A sun hat is our must-have item on summer days, not only to avoid sunstroke but also to keep us from sweating too much.
And in case you want extra protection or cooling efficiency, you can always check out some cooling accessories such as a cooling hat!
There are stuff like the Ergodyne Chill Its cooling skull cap, the Mission EnduraCool cooling towel or cooling headband, some types of dry-evaporative cooling vests, etc. A set of all these products will give you comprehensive protection from top to toe!
In this article, we will introduce you to the essential item – the hat, and how to choose the best cooling hats for the incoming boiling days.
Top 10 Best Cooling Hats of 2021
#1: MISSION UPF Wide Brim Cooling Bucket Hat – Best Sport Cap for Sun Activities
This Mission bucket hat comes with a cool technology called phase-change cooling that you might hear about before.
So, what exactly is phase-change cooling?
Well, this technology bases on an evaporating principle that is simplified into a three-step process to keep you cool under the summer heat:
In the first step, you will need to wet your hat with cool water thoroughly. After that, you wring out the excess water, then snap it three or four times to activate the cooling! And ta-da, you now have a cooling performance hat!
In order to re-activate the cooling system of the hat, you only need to repeat these three steps for more cooling hours. Remember to keep the fabric close to your skin to feel the vapor evaporating and create the cooling effect!
With this long-lasting and instant cooling feature, this Mission cooling hat is perfect for your family’s sun activities in the next summer vacation!
But your dad might want to check the size of this one-size-fit-all product before purchasing it. Thanks to the strap below, smaller heads can fit in this product, but oversize heads can not fit in the smaller hat crown very well, though!
Pros:
- Lightweight and comfortable hat
- Work great for any sun activity
- Long-lasting and instant cooling in the heat
- Machine washable
- UPF 50
Cons:
- Â Not for larger sized heads
This wide brim Mission with UPF is both comfortable, fashionable, and great in keeping you fresh and cool for any summer activity!
#2: Home Prefer Sun Protection Wide Brim Fishing Hat – Best Cooling Cap for Gardening Work
So what if you have to work, not play, under the sun for hours on end in the summer?
It might be your regular site-job or just a gardening work, but both of them require proper sun defense. A cooling sports cap with a neck shade will be the best option in this circumstance!
Let me tell you: Home Prefer fishing hat is not just a fishing hat!
Apart from a well-ventilated crown cooler, this guy also has a neck flap to shield you from harsh sunlight or any unpredictable gardening attacker: bee and mosquitoes, for example. Now you will no longer need to call the pest control after gardening anymore! There’ll be no insect can bite you in that back-neck area that you cannot see.
Pros:
- Insect-proof and great for gardening work
- Lightweight and breathable
- Neck flap to offer extra protection on the neck area
- Many color options to choose from
- UV protection
Cons:
- Flimsy material that gets the hat constantly flipping up in wind conditions
Although this Home Prefer can be a bit too flimsy in windy days, it’s still a worth-the-penny light and breathable piece for hot days working! Highly recommended accessory for gardening!
#3: Columbia Men’s Bora Bora Booney – Best Cooling Ranger Hat for Outdoor Research
Actually, we do not use the Home Prefer hat with the neck flap outside our backyard very much. That really restricts a hat’s usage a lot, but we have been using another cooling headwear for outdoor research: the Columbia Bora Bora Booney!
This ranger hat does not work by vaporating principle to cool your head like the Mission hat. Instead, it is made of a signature wicking fabric that has sweat-wicking capabilities!
Simply speaking, Columbia Bora Bora Booney keeps you cool by evaporating your sweat and heat through the mesh fabric on the hat crown.
Besides, this headwear is highly flexible but does not hold its shape too well when compared to baseball caps of similar construction.
Pros:
- Super lightweight, breathable, and comfortable fabric
- Great for traveling and working out onsite
- Fit nicely
- SPF 50
Cons:
- Thin and flimsy brim
Lightweight and easy-to-package, the Columbia Bora Bora Booney is perfect for any of your outdoor trips or research without feeling too entangle with a neck flap!
#4: Arctic Hat UV Protection Evaporative Cooling Hat – Best Head Cap for Extra UV Protection
Have you ever seen this hat before? On your TV?
We have, and for several times already: introducing the new Arctic Hat! Well, this little guy is definitely well-promoted!
They advertised it as a cold therapy to beat the heat, working in the same principle as the Mission bucket har above: the phase-change cooling technology. Just like the Mission bucket hat, you do not need to wet it with cold water; cool water is enough then.
The manufacturer actually call it water-activated cooling, but they are basically the same idea!
The most special thing about this hat is its superior sun-block and UV protection effect. Except from the helmet liner to support evaporating cooling, it also comes with a reflective cover and built-in UV barrier to protect you from the sun.
We prefer using this little guy when we’re on vacation on the beach. It fits well with the surrounding and also get rid of sunburn situation!
Pros:
- Super light!
- Superior protection against harsh sunlight
- Keep you cool for all day long
Cons:
- Exaggerating advertisement – it cannot be 20 degrees cooler when wearing this hat
The man inside your television is somewhat right. This Arctic hat is a good and worthy purchase, though some of its features cannot be as good as the advertisement!
The Bottom Line
The Home Prefer and Columbia Bora Bora Booney hat is a bit less efficient than two others with vaporing technology when it comes to cooling performance. Also, the Arctic Hat extra protection does show some design and material weaknesses before the Mission bucket hat.
These make the wide brim Mission the best cooling hat that we must order one for this summer! No more waiting, it should be in your shopping cart right now!
Last update on 2023-03-02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
