How to measure your head
- Wrap a soft tape around your head one finger-width above the ears, across the mid-forehead and around the largest point of the back of the skull.
- Snug, not tight. Take it twice and use the larger reading.
- Measure your inches or your centimetres — both map to a hat size directly.
If you don't have a tape, run a piece of string the same way and measure it on a ruler. Measure on bare hair, the way you'd wear the hat — not after a haircut if you'll wear the hat with longer hair.
Picking a size when you're between two
Hat sizes step in 1/8″ (about 0.4 cm) increments. If your measurement falls between two sizes:
- Fitted caps and fedoras — round up. The leather sweatband compresses about 1/8″ over the first month of wear, so a snug new fit becomes correct, while a too-large hat never tightens up.
- Wool felt and straw hats — pick the closer size. Both materials can be steam-stretched a little by a hatter if needed; both shrink if they get wet, so don't go too loose.
- Adjustable / strapback / snapback caps — just confirm your measurement falls inside the listed range. Set the strap to the middle.
Head shape matters as much as size
Two people with identical 22.5″ circumferences can have different head shapes. The two common ones are round oval (front-to-back about the same as side-to-side) and long oval (front-to-back longer than side-to-side, the more common shape in Europe and North America). A round-oval head in a long-oval hat squeezes painfully at the temples and gaps front-to-back; the reverse digs into the forehead.
Most off-the-shelf hats are cut as long oval. Brands like Stetson, Bailey, and many fitted-cap makers list a "long oval" or "regular" tag in the product description. If a hat fits your circumference but pinches at the temples, you have a rounder head and need a hat marked round oval.
International sizes at a glance
- US fractional (6¾, 7, 7⅛…) — circumference in inches, divided by π. Round to the nearest 1/8.
- EU / metric (54, 55, 56…) — the head circumference in centimetres directly. 22″ = 56 cm = size 56.
- UK — same fractional system as the US but typically a 1/8 size smaller for the same head (UK 6⅞ ≈ US 7).
- Asian "free size" — usually fits 56–58 cm with an adjustable strap. Anyone above 60 cm should look elsewhere.
Common mistakes
- Measuring too high. The tape needs to sit where the hat will sit — just above the eyebrows in front, just above the ears on the sides. Too high adds 1/4″ and gives a hat that's too big.
- Trusting one-size-fits-most. "Most" is the 56–58 cm range. If you're outside it, the hat will be visibly wrong.
- Ignoring the sweatband. A felt hat tightens over a few weeks; a straw hat doesn't. Pick the size that's right for the material's break-in behaviour.