Slightly Deformed Slouch Hats

[27thNCdrummer]

Gents,
I've been thinking about this for sometime.

In photos that we see of confederate prisoners slouch hats tend to be more soft and a bit misshapen to better conform to the wearers head. It seems that now-a-days living historians tend to keep there slouch hats in more pristine condition than our ancestors did. Granted we do pay $100-$120 for a good hat.

But you don't have to throw your nice expensive hat in the mud for it to look more authentic. I don't think our ancestors would have done that either. Wear it more often in the rain, mold it to your head, get it nice and comfy.

These are just my thoughts. What do you think?

Respectfully,

[Motown]

Wearing a hat for a weekend at most ten times a year dosen't come close to the wear a campaign would put on it. Reenactor's hats (and everything else for that matter) are in far better condition simply because we don't wear them as much.

Taking measures to make your hat look more weathered isn't necessary. It'll get rough and beaten by just wearing it.

[MuddyWaterMess]

I would have to agree 100%. Now i know we pay alot for our gear and for some to keep it in tip top shape is a must but to be honest this just did not happen as many would hope. I have read several acounts out of a personal diary i own at my house (which i will post a bit later) and it reads like this (or to this fashion *not exact)

"and as hard as they try the boys always come out looking like a hard days work had taken them under. Our clothes dirty, shoes worn just to wake up and do it again the next day. As we lacked the efficent time to straiten our selves up there was little we could do....."

Later on it reads that the time they had to clean was spent cleaning themselves more than the uniforms. My impression reflects one who is well just about as average as it gets. I do not make my stuff dirty i let it get that way if it gets stained i leave it to spend the time and mula to fix it is crazy as alot of times these men did not have acess or the time to do so. Just my two cents.

BEN

[Curt Schmidt]

Hallo!

Ah... you haven't seen my hats then.... ;) :)

Seriously, I do not think about my hats. They are what they become, and the form they take.
Meaning.... after first "personalizing" them, (by tugging here, punching in or out there, twisitng a brim up or down... I ignore them.

Hat goes on, hat goes off. Hat goes on, hat goes off. Hat goes on, hat goes off.
It gets bleached by the sun, soaked by the rain. Speckled by splashing mud. Dusted by settling dust. Sweated and sweat marked in the heat. Some brims with binding shrink with age and curl up a bit.
Many times it has been a crushed pillow. A water bucket. A fire fan. A ration bag. A bug swatter.
Sometimes a Whoppie Cushion on the back seat for teh ride home...
A creased sugar-loaf hat once served as a puppet....

Hardly pristine... ;)

Others' mileage, and hat relationships, will vary...

Curt
Mad Hatter Mess

[13thnhv]

I have a pristine slouch hat and a slightly deformed head that it sits on. But seriously:wink_smil I would bond with my slouch hat if I could only find one that in ANY condition more closely resembles the originals I see on display and in so many period photographs. I have owned slouch hats from Tim Allen, Tim Bender, and Clearwater Hats, and simply cannot effect a style/look/personality that I personally am pleased with. I possess a narrower-than-usual head (although I'm kinda broad-minded) and the result is anything with a wide brim looks like a sombrero, and anything with a domed crown looks like Jiffy Pop up top, and therefore I nearly always opt for the forage cap (albeit with a small disk, oy, because of my vertically-oriented visage). As a side note, does anyone have any further recommendations for dead-on hat types that I haven't tried? I am not willing to opt for plastic surgery at this point in my life. You made great points Andrew!

[Curt Schmidt]

Hallo!

IMHO, the culture of the hat was killed by President John Kennedy.

I just crushed and telescoped a "bowler" last week because I looked liked the Lucky Charms leprehcuan in it.

IMHO, we Moderns are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to the Culture of the Hat and the "statement" or "presentation of self in everyday life" a hat could effect.
But at the same time, in looking at Period images, sometimes I am hard-pressed to fathom what statement or image the owner THOUGHT he was trying to achieve (same for hair styles...)

In my experience, the search for The Perfect Hat is endless. Some times one must do, make do, or do without.
I have found for me (and whether anyone else would agree or not is another discussion)...
One way is to pour through Period images with an eye for what "bases" or "foundations" one can find that:

1. Might work or look good on you, AND
2. What hat blanks or finished hats are available "out there" that can be turned into what is seen in the image(s) chosen

Number 2 is best done when one can try the hat on, as what looks doable in a catalog or web page and what looks like a cow flopped on your head when you put it on, may not be the same.

And last...

