Am I doing it wrong?

[BSawhill]

I've tried multiple times to purchase something other than a ball cap via the interwebs. I use a fabric tape measure, measure around my head where my ball caps sit and order either the size according to my measurement or the large or xlarge according to the range given. However each time I either get a hat that is so tight it gives me a headache or one that is too loose to stay in place. I really want a couple of decent cool weather and warm weather flat caps to wear out and about but the sizing issues are about to cause me to throw in the towel. Please help. Thanks all!

P.S. - some of you all have awesome hats!

 

[tankerjohn]

Internet shopping can be very frustrating that way. Find a site that has a good return policy and then order multiple sizes. Keep the one that fits best and return the rest.

 

[StillShaving]

I think you are doing about the best you can...it can be frustrating.

One idea that might help (or not and just add to your frustration) is to find the nearest outdoor store that sells a relatively common hat like a Tilley to try on in order to dial in your hat size based one their model. I cannot remember the details of my experience but I believe using a string to measure my head got me pretty close to the size Tilley I had actually picked up in the store some years before, but it was not super precise in that I might have chosen one size smaller if I had just based it off the string measurement. So that when you purchase from an online store you can ask for a hat in what they consider to be their equivalent hat size.

 

[hairless wonder]

I've tried multiple times to purchase something other than a ball cap via the interwebs. I use a fabric tape measure, measure around my head where my ball caps sit and order either the size according to my measurement or the large or xlarge according to the range given. However each time I either get a hat that is so tight it gives me a headache or one that is too loose to stay in place. I really want a couple of decent cool weather and warm weather flat caps to wear out and about but the sizing issues are about to cause me to throw in the towel. Please help. Thanks all!

P.S. - some of you all have awesome hats!

If you're in the US, to determine your hat size, take the measurement for the circumference of your head and divide that number by Pi (rounding to the nearest 1/8). Alternatively, you can do what I did and try on fitted hats (the ones with the hat size labeled by numbers, not just S, M, L, XL). Incidentally, I went the second route because I prefer fitted ball caps to adjustable ball caps. So when I bought my first ball caps, I tried on various sized ball caps until I found ones that fit properly.