says.

Dark or bright colors

Darker colors, such as blue or black, absorb more UV rays than lighter shades like whites and pastels. This means the UV rays are less likely to reach your skin. But bright colors, like red, can also absorb UV rays.

Of all colours tested, dark blue offered the best levels of UV protection, making it the best colour to wear in the sun. Contrary to the popular belief that they are the coolest colours in the sun, white and yellow were the worst performing colours in terms of UV protection.

Dark colors like black or brown are preferable if you want to protect yourself from the sun's UV rays as much as possible. Lighter colors can be riskier.

White or light coloured hats will reflect the heat from the sun, while dark colours will absorb the heat rather than bouncing it to your face or eyes. Ideally you should choose a hat with a white top and a darker under brim, to endure the heat from the sun is reflected off your face perfectly.