In praise of straw

[shortbow]

Well it seems you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. I was in a tack shop down in the big city a week ago and bought, on a whim, a Mexican-made straw western for the princely sum of $25.

After a long soak, I popped out the crown and turned down the 4" brim. When it dried I used a dark orange real shellac on it to give it some character and a more vintage look.

Until now, I have poo-pooed straws in favour of the fedoras which I have worn every day for the last 20 plus years, thinking that my light weight Borso's were doing a great job.

However, I have found this straw is so much cooler when the temp is in the 90's. The wide brim together with the breathable straw and the openings provided in the crown nearly provide the effect of carrying an umbrella.

If any of you are fighting the heat in a felt hat and have not tried a straw, you'd be pleasantly surprised if you were to try one.

In my case, better late than never.

 

[Tomasso]

worthlesswithoutpics

 

[MPicciotto]

I second the straw when the weather warrants it. I wore my in the Dominican Republic in the near 100% humidity and that made all the difference in the hat. When the humidity is lower I'm always terrified of cracking/ripping etc the straw, either inadvertently clutching the hat if the wind blows it off my head or running my head into things while trying to look closely at something. But with extremely high humidity I found the hat to be supple and flexible, I could have rolled it up and stuck it in my pocket!

Matt