Sauna Hat: The Most Ridiculous Sauna Scam Yet (2024)

Have you heard of the latest sauna craze called a sauna hat?

A sauna hat is an absolute must with tons of sauna hat benefits: it protects your head, ears, and hair from the heat, enables you to stay in the sauna longer, prevents dizziness alongside headaches, and accentuates other sauna benefits. Heck, it even does your taxes!

By now, we all want to see what this magical hat looks like, so let’s turn to our trusty old friend Amazon:

As someone who has been saunaing all my life, meaning over 35 years, I still can’t stop giggling at this selection.

Come on Amazon, you can do better than this! Why are the models pictured outdoors in nature in their hiking gear and wearing sunglasses? We’re talking about saunas, and I should be offered sauna hats, remember?

Well, Amazon didn’t get it right, but that’s exactly why my blog exists: I