What To Do With Your Hat To Show Respect

Remove Hat In A Restaurant.

Is it rude to wear a hat indoors? It is expected of a gentleman to remove his hat as he enters a building, be it a restaurant, home, classroom, theater, or church. This requirement covers baseball caps and casual hats. Hats are to be removed when inside, except for places that are more or less similar to public streets, for example, lobbies, corridors, and elevators in public buildings. In public buildings, the elevator is categorized as a public area and, therefore an area where a gentleman may wear his hat.

Etiquette dictates that a gentleman should take off his hat and hold it in his hand when a lady enters an elevator in any building which can be classified as a dwelling. He is allowed to put his hat back on in the corridor, which is equated to, but elevators in smaller buildings such as hotels or apartment homes tend to have the domestic character of a room in a house.

Do ladies remove hats for the national anthem? Men are supposed to remove their hats while the National Anthem is playing. A woman may leave her hat on while The National Anthem is playing when indoors unless the hat she is wearing is considered unisex, like a baseball cap. When wearing a unisex cap, a woman should follow the same guidelines as men.

Men’s hats are to be removed in the following circumstances: for passing the Flag and funeral processions, outdoor weddings, dedications, and photographs.

When you remove your hat, you are supposed to hold it in hand in such a way that only the outside of the hat and never the lining is visible.

For men, tip (or doff) your hat slightly, lifting the hat off your forehead when meeting a lady (remove your hat completely if you stop to talk). As well, tip your hat to “say” to anyone, male or female– thank you, hello, goodbye, you’re welcome or how do you do. You normally tip the hat as a normal gesture of politeness. As mentioned before, this hat tipping custom has its roots in military saluting, which evolved from the raising of medieval Knights’s face visors to show friendliness.

Women’s Hat Etiquette Guidelines

The social rules that are applicable to men do not lay the same weight of expectations on women. Women do not need to remove their hats indoors the way men do. With the exception of rain hats.

For women, dress hats do not necessarilly have to be removed. This etiquette rule grew out of the role of women’s hats as outfit-specific accessories instead of general ones. Whereas men enjoy variety when it comes to hats, with many hats available to match various outfits, women usually match only one hat with a single outfit. Going by this dictum, similarly, women’s hats worn strictly for warmth should be removed when indoors.

Hat Etiquette In Places Of Worship:

In Jewish synagogues, men are expected to cover their heads, and married women wear hats or scarves to signal increased modesty towards those other than the woman’s husband.  The small, round head covering or skullcap dorned by men is called a “kippah,” which means “dome” or “cupola.” The Yiddish word for the cap is “yarmulke.” The wearing of the yarmulke is a symbol of humility before God, a show of respect in a Jewish congregation, and a sign of recognition of something greater above oneself. This is the reason many male Jews wear a head covering whenever they are awake, except when bathing and swimming.

Women can wear hats in Christian churches but it is sometimes considered disrespectful for men to wear them. The ideal in a Christian church is for a man to remove and hold his hat during service.

In Muslim mosques and Sikh temples, head coverings are compulsory for both men and women.

Other Hat Etiquette To Note:

For men, put any ornaments or decorations on the left side of the hat. The opposite is true of women’s hats: hat pins and other ornaments should be placed on the right.