How To Choose the Right Hat for your Face Shape

Hats are a great accessory that can complete any outfit, but choosing the right hat for your face shape can be a challenge. While personal style and current trends are important things to consider, selecting a hat that complements your face shape never hurts. Face shape can also help you pick glasses and haircut styles, so it's important to know. 

A guide to different face shapes and the most flattering hats

Determine Your Face Shape

Before you can measure your face shape, you need to determine what it is. There are six main face shapes: oval, round, square, heart and triangle. To determine your face shape, you'll need to take a close look at your facial features. 

Oval: If your face is longer than it is wide and your forehead is slightly wider than your chin, you have an oval face shape.

Round: If your face is roughly the same width and length and your cheekbones are the widest part of your face, you have a round face shape.

Square: If your forehead, cheekbones, and jawline are roughly the same width and you have a sharp jawline, you have a square face shape.

Heart: If your forehead is wider than your cheekbones and your chin comes to a point, you have a heart-shaped face.

Triangle: If your jawline is wider than your forehead and your chin is prominent, you have a triangle-shaped face.

At Kakadu Traders Australia, we support the good old-fashioned way of eyeballing to determine face shape. There have been anecdotes of using a whiteboard marker on the mirror as an objective way of doing it. However, if you want a second opinion from a robot, new tools like this can use AI to determine yours. 

Choosing the Right Hat

Now that you know your face shape, you can choose the right hat. As a general rule, you compare the width of the crown’s pinch, the technical term for the dimples at the front of the hat, to your chin width. Then, you either choose to match or compliment both widths. Here are some specific tips regarding face shape:

Oval: Lucky bugger! Almost any hat will look great on an oval face shape. We recommend a shapeable hat, so you can take advantage of different styles.

Round: Here, you’ll want to look for some opposites to your face shape, to balance things out. Angular styles should be prioritized over rounded styles. Look for hats with some height or a brim that slants downward to create a longer appearance. A style such as the Cobram or the Big Jim's would be our suggestion. 

Square: Soften your angular jawline with a hat that has a rounded crown and curved brim. Floppy or wide brims will be your friend here. Our recommendation would be our Dalston and Buckleys oilskin bucket hats for casual outings, and the Sydney for more formal occasions. 

Heart: Here, a hat with a wider brim and a softer shape will balance out the forehead and jawline. In this case, a Kalgoorlie Soaka or most of our wide brim hats will do you just nicely. 

Triangle : To complement those sharper face angles, we recommend choosing a hat with a medium crown height and a slightly wider brim. We’d personally reach for the Busselton or Echuca leather styles for these face shapes. 

Choosing the right hat for your face shape can seem like a daunting task, but with this guide, you'll be able to find the perfect hat to complement your unique features. The right hat can make you feel good as gold, so make sure to pick the right one for that next sun-soaked day.

Measuring for Hat Fit

Choosing the right size when buying a new hat can be daunting stuff for beginners. If you have never measured your head before, here are some handy tips to consider.

What makes a good fit?

There are a variety of opinions on how a hat should sit, but a general rule of thumb is the “two fingers” rule. To follow this rule, place one or two horizontal fingers above your eyebrows, and do the same above your ears. A hat should sit at the top of the finger or fingers, depending on your personal preference. Make a note, because we will use these points to measure your hat fit.

How to measure your head to get the right size for your hat

Equipment 

To measure your head, you’ll need either:

• A soft measuring tape, sometime called a tailor’s tape
• A stiff measuring tape or ruler, and flexible cord such as a charger cable. 

Measuring

Using the two points from the “two finger” rule, wrap the tape or cord around your head. Pull until snug, not tight. If using a soft measuring tape, make note of the number. If using a cord, measure the length with the tape or ruler. It is recommended to do this a few times, to see if your measurements are consistent. 

How to Find Your Size

Hat sizes vary from maker to maker, but in general, it is better to size up than to size down if your measurements are in-between. This is because, particularly for leather hats, it is easier to slim the fit with sizing tape, than to stretch it out.

Now that you’re armed with this handy information, you can now safely buy a great fitting hat from our Australian made hat collection. Sizing information is on all pages under the “Size Guide” link, or can be viewed below.