Making headway with headwear
Maybe tomorrow.
My inner cowboy is dying to express himself. As you can see by my column mug, I have a cowboy hat that I like to wear. This particular one is about 18 years old. I got it at the height of the Garth Brooks craze in the early ’90s.
I like to wear it, but I don’t wear hats very often anymore. I keep thinking to myself that I’m just going to get in the habit of wearing it again. But there it sits on the dresser next to my computer desk. Each morning I walk by it and think about wearing it to work.
Maybe tomorrow.
Whenever I see someone wearing a cowboy hat, I think of how cool that looks and it makes me wish I had mine on. Of all the places I’ve lived, you’d think it would be socially acceptable to wear a cowboy hat in Texas. I wore it a lot in Colorado and took a lot of ribbing from the baseball hat crowd.
When I moved to Amarillo, I thought I was in cowboy heaven. Lots of people wore cowboy hats. And there were lots of real cowboys there. But I have a big head (literally and figuratively) and the Panhandle winds kept blowing my hat off. I don’t know how those cowpokes kept theirs on, but mine wouldn’t stay worth a darn. So, I got out of the habit of wearing my cowboy hat, even though there was no place on the planet where it was more socially acceptable and customary.
You don’t see as many cowboys or cowboy wannabes down in these parts. Oh sure, you still see a few folks who wear their hats, but nothing like you did in the Panhandle. While there is hardly a breeze to contend with down here, there is a lot of rain. I don’t particularly want to risk wrecking it or have to deal with a wet hat.
Maybe tomorrow.
Of course, if I do start wearing it again, I still have the issue of proper hat etiquette to figure out. I can never keep straight when you should remove your hat. I know you take it off for certain things like going indoors, the playing of the National Anthem and formal occasions like weddings and funerals. But a lot of people who regularly wear ballcaps will violate those rules and get away with it. Are the rules different for cowboy hats and baseball caps?
What about colors? Do you wear white in summer and dark in the winter or does it matter? Are there some unspoken rules of cowboy hat etiquette that I’m missing here?
When I was in my early teens, I had a wide-brimmed, brown leather hat that I wore all the time. I got it at a garage sale. It looked pretty homely, but I liked it. My mom called it my “Joe hat.” I still have it, but haven’t worn it in about 20 years. It’s a little small now.
Of course, I also have my Lone Ranger hat. It was a gift from a friend and I do not plan to wear it on a regular basis. It’s about a $500 hat and is custom made with my name engraved inside it and everything. It fits great and feels good, but it’s too expensive to wear all the time. That and I would look silly wearing a Lone Ranger hat without the rest of my costume.
I wasn’t into the Lone Ranger when I got the black hat. I was big into Garth Brooks at the time. I was also living in North Carolina, where nobody wears cowboy hats. I really stuck out like a sore thumb there. People noticed it and commented on it.
Of course, whether or not I wear my hat has nothing to do with the price of rice in China. But then I don’t really care about the price of rice in China, so that’s a bad comparison. Besides, I don’t think people wear cowboy hats in China, do they?
I digress. I guess what I’m saying is in the general scheme of things, it’s not really important if I wear a cowboy hat or not. Still, the topic of my headwear must be of interest to you or you wouldn’t have read this far.
I have to wonder if I’m the only one who grapples with this quandary. Does anyone else out there have this internal battle about wearing a hat? Maybe I’m just weird that way. Who knows?
Anyway, if you see me about town with my cowboy hat on, you’ll know that I’ve thrown caution (and fashion) to the wind. You’ll also know that it’s not a new look for me, but a return to the way things used to be. And believe me, the grayer my hair gets, the better my hat looks.
Or maybe I’ll just keep opting to go on without it, looking at it each day and thinking “maybe tomorrow.”
My inner cowboy is dying to express himself. As you can see by my column mug, I have a cowboy hat that I like to wear. This particular one is about 18 years old. I got it at the height of the Garth Brooks craze in the early ’90s.
I like to wear it, but I don’t wear hats very often anymore. I keep thinking to myself that I’m just going to get in the habit of wearing it again. But there it sits on the dresser next to my computer desk. Each morning I walk by it and think about wearing it to work.
Maybe tomorrow.
Whenever I see someone wearing a cowboy hat, I think of how cool that looks and it makes me wish I had mine on. Of all the places I’ve lived, you’d think it would be socially acceptable to wear a cowboy hat in Texas. I wore it a lot in Colorado and took a lot of ribbing from the baseball hat crowd.
When I moved to Amarillo, I thought I was in cowboy heaven. Lots of people wore cowboy hats. And there were lots of real cowboys there. But I have a big head (literally and figuratively) and the Panhandle winds kept blowing my hat off. I don’t know how those cowpokes kept theirs on, but mine wouldn’t stay worth a darn. So, I got out of the habit of wearing my cowboy hat, even though there was no place on the planet where it was more socially acceptable and customary.
You don’t see as many cowboys or cowboy wannabes down in these parts. Oh sure, you still see a few folks who wear their hats, but nothing like you did in the Panhandle. While there is hardly a breeze to contend with down here, there is a lot of rain. I don’t particularly want to risk wrecking it or have to deal with a wet hat.
Maybe tomorrow.
Of course, if I do start wearing it again, I still have the issue of proper hat etiquette to figure out. I can never keep straight when you should remove your hat. I know you take it off for certain things like going indoors, the playing of the National Anthem and formal occasions like weddings and funerals. But a lot of people who regularly wear ballcaps will violate those rules and get away with it. Are the rules different for cowboy hats and baseball caps?
What about colors? Do you wear white in summer and dark in the winter or does it matter? Are there some unspoken rules of cowboy hat etiquette that I’m missing here?
When I was in my early teens, I had a wide-brimmed, brown leather hat that I wore all the time. I got it at a garage sale. It looked pretty homely, but I liked it. My mom called it my “Joe hat.” I still have it, but haven’t worn it in about 20 years. It’s a little small now.
Of course, I also have my Lone Ranger hat. It was a gift from a friend and I do not plan to wear it on a regular basis. It’s about a $500 hat and is custom made with my name engraved inside it and everything. It fits great and feels good, but it’s too expensive to wear all the time. That and I would look silly wearing a Lone Ranger hat without the rest of my costume.
I wasn’t into the Lone Ranger when I got the black hat. I was big into Garth Brooks at the time. I was also living in North Carolina, where nobody wears cowboy hats. I really stuck out like a sore thumb there. People noticed it and commented on it.
Of course, whether or not I wear my hat has nothing to do with the price of rice in China. But then I don’t really care about the price of rice in China, so that’s a bad comparison. Besides, I don’t think people wear cowboy hats in China, do they?
I digress. I guess what I’m saying is in the general scheme of things, it’s not really important if I wear a cowboy hat or not. Still, the topic of my headwear must be of interest to you or you wouldn’t have read this far.
I have to wonder if I’m the only one who grapples with this quandary. Does anyone else out there have this internal battle about wearing a hat? Maybe I’m just weird that way. Who knows?
Anyway, if you see me about town with my cowboy hat on, you’ll know that I’ve thrown caution (and fashion) to the wind. You’ll also know that it’s not a new look for me, but a return to the way things used to be. And believe me, the grayer my hair gets, the better my hat looks.
Or maybe I’ll just keep opting to go on without it, looking at it each day and thinking “maybe tomorrow.”
posted by Joe Southern | 11:18 AM
3 Comments:
i know what you mean about living in somplace where folks don't waer cowboy or cowgirl hats. (i wish they did wear them here in VA!)
"Hi-yo-Silver!Away!"
Sarah Brown
White cowboy hats on Sunday in Longmont or if you're a good cowboy, black if you're not. :)
Well I am from Mississippi and we wear cowboy hats all the time.
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