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Does your hat size grow as you age?

Johnnysan

One Too Many
Messages
1,171
Location
Central Illinois
I can only speak from personal experience, but my hat size today at 42 is the same as it was when I was a senior in high school. In fact, there's a little more room because there's a lot less hair! Besides, a good fedora can be stretched up one size with no problem. If your head grows much more than that in the coming years, see a doctor!

Good luck with your search and let us know what you buy! :)
 

MJL

One of the Regulars
Messages
150
Location
Homestead, Florida USA
It is not uncommon to have a growth spurt in the late teens or early 20s. On the other hand most Doctors I have spoken to say that once your shoe size has remained the same for two years your growth spurts are likely over. Now in my case I gained weight in my 30s and my foot size grew from an E width to a EE or even EEE. It also gained a half inch in length. This is due to obesity and not bone growth. I say buy the hat. You'll have plenty of time to wear it out and buy another one if you noggin gets bigger.
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
Go ahead and buy it. I wore a 7 1/4 my senior year in high school, and it was probably five or six years at least, if not a decade before I needed to move up to a 7 3/8. But a 7 1/4 no longer fits, so I grew in there somewhere.

Brad
 

Andykev

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
4,119
Location
The Beautiful Diablo Valley
Buy it NOW Feature!

Rest assured, your skull is the one thing that stops growing first. Other parts of the body, depending on age, grow, then shrink. Waist lines usually increase, height decreases, and feet tend to become wider. Your caboose sponsors more real estate, and your neck and sometimes chin double in size.

Order a hat that fits. You have a lifetime to buy another, or have this one stretched or blocked up another size.
 

Johnnysan

One Too Many
Messages
1,171
Location
Central Illinois
From what I've seen of Steve's work, you won't be disappointed and will have hat that will last a lifetime. An excellent choice...much better than my first lid!
 

SHARPETOYS

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,425
Location
Titusville, Florida
Mine grew!

When I went into the USMC in 1964 I wore a hat size 6 7/8 now many years later and a loss of head hair I wear a size 7 3/8 plus 1/16. So my head did grow. :)
 

Doc Glockster

One of the Regulars
Messages
199
Location
the ranch
I mentioned to an old-timer friend of mine that when I really love a hat, I order a spare to keep in storage in case something happens to the one I wear regularly.

He said something horrifying, and I don't know if he was kidding or not.

He said, "Better order the one for storage in a slightly larger size since our heads keep growing as we age."

I've Googled this issue, and the answers are all over the place. I store my spares in hat jacks stretched just a 1/4 turn or so past the actual size to prevent shrinkage of the hat itself.

But now should I be concerned that even if the hat stays the correct size maybe my head won't?

Maybe some of you guys who have worn hats for decades can answer.

Was my friend just pulling my leg or not?
 
Last edited:
Messages
10,584
Location
Boston area
I wouldn't want you to get a big head over this, @Doc Glockster, but you are correct; your friend is just kidding. Our noses and ears may continue to grow, and feet may gain a size, but unless you gain a whole load of weight, the tendency is for bones to shrink, so our hat size may in fact get smaller, but usually not until we're old enough not to care.
 
Last edited:

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,081
Location
London, UK
I wear the same size hat now asx when I was twelve. Course, I went up in between, but once I started losing my hair and began shaving my head, that soon took care of it.
 
Messages
19,001
Location
Central California
Cartilage can keep on growing (nose, ears, etc.), but the bones in your head are fused and stop growing by the time you are an adult. Some of us put on more...soft tissue on our heads and other regions. It's this soft tissue that can change your hat size. If you stay the lean trim person you were as a young man your hat size should not change.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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