Light Grey Hats with Grey Beards?

[Brent Hutto]

My formerly salt-and-pepper beard is now 90% salt, if you know what I mean. And it ain't getting any darker. Makes me look older, blah, blah, blah.

Is a hat of light color considered a no-no with a grey beard?

I have a dark brown cheapie and nice, dressy navy blue hat but I really want a grey one because I think that's more flexible to go with most any of the colors I typically wear. The brown goes with most things but not as well with blue as I'd like (plus it's a pretty crummy hat) and the navy is really not flexible at all, matching-wise, but it looks great with my blue dress-up jackets. And both of them have low crowns that bottom out atop my huge noggin so I need something with a fuller shape anyway.

I had thought a dark charcoal grey would be just the thing and have been looking around at various hats available in that color range. But the navy blue hat is really dark (almost black in indoor lighting) and I'm not sure I want another dark hat. Navy and dark brown sort of have that end of the range covered.

So how about Light Grey like this Borsalino Film

or Silverbelly like the Fawcett H.S.T.

I'm not necessarily talking about either of those specific hats (although I'd take either of them in 7-3/4 thank you very much) but rather about the idea of wearing just light colors with a mostly-grey full beard?

 

[BobC]

Welcome to the lounge, Brent. If you don't already, you're going to feel right at home here.

My beard is also mostly salty by now, and gray hats are my favorites. I wear gray more than any other color.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Same here -my beard is now almost totally grey. And my most worn cool-weather hats are (in darker-to-lighter order) a Mid-Grey Akubra Stylemaster, Glen Grey Akubra Stockman, and Caribou Stetson Temple.

 

[marvelgoose]

A much cheaper solution would be to dye your beard Navy Blue. Then your gray and your navy hat will match. lol

 

[Brent Hutto]

A much cheaper solution would be to dye your beard Navy Blue. Then your gray and your navy hat will match. lol

Why didn't I think of that? I believe that's Grecian Formula #89, innit?

 

[analogist]

Grey Beard

Well my friend, snow on the roof is fine as long as there is a fire in the furnace. I suspect it is if you still have hat concerns.

I too have a grey beard although my driver's licence shows picture of a much younger man. I still live by that picture.

The Borsalino Film and Art's HST are both in my collection having acquired the former last week because looking at it and trying it on blew me away. I designed the HST after reviewing several thousand photos of Truman from old newspapers, magazines, and images from the Presidential Library in Independence MO. It was one of my first collaborations with Art and a really good one.

Have no concerns about the color of the hat you wear as long as you like it. Both those hats are good choices and you will love them.

Have a very Happy Holiday.

analogist

 

[jazzncocktails]

Brent, also consider Art Fawcett's blue smoke felt...a light grey with a bit more character in the blue tones, allowing you to match the grey beard (I speak from experience) with blues or darker greys you might be wearing. Then again, no need to be limited to your hair color--just have fun with it!

Analogist, that HST looks fantastic...I'll have to control myself until 2010!
Steve

 

[cybergentleman]

sans beard

I can see why a beard would be of concern. But, do you have a long grizzled prospector beard or a neatly trimmed one?

this makes a difference because your clothes are what make up the color scheme. if you wore all light grey clothes and had a light grey beard then you would look maybe washed out. otherwise, i think it would look sharp, especially with a dark colored outfit.

think about it...

 

[jwalls]

Welcome

I hope you enjoy the "Fellowship of the Fedora". As you can see gray goes well with silver belly.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I hope you enjoy the "Fellowship of the Fedora". As you can see gray goes well with silver belly.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Looks great with that saturated blue shirt, especially.

 

[carldelo]

I designed the HST after reviewing several thousand photos of Truman from old newspapers, magazines, and images from the Presidential Library in Independence MO. It was one of my first collaborations with Art and a really good one.

Analogist - you did a fantastic job on the HST - it's my favorite VS of all. I can't sport the large dimensions, so someday I hope to have a version made with smaller brim and crown...

Brent, silverbelly is a great color - I also quite like Stetson Caribou gray color. I have one - it tends to look medium gray in the daytime, and somewhat dark at night. It has undertones which makes it versatile, and I think it goes well with my mostly gray hair (no beard here, though). That Film looks pretty sweet as well - so I guess you need 3 new hats....

