Rothco Pith Helmet

My father bought me one of these white polyethelyne pith helmets years ago and I wore it everywhere. It was sturdy and absolutely great for hot sun (the hat shades completely and stays cool) and for rain it can’t be beat. I loved it. Unfortunately a family member destroyed mine, and I missed it. So I saw this on Amazon and figured I’d give it a try as a replacement. It was certainly a good purchase. The quality is close to that of my old friend of years ago; so, again, I wear this everywhere. Loving it.

The first thing to note about this pith helmet is the support system; that is, how it is held on the head. The helmet has a true pith helmet type of support strapping that holds the users head away from the sides of the hat allowing air to circulate easily around the head and out of the holes above the head strap. There are several holes in the headspace above the head band. This is one of the most critical components of the pith helmet idea, and it works well on this product. I have been outside for several days since my purchase, wearing this hat in weather topping one hundred degrees while doing yard work, included shoveling rocks and digging tree holes, and it performed very well. The air truly does circulate past my head helping me withstand the heat.The brim of the helmet is just wide enough to do a suitable job, although I normally prefer a much wider brim. The brim is slanted down from the hat crown and that seems to increase its ability to keep the sun off. The white color seems to aid the helmet in reducing the heat impact. My cloth hats have a wider brim and are very well ventilated in the crown area, yet this helmet seems to be every bit as cool as my other hats. Of course, when the weather hits near one hundred degrees cool is a misnomer.I expected wind to blow the helmet off easily as it is quite lightweight. You almost can't tell you're wearing the thing. We get a lot of high wind here in northern Nevada, 15 mph is common, so I expected trouble since the helmet has no chin strap. The black strap across the front is mere decoration. To my surprise the helmet does not blow off. If I stand and face the wind with my eyes looking straight out, the helmet stays on even in very stiff wind. It will blow off if I tip my head back and allow the wind to catch the entire brim in its blast; otherwise, it stays on just fine. I think it is due to the downward slope of the brim. It seems that the wind doesn't catch under the brim and lift the hat off as it does many of my other hats. The downward slopping brim may cause the wind to push the helmet down on the head, helping to hold it on.The helmet is made of plastic, like PVC, with a mildly rough outside texture, but smooth inside. The plastic is about 1/16 of an inch thick, I think. The inside head strap is flexible plastic with a small cloth-like rectangle of material at the very front to help catch sweat. The headband does expand if you wear the hat a long time while working in extreme heat changing its size. It is adjustable, and the increments of adjustments are small, so you take the helmet off and tighten it one notch and things are back to normal while you are working. It cleans up very easily. I just hose it off and that is that.Excellent pith helmet for working outside in heat or rain. Ok in the wind. I think you could add a chin strap by drilling a couple of holes and threading a leather shoelace through them with knotted ends. Easy to care for. Very good product. Highly recommended.By the way, Skin Cancer is Real and Deadly. Do not work outside without a hat and I recommend slathering on an extreme amount of sunblock. My wife had melanoma resulting in several operations. It is a frightening occurrence. Use a hat and sunblock, please!AD2

I deliver envelopes, to a box, to people's houses. I have to walk and deliver even in the rain. We have the ability to purchase these through our job but these are virtually the same at a better price.

This plastic helmet, with its down-turned brim, provides good sun blocking protection over most of the day. It is cooler than the many straw hats I'd previously tried here in Florida over the years; the liner/suspension is the only thing that touches your head and there is an air gap between the liner/suspension and the outer shell of the helmet which allows cooling air flow. Every straw hat or sun blocking hat I've tried has tiny holes all over the upper part which allows some sun to pass through and I'm trying to avoid this since I've had a few squamous and basal cell skin cancer spots removed over the years. In terms of weight, it falls between a straw hat (lightest) and a hard hat (heaviest), however, you will soon become acclimated to it as you wear it. Oddly, the same is true of a hard hat; its just the new hire who has never worn one before that complains of its weight (wore one daily for 3-years). Speaking of which, this is NOT a hard hat; it is just a sun blocking hat. I believe it is the same or nearly the same as the US Postal Service authorizes for the postal delivery people, but I've never examined the USPS version. The next caveat is that I usually am not outside in the sun for more than 2-3 hours maximum at a time doing yard work or cleaning the swimming pool, thus cannot speak to all day long usage. I purchased the white version for its sun reflecting properties. The plastic chin strap is worthless; I discarded it. As others have recommended, I purchased two additional sweatbands and installed one in front (over the existing terry cloth one) and the other in the rear; even though I have a large head, there was still plenty of room in the size adjustment band after their installation. If anything ever happens to this helmet, I'll buy another one exactly like it to replace it. No buyer's remorse.