Opinion: Hats can tell you a lot about a person

The top of a person’s head can tell you a lot about ‘em and what they’re up to that day. A cowboy hat certainly stands out these days, but look closer. Felt hat or straw hat? If it’s jacket-wearing weather, felt is fine, if it ain’t, then something might be up. Is it a nice, stiff, clean hat? Then I’d wager that they’re headed to or coming from a formal occasion. Is it a little soft, have a thick band of sweat-adhered dust around the middle? Does it have an awesome hatband that you’d wear everyday too? You might be looking at one of those folks cool enough to wear a felt hat year-round. You can’t tell much about their intentions. That hat on their head basically indicates that they are not an alien-impostor, but not much else. Business as usual. If you know that hat, but see it on the wrong head, then it’s time to worry.

Felt cowboy hats can be any color as long as it’s between white and black or some shade of brown. Somebody with a clean, white hat — really likes to wear a white hat. Some might say they’re likely to be a better person. I wouldn’t know. I wear a black hat.

Truth is, you probably shouldn’t judge a person based on the color of their hat — the brand, however, is fair game. Whatever the color, it’s important. Hats are not like clothes. They’re more like jewelry. Good jewelry. The stuff with diamonds and gold in it. The kind of stuff you maybe have one or two of and you keep it all your life and pass it down to your kids. You don’t talk about your hats in the plural. Each is unique and special and does not deserve to be lumped in with any other.

You don’t buy a new one every year, you get one and you keep it a long time. If you replace it maybe once in your life, that old one probably gets passed on to be someone else’s for a few decades. A cowboy hat isn’t cheap, it’s not easy to wear, it’s important.

In fact, “hat-room” is a very important feature to consider when buying a new set of wheels. If you can’t drive with your hat on, you won’t be driving it.

Audra Brown is of the opinion that felt hats come in two types: Resistols and work-hats — black is implied. Contact her at: [email protected]. And on the web at: audra-brown.com.