Womens Straw Cowboy Hats

Women Straw Cowboy hats

Inside the cowboy hat is a memorial bow to past hatters, who developed brain damage from treating felt with toxic mercury (which gave rise to the expression "Mad as a Hatter"). The bow on the inside hatband at the rear of the hat resembles a Skull and crossbones.[19] "Early hatters used mercury in the making of their felt. Their bodies absorbed mercury, and after several years of making hats, the hatters developed violent and uncontrollable muscle twitching. The ignorance of the times caused people to attribute these strange gyrations to madness, not mercury.”[6] The modern cowboy hat has remained basically unchanged in construction and underlying design since the Stetson creation.[1] The cowboy hat quickly developed the capability, even in the early years, to identify its wearer as someone associated with the West.[20] "Within a decade the name John B. Stetson became synonymous with the word "hat," in every corner and culture west of the Mississippi."[21] The shape of the hat's crown and brim were often modified by the wearer for fashion and to protect against weather by being softened in hot steam, shaped, and allowed to dry and cool. Felt tends to stay in the shape that it dries.[22] Because of the ease of personalization, it was often possible for people to tell where a cowboy hat was from, right down to which ranch, simply by looking at the crease in the crown.[16]

Rodeo Western Wear