As with uniforms, sometimes one simply has to "make do" with what one was issued, traded for, stolen, or private purchased. And at times, the way it looks- historically accurate, stupid, dumb, killer, kewly, or goofy is just the way it looks.
For sometimes, the lads in the Period pictures look historically accurate, stupid, dumb, killer, kewyl, or goofy.

Others' mileage, and hats, will vary...

Curt

[Coatsy]

I have to agree with what Andrew said.

"Taking measures to make your hat look more weathered isn't necessary. It'll get rough and beaten by just wearing it."

Indeed it will.

[Hank Trent]

Slouch hats are like all-purpose things. They can be a rain hat, a pillow, a bucket to pick berries into, a bellows for the fire, a fan for yourself. I've even got complimented on mine a few times by strangers in modern settings, when they didn't realize I was on my way to an event.

I recently took mine apart (lining, sweatband, hat), soaked the hat and reshaped it, washed the lining, and need to make a new sweatband since the old one wore in two, and then reassemble the thing.

They don't last forever, but you can always eke a little more life out of them.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Rob Weaver]

I don't know why, but no matter what I do, none of my hats ever look like photographs. It's my head shape. It has to be. So I stick to my Black Hat. They look goofy on everybody.

[LibertyHallVols]

IMHO, we Moderns are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to the Culture of the Hat and the "statement" or "presentation of self in everyday life" a hat could effect.


Here, here!! Well said. This is one of scores of little details of everyday life and culture that are lost to the passing of time. We can get things right in technical detail (fibre content, stitch count, etc.), but not get the spirit, essence, "feel", or what-have-you (i'm not even gonna atempt to spel that French fraze) of the period.

I viewed a pick of Taft making a campaign speach in my home town recently. Not a bare head in the crowd and there was every type of hat you could imagine. Today, all one sees are baseball caps and stocking caps and the statements the wearers are entirely different.

[Jimmayo]

I had this hat made at the Blue Bonnet hat shop in Norfolk Va. in 1982 using an article about an original hat in the North South Trader magazine as a guide. It was impossible to find a good CS slouch back then. (There was no AC forum to ask "who makes the best hat".) It cost $75 which was a fortune at that time. All trim and sweat band hand sewn and good stiff 100% felt. Silk ribbon and leather sweat band. In the first picture it is about 3 years old. It has started to change shape after a few years of use and a very rainy Sailors Creek event. The other picture was taken in 2005. I still wear that hat. It is faded, floppy and very comfortable. It is showing cracks and holes from age and the weather (just like me). If you wear your Tim Allen or Bender slouch hat at every event you attend for the next 25 years, it will gather enough wear time to resemble the well worn covers of the boys of 61.

[Longbranch 1]

Sirs,

This is not exactly on point to the look or weathering of a hat.
Or maybe it is.

It seems to me that it's kinda like breaking in a new pair of brogans.
You buy the right size and style of either but the "fit" isn't quite right once you are off the showroom floor. You have to break them in.
Not just pull them out of the closet however many times a year.
Initially , to conform a hat to your head, simply fully dip it in water and wear that sucker till she dries. And then wear it weekends, kids soccer games, trips to Home Depot, whatever.
Sure, at first you might feel a little strange, ( people are Looking at me! ), but that will pass. It will begin to feel natural. Like wearing glasses for the first time. Weird to begin with, but after a while you don't notice.
At this point your hat is not just a hat , but rather a part of you personae.
You are comfortable with it, and it is comfortable with you.

And that is the end result I look for.

Regards,
Kevin Ellis

[Frenchie]

(i'm not even gonna atempt to spel that French fraze)

je ne sais quoi ;)

[tenfed1861]

I have to agree with this.Yes,we are not wearing them on campaign.Does that mean that our uniforms look clean because we "aren't on campaign"?I find it rather odd that someone is trying to portray a "campaigned veteren" wearing muddy trousers,a beaten haversack,yet what looks to be a brand new slouch hat.I do agree in having one decent hat to wear for parades,memorial services,early war,ect.Yet we should all have beaten slouch hat to wear for campaigned looks.The slouch hat I am wearing in my CS ferrotyoe is a Tim Allen I owned it for about a year and half at the time of the photo.I just wore it to events and there you go.So yes,we are not "on campaign",but that does not mean the slouch hat has to look like it just came out of the box.That,too,can break an impression.
Just my two cents.
Cullen Smith

[Rob]

It takes time; there's no doubt about that. I bought an M1883 campaign hat for Span-Am back in 1997, but it didn't look like the ones in the pictures from Cuba until about six or seven years had passed. Those guys were there for only a couple of months!

There are some things you can do to speed up the process, but you are essentially doing the same thing that campaigning would have done. To wit:

Wear it in the rain. Let it dry in the sun while you're pulling weeds (or while you're drinking beer after pulling the weeds). If it gets too tight, stretch it back out - using your hands. Grab it by opposite sides and pull, or put your hands inside the sweatband and push them apart. (Isometrics - builds up the forearms.) I am reasonably certain that few soldiers had hat-stretchers.

Dirt? Stand near a road construction project. You'll get plenty of dust and grit on it. Or work in a stable, as my daughter does.

In other words, do all of those things which would make a hat-maker cringe.

I bought a low-crown bowler last year, and expect that it will be in fine fettle right about the time of the 150th anniversary events. Whether or not I will be is a whole 'nother story. ;)

God bless.

[Curt Schmidt]

Hallo!

"I bought an M1883 campaign hat for Span-Am back in 1997,"

I got mine from Frank Burgess in 1976... I still wear it in the Modern World. Although the front of the sweat band too a hit from salt and age and turned brittle and fell apart.

The plug hat I wear in my avatar is a Dirty Billy made one from 1986.

Mellow.....

Curt

[aetius123]

I own two slouch hats, one Clearwater hat and a Dirty Billy hat. The apearence of both changed significantly after a couple of rain storms. I noticed that the brim of the Dirty Billy hat tends to curl upward after a while. I've actually seen numerous historical photos of various hats with the brim curled up. I'm not sure if this was fashionable at the time, if this occurred from exposure to the elements or both. The hat ribbon on the Clearwater shows a lot of wear and the hat shrank quite a bit. The rim on the Clearwater hat did not curl upward like Dirty Billy's. The only modification I make to my hats is to use a hat block after they get wet so they will still fit. I learned my lesson after an event when I was unable to wear my slouch.


John Winkler
Co K, 6th TX

[sumter_guard]

Not to hike a thread, but I think the larger issue here is the appearance of a soldier on campaign. Too often I see guys in impeccable kits for the period to be portrayed but those kits are just too clean. I also do not feel like we need to roll around in mud and earn wear dishonestly. I think, then, that a good kit for a wide time period allows us to wear that kit more often to different events therefore allowing more opportunity for the appearance of wear. A non-descript jacket (RD II, Columbus, sack coat, or commutation style jacket) or a good frock opens the time frame considerably.

[Curt Schmidt]

Hallo!

That is the Twin Horns of a Dilemma, IMHO.

The very process of evolution, upgrading, and replacing clothing and gear during the March to the Righthand Side Alphabet Letters tends to keep lads "newer" than the fewer "Old Hand" who have already been down that Path for years.
Also true for changing "unit-specific" impresion events...

(Not that CW soldiers did not get new clothing- but as a Hobby we tend to value the "veteran, experienced campaigner look" as a litmus test or proof-positive of movement toward the Righthand Side Alphabet Letters over the brand new or Shake-and-Bake look.)

It goes perhpas without saying, that the other Horn is that without discussing the beginnng, middle, or end of a campaign of any certain length or "roughness" that any particular lad or unit chooses to portray... to look like a "campaigner," one generally has to "campaign."
And the more of the latter, the more the former. ;)

Curt

[Barry Smithson]

One of the advantages of living in the great Republic of Texas is that the “culture of the hat” has never left, at least not here in Cowtown. Quite often I wear my slouch hat instead of my Resistol while doing the normal things that one does and it does not look out of place. Of course working around the horses and cattle does add to the “seasoned” look quickly. Nothing can replace the day to day use to break it in.

The same applies to modern hats here. Only the dress that one wears for a night out are pristine. All of the others look seasoned because they are. I think the answer is to just to wear them more.

[Charles Heath]

The solution is an extremely complex formula:

1. Attend events.

2. Wear hat.

3. Repeat 1 & 2 frequently.

By the way, Hank's hat is a thing of great utility and beauty, plus it gets good mileage.

[robwall1861]

The Clearwater Mosby in my aviator pic has seen lots of beatings, (rain, dust, mud, etc) and it just gets beaten naturally...I suppose my new Tim Bender Flat Top Crown (aka my Alamo Hat as referred to at a Living History once by a guy in my unit) will get the same way

In the end it just takes time (and this is from someone who when he first started tried to prematurely beat up his cheap Dirty Billy Hat.

Take Care...