NORTH COUNTRY RIDER |
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Copyright 2008 World Publishing Company. All rights reserved. |
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On the Fence: How cowboys hang on to their hats
North Country Rider file photo
Mary Rea is a Mazama-based freelance writer. Her Web site, notmyhorse.com, offers advice “for people who don’t love horses, but love people who do.”
It all started when somebody asked me “How do riders keep their hats on? Especially at high speeds in high winds? Whatever became of those little strings they used to use to hold them in place?”
Funny he should ask. My husband and I have had a running controversy about this very issue for years. I like his hair when it’s a little long and fluffy. He claims he has to keep his hair short, “otherwise my hat won’t stay on.”
But the answer turns out to be more involved than mere hair style.
According to the experts at Vertigo Hats, a custom western hat store in Austin, Texas, ethnic descent makes a difference. Over the years they claim to have developed knowledge of noggins by studying the region from which customers’ people came from. For example, if a customer is of German descent, his head tends to be angular and tall, on some men that means up to 4 inches above the ear. This can cause the head to “top out” or hit the crown of the hat.
Those with French ancestry often have a slight protrusion about an inch over the brow line. This can add an extra eighth inch to head size, which leads to a slightly too-tight fit. Asian lineage generally produces a more rounded head and those customers cannot purchase a long oval hat and expect it to stay on in the wind or while riding a bull.
So how well your hat stays in place depends on your great-grandfather Torvald.
Next we move to hat aerodynamics. The sides are turned up for a reason. The taco or crescent shape to the sides is actually an aerodynamic feature. If the rider is headlong into the wind, the air travels along the sides, thereby pushing the hat down on the head and not off in the wind. Tilting the head forward into the wind also helps, along with screwing the hat down as tight as possible … an old cowboy trick.
So what about that string that holds the hat on — in western circles called a “stampede string?” Despite the many myths, old-time cowboys never used them. Cowboy re-enactors and mounted shooters have done extensive research, digging through old photos, letters and literature of the 1800s. Known as “bonnet strings,” no self-respecting cowboy would be seen with them attached to his hat.
Cowboys in Montana were quick to tell reporters from Back East that they didn’t wear bonnet strings, but they’d heard the cowboys in Wyoming did. Cowboys in Wyoming passed on the same rumor about the cowboys in Montana.
Stampede strings were actually invented by the wardrobe mistresses of Wild West shows and Hollywood studios. Audiences wanted to be able to see faces of their favorite performers, and that meant tilting their hats back. When riders picked up speed on horseback, hats often blew off. So costumers came up with stampede strings. They were often made of braided leather or silk, and sometimes hung clear to the waist.
Re-enactors are quick to point out that such tie-downs would never have been used in real life because it’s too easy to get a gun or rope tangled up in them.
Today’s cowgirls have their own secrets for keeping their hats on. They aren’t embarrassed to use stampede strings with flat-brimmed hats, but bobby pins are the fixative of choice. If enough pins are stuck in the hair and then through the band, a hat is guaranteed to stay in place during a full-tilt gallop around a rodeo arena … .or when riding in a mustang convertible.
Some women swear by hair spray. They say that if you spray the inside of the hat, apply another healthy dose to the hair, and immediately push the hat down on the hair, it won’t move even if you’re caught in a tornado.
Ever watch a rodeo cowboy tip his hat at the end of an 8-second ride on a monster bull, and every hair is super slicked down? It could be hair spray.
My husband has his own answer to how riders’ hats stay on. He insists there is something called “stick-um” that is released by the scalp. Stick-um bonds to the sweatband and glues the hat to the head. He was once a professional cowboy and should know, but it sure sounds like cowboy science to me.
Mary Rea is a Mazama-based freelance writer. Her Web site, notmyhorse.com, offers advice “for people who don’t love horses, but love people who do.”
