From very early on
I wore either school uniforms or suits. At home it was jeans or dickies. And a suitjacket or a barn coat, in deep winter I wore a parka.
Hoodies were for- well, hoods. That’s what I was told and I wasn’t allowed to own one.
Last year for Christmas the wife and daughter bought me one, custom imprinted, and it has become one of my favorite posessions. But having come so late to ownership of this article of clothing, I have learned something I would never have expected.
The hood, while warm and wonderful, is a pair of blinders. And now I understand how impractical they are- when Obi Wan or Arwen or Merlin pull that cloak up over their head, not only can they barely hear anything not directly in front of them, any fat slow old knucklehead can walk right up behind them and clobber the fuck out of them. What I need is a hood with a rear facing camera. Maybe my parents weren’t that stupid after all. I would get one of those Jayne hats but I’d look even more ludicrous than I do now.
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My Carhartt vest has a hood, which is quite warm. It goes up when I walk to the car in the morning, or after work. That’s about it. Other than that, I can’t stand being blind in a cave.
Lost all my watch caps… GRRRrrr….
Here’s the hat you need for really cold weather:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=RK9T3dlspbU
You can get it right here:
http://www.wildthingsfur.com/super_trooper_hat.asp?cat=20
Talk about a conversation starter!!! Not to mention the looks you’ll get. Worth every penny.
I bought Mr B a Jayne hat last year. Ya know, a man wears a hat like that, he ain’t afraid of nuthin’.
I think I’d pay you a twenty AND buy the hat for a picture of you in it……..
Yeah, the hood on my nice Carhart sweat shirt is nice for keeping my head warm…not so nice for letting me look to the sides in a stealthy manner when I am hunting.
Lord knows I’m not a picture kind of guy but if I were I’d probably take you up on that.
I wear my Jayne hat all the time. You’d be surprised at the number of folks that comment on it even if they don’t know the show.
Back in the far gone days of my yoot, I had a Peruvian friend whose dad owned an Estancia that bordered on Brazil at the summit of the Andes. His ranch workers, Indios Peruanos all, wore a very practical, for the icy elevations of the Andes, hat knitted of wool combed from the coats of alpacas. Light, soft, snow and water proof, comfy beyond description and nearly identical to the Jayne hat except in soft browns and greys. He gave me one that I cherish to this day.
A good warm had with a hole in the top is worth it weight in gold, should it be cold.
Hoods are bad things tactically. Give you tunnel vision. Plus every time you turn your head you hear things.
The best thing about the hoods is that they keep the back of your neck warm. As for putting them up to cover your head, nah.
Never have liked hoods, although I’ll admit they are nice on the jobsite when the winter wind (with a wind chill of -30) is trying to blow snow down your neck. I’d never wear one in town for much the same reason as you suggest. Much rather wear a hat.
You don’t need as puffy of an ushanka hat as lib suggested, and no need for the tail either. I have one that looks like a trapper hat; it’s brushable leather outside, quilted liner for the scalp, with rabbit fur for the ears and forehead. It serves me well after seven years going. It looks like this, but less poofy:
http://www.furhatworld.com/images_wm/medium/Suede_Leather_Rabbit_Fur_Aviator_Hat_Brown_1276.jpg
If you’re going the Jayne hat route, you may as well start wearing red flannel onesies around the house with “birth control” black plastic hipster glasses, talking about health insurance with a cockeyed smirk and holding hot chocolate:
http://images.politico.com/global/2013/12/18/131218_lowry_pajamaboy.jpg
There’s always the Kromer cap. Good enough for yoopers, good enough for us.
They make balaclavas and watch caps from thin yet insulating material nowadays, too. Check bicyclist stores and outdoors sports shops. If they keep bike messengers warm in Chicago and NYC in January, hey.
I hate hoods. wool caps make my head itch, I wear a pure beaver felt hat all winter, with tuck in earflaps when it gets fairly cold… most people don’t know it, but felt is much warmer than wool… 80 % of your body heat is lost out of the top of your head…get a big wool collar like Matt Dillon had in Gunsmoke and a good felt hat and you seldom need ear flaps… oh yeah, and a silk scarf around your neck…some people call them Wildrags…like wearing an extra jacket..
I keep the hood zipped on my parka for those times when I find myself outdoors in the cold for any duration when it’s really windy. If the wind is whipping and the snow is blowing my hearing and peripheral vision are already degraded enough that the wind break is appreciated. For the rest of the time I’ve got a Stormy Kromer that does the job perfectly.
http://www.stormykromer.com/mens/caps/original-stormy-kromer-cap
A neck gaiter than can be pulled up to cover the lower ear if needed completes the kit. A Hoo-rag does the job pretty well there.
http://www.hoorag.com/
BGM
Hats too for that matter… the first thing I used to do when out on patrol in the bush was loose the bush hat. I could hear much better without it. It was put to use as extra padding for the B52 radio straps. :-)
Cammo cream protected my noggin from the sun.