I never did like wearing hats. I still don't. To this day, they almost immediately cause my head to sweat even in freezing weather. I guess hat wearing is something that you either get accustomed to doing while growing up, or you don't. I happened to grow up living in a classic mild temperate zone where the weather was neither cold nor hot practically year round. With the exception of Scouts and Little League, hats were not a part of my life until the Army. But that's when I first learned the value of a good hat, the proper wearing and etiquette of the hat, and discovered some of it's survival uses (as a tool). Nowadays, a person wearing a hat is the exception and not the rule, so I am acutely aware that it does draw attention and it is as much a "symbol" as it is apparel (like hats can identify your profession, the region of the country you're from, your social status, sometimes your politics/religion/national origin, and even, believe it or not, your "propensity for/skill at" violent action, if you know how to "read" someone). I am not an everyday wearer of hats. I mostly break out my hat when I know I will be in the sun all day, but I do consider it an essential item to wear or pack along when traveling by any means, when going out into the wilderness no matter how close civilization is, and part of your survival "kit" when the things get bad.
-Probably most importantly and fundamentally, hats provide instant, portable sunshade/sunscreen against solar ultra-violet radiation. I think a good, practical hat should protect the ears, back of the head, and neck also, not just the face and eyes. This becomes even more critical in extreme environments, like desert, or if you happen to be stranded on the open ocean (like even a nuissance sunburn leads to cracked skin, which becomes a bleeding wound, which can get infected easily, which leads to sepsis, incapacitating illness, then death in that order) where dehydration/malnutrition/fatigue will tax your normal immune system and ability to heal. I think ballcaps, BDU hats, short-brimmed "pork pie" hats, watchcaps, and most especially berets are not too effective for this function and if those were the only hats available, I'd make a "haverlock" (like a sun curtain out of a hanky, that hangs off the back of the hat, sort of like the French Foreign Legion did).
-I suppose everyone must have heard already the famous "factoid" that because the human brain has enormous circulatory needs, as much as 1/3 of total body heat loss can occur via the top of the head, depending on the amount of hair you have. Simply wearing any head covering insulates the head from much of that radiant heat loss.
-Along the same lines, a hat is basic rain shelter. Even wet, it still insulates, but also keeps rain out of your eyes, off your glasses, and from going down your collar.
-Hats provide a minimal level of (armor) protection from bumps, hits, abrasions, scratches, slashes, and punctures. It can mean the difference between a bruise on the head and a bleeding scalp laceration. Tall people will know what I'm talking about.
-A hat can be used to protect the hand when expediently punching through glass (when nothing else is available).
-A hat can be used as a flag/guidon (held high), signaling device (waved), decoy (if flung), or head surrogate (to draw fire) in conjunction with a stick or arm extension.
-Hats can be used to bail water, or even carry water, useful for lifeboat survival, firefighting, personal hygiene or camping. Makes a good calm water basin for making/improvising that floating compass I mentioned elsewhere.
-Hats can be used to scoop and carry dirt, if nothing else is available. It may be the largest volume container you happen to have handy.
-In very hot, dry climates, I soak my boonie hat in water, and wear it wet, letting the evaporating water cool my head.
-It can be used as a fan to cool oneself, swat flies, or to fan flames.
-It can be a handy feedbag for your horse.
-Hats can be used to carry/hold many small, loose objects, like for foraging, carrying ammo, or keeping all of your EDC items in one place in a dark, unfamiliar hotel room. I use my hat as a nightstand "valet" when I travel (holding my room key, wallet, mini-LED light, loose change, tickets, all in one place). Also, with a cord attached, it can be used as a haul basket to transport items to a higher level for whatever reason (up a cliff, up a tree, down a hole, from floor to floor in a collapsed building, etc.).
-I use my hat as a convenient eye-shade when I catnap during the day, or in a bright airport, or inflight.
-Depending on the design of the hat, it has numerous recreational uses, like as a Frisbee, a target basin for a flicking cards, a catching "mitt" for thrown objects, holding money during a bet, and as a good "improv" prop for characterizations.
-Hats can be used to cook in (to boil water!). Cloth (canvas) hats and felt hats can hold water. What you do is take super-heated stones from next to a campfire, with a couple of branches as tongs, and drop them into the water in your hat. The heated stone rapidly heats the water, then you take it out, and drop another heated stone in. The stones are so hot that I can literally boil water in about 3 stones, and use the water to cook (make soup, boil meats, or sterilize uncertain water). Never underestimate the comfort and morale boost of first a simple fire, and then a nice hot cup of tea, when you're in a survival situation. Just the "ritual", puts my mind in the right place.
I have two dozen high quality hats of various designs, historical periods, exotic national origins, and compositions. I won't bore you with a rundown of my collection, but I keep coming back to 2 hats that I consider my "primaries", which I wear most often and which I would choose for my most practical for survival. My personally modified cotton duck canvas "boonie" hat, and, my beaver-felt cowboy hat. The boonie is the one I wear/carry more because I can just stuff it into my pocket or wear it from it's hat cord around my neck. Plus it's easy to wash and maintain, durable, and cheap enough so I am not overly worried about losing it. My cowboy hat was a gift (but I know it was expensive) and I tend to wear it when I'm traveling, riding (of course), and longer duration camping. Although it is a "crushable" memory felt design, I do worry a lot more about maintaining it's condition, or losing/misplacing it.
My favourite boonie hat has a 4" brim (as opposed to the standard 2" on military boonies), is light sand coloured (to reflect sunlight), and has a hidden pocket in the crown, which I usually keep some flat packets of sunscreen in. I wish I could tell you it was a Tilley, which makes an outstanding hat, but for the tremendous expense of a Tilley, I'd rather not worry about my hat, as long as it works. My boonie has ample loops around the headband for camofluaging or holding small items, but usually the only item I occasionally clip on there is my LED light, and/or, my red LED flasher/strobe (when rode marching at night, so I don't get run down by cars). The headband/sweatband portion of the hat has a hollow space, which I use to hold two pair of cable ties (flexi-cuffs), and I have a small sewn-on Military Police crossed pistols branch insignia on the front. Underneath the insignia is a #10 scalpel blade and a handcuff key... part of my escape kit. I always insist on a cord for my hats. Not only does it let me retain my hat in high winds, waves, or maneuvers, but it conveniently let's me just flip my hat off my head to hang from it's cord whenever I don't need it. Like I hike from sun to shade, whoop with a flip of my head, my hat is instantly off.
It may just be my imagination, but I think that I get searched a lot less when I wear my cowboy hat when traveling, especially when I'm coming back into the United States. When I wear my cowboy hat, I am obviously NOT a "grey man" but a tall, conspicuous American wearing a classic hat. It's like I'm demonstrating my national affiliation and my obviously not trying to hide anything by standing out in the crowd. I just tend to get asked a simple question, like "where's your home town?", I give them my unaccented reply, and then I get waved through without even a cursory glance at my luggage. It's almost like, what terrorist idiot is going to draw that much attention to himself by wearing a cowboy hat... LOL. Just a theory.
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