It's a solid hat. I bought the cream, which is light enough to keep the sun a bay but not so bright as to attract attention - for that one, the underside is a medium blue. I've worn it for a couple hours walking in the sun in 85F weather and did not have any trouble with my head becoming too hot, and the material dries quickly. The hat collapses easily enough to stow away in a pack and unfolds without trouble. It has a squarish design vaguely resembling a US military cadet cap, though not overly so. I'm a 5'10" male and first bought the medium, which was too tight. It may fit you have a small head, but I would recommend the large instead, as with that one, I was in about the middle of its sizing range. My only real complaint is, as other reviewers have said, the plastic nub on the back doesn't let you easily lay down - it's basically impossible to get comfortable because it's drilling into the back of your noggin. I'm going to try some modifications myself and see if I can manage to improve that part of the experience, because otherwise it's a great hat. For someone who only occasionally wears hats and doesn't look particularly good in them when they do, this one is relatively inoffensive, if nothing else. EDIT: It's been about a year or so, and the hat is still going strong. What I ended up doing is fitting the hat to my head, marking the elastic, cutting the little plastic slider off with a pair of scissors and sewing the two ends of the elastic together. Now I can lay back quite comfortably. EDIT2: So I do have that same problem that other people have mentioned, the dark stain that forms around the place where the hat meets the brim. Seems to be a sweat stain, though it might come from having sunscreen/bugspray on my skin, I can't really tell. Most washing methods don't get rid of it - including bleach and spray-n-wash, oddly enough - but I found oxyclean to do the trick, if you let it soak for a bit. I don't like this part of the hat, and would like to see an improved model where it doesn't happen anymore. EDIT3: So I bought a second hat, because the first one stains so easily. Here's what I think: because the hat is mostly nylon, bleaching it makes it more susceptible to staining (bleach attacks nylon, weakening it). My alternative was to use detergent and very hot water instead. Really, I actually heated some water in a pot (one I don't use for food) and washed the hat in nearly boiling water with some detergent, being sure to scrub it with the rough side of a dish sponge. This worked even better than the oxyclean at getting the hat stain free, though it did shrink by just a little bit, so be careful.