 

[Brent Hutto]

Carl,

Do you know of any Stetson models that are a little taller in the crown? The one issue I have with my Christy's Marlborough (aside from navy blue not being a universal color match) is that it settles onto the crown of my noggin while the brim is still 1-1/2 fingers above my ears. I suspect the typical Stetson profile (Ashland, et. al.) has the same issue. Maybe a center dent instead of a bash that gets wider in the back?

 

[marvelgoose]

Carl,

Do you know of any Stetson models that are a little taller in the crown?

The Nostalgia is tall and straight. Occasionally an Open Road comes up in 7.5 on eBay.

 

[CRH]

I can see why a beard would be of concern. But, do you have a long grizzled prospector beard or a neatly trimmed one?

this makes a difference because your clothes are what make up the color scheme. if you wore all light grey clothes and had a light grey beard then you would look maybe washed out. otherwise, i think it would look sharp, especially with a dark colored outfit.

...

Good point, cg - too much of a good thing.

I'm at the salt and pepper stage. I've never worried about matching anything to my beard color. I do, however, try to wear my grey with authority.

 

[CRH]

The Nostalgia is tall and straight. Occasionally an Open Road comes up in 7.5 on eBay.

Don't forget about the Akubra Campdraft or the Fed lV. Both are taller and straighter.

 

[Brent Hutto]

The more I think about the issue, the idea of lighter tones continues to have appeal. But I think given that I have a navy blue hat and find it very restrictive in matching my clothes I'm shying away from even the slightly blue-tinted steel greys or Art's blue mist, etc. The warmer side is probably my best bet and lighter shades rather than darker.

Occasioned by carldelo mentioning that Caribou Gray option from Stetson my thinking is actually in favor of cheating well toward the warm side. Maybe even all the way to a "taupe" (a vague term I know) or the Caribou or any of the other proprietary names for that kind of grey-trending-toward-tan universal shade. A light-ish, warm grey hat and my dark navy blue one ought to bracket the tonal spectrum pretty well, doncha think?

 

[cybergentleman]

forgive me torpedo




looks sharp to me. case closed

 

[Andykev]

Go for the grey

My favorite hat color is "Dove" grey, the soft light color with a black ribbon.

This goes with most everything in the navy blue, grey tone suits (dark or light), etc.

My "beard" is grey, but I shave every day...

I don't think the color of your beard matters much. I would think that the overall color of your complexion, beard, eyes, hair length, and what you are wearing in clothing colors matters in total. You don't want to look like a person dipped from head to toe in one color.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I don't think the color of your beard matters much. I would think that the overall color of your complexion, beard, eyes, hair length, and what you are wearing in clothing colors matters in total. You don't want to look like a person dipped from head to toe in one color.

My mother has always made fun of how, as I child, I insisted that everything match. I was monochrome before monochrome was cool.

But your point is well taken. I occasionally have that problem dressing to play golf. With the nearly-white beard and my off-white Tilley hat I can't afford to do light khaki shorts with any sort of white or tan or yellow shirt. Makes me I look so washed out it's incredible. Worst of all when it's a bright, sunny day.

One reason I want to get at least a hint of earth tone (brown/tan/taupe) and a bit of lightness in my everyday hat is that my 9-to-5 clothing tends toward dark grey, dark blue, burgundy, dark green and so forth. Maybe some khaki pants mixed in there a couple times a week but navy or grey most days. Put a navy blue hat on top and I'm like the midnight express, I'd be better off dressing like Johnny Cash!

Now that the weather is cooler I've added a wool sport coat that is a tweedy mix of light grey over a tan ground. Works wonders to warm up all that blue-grey-green clothing underneath. But when I top it with the navy hat it's like I'm wasting the jacket. A dark brown wool hat is better but just not quite right. My complexion tends toward pale with a regrettable hint of sallowness under indoor lighting, eyes are brown. Hair was black when I had some.

P.S. In some random FL browsing I came across this self-portrait posted recently by JimWagner. Perfect answer to my original question. It's a silverbelly color Stetson and it sure looks like Jim and I share the same beard color and style, skin tone and even the overall shape of our faces is not totally dissimilar. And that big hat in silverbelly suits him brilliantly. How 'bout that?

 

[Sparafucile]

My formerly salt-and-pepper beard is now 90% salt, if you know what I mean. And it ain't getting any darker. Makes me look older, blah, blah, blah.

Is a hat of light color considered a no-no with a grey beard?

I have a mostly grey/white beard [closely-cropped goatee] and wear grey hats - a bit darker than the ones you have, but I think they are fine!