Keep your hat on

Hi,
I'm a bald chick. I quiet like it actually. No hair issues to deal with, ever. I never have a bad hair day any more and they used to be the "problème du jour" in my life. No more. I wear scarves, wigs on occasion, and more recently, funky hats. I'm finding the hats can cause interesting reactions more often than not.

Yesterday the greeter in Walmart made a point of stopping me to comment on how terrific he thought my hat looked. He kept me at the door for at least five minutes going on and on about the hat-look. Ruben is a nice guy and a perfect Walmart greeter but this was over and above his duty. Monday I was out having lunch with friends and again the hat caused comments and smiles of approval from strangers. It's a weird thing to have people feel the need to acknowledge something on your head. I would let the whole thing pass except it happened twice last week also. In a parking lot a gentleman called out "nice hat". I looked around to see who he was talking to.... yup, had to be me. I was the only person in the lot.

I have had women tell me how nice a hat looks on me. That they used to wear them all the time. Why did they stop? Fashion dictated that it was no longer part of the ensemble necessity. Too bad. Hats seem to cause a stir. There was a great book published about the women who wear hats to church. Black women in particular love to wear fabulous 'crowns' to services. The orthodox Jewish gang also spend a lot of money on head gear. My all time favorite was Ruthie Bass, my friend Brads' mom. She wore tremendous colourful hats to synagogue every week. I could always find her in the congregation crowd. The hats were her signature and everyone knew her because of them.  I also had a friend in Toronto who worked in sales. She started wearing fun hats on sales calls and they were a great opening for her. People seem to respond to hat wearers differently than non-hat wearers.

Not every hat gets a reaction though. Ratty baseball caps don't cause much of a stir. I haven't had a single person note the covering of my head when I wear one.... but when I wear the ivory leather baseball-style cap I bought in Greece, then I get noticed. I feel my head gear is an experiment in the making. If I was a larger person I might try more extravagant hats, but I'm too short to pull them off. I just look over powered by big brims or larger toppers. I knit a really cozy fisherman's cap. Marshall has one and he swears by its warmth. I like the fact that hats keep my head warm. I'm always cold. Head coverings do make a big difference in my body temperature. Sometimes function out-weighs fashion.... but it's always fun to get a person to smile just because of the hat-of-the-day.

xox
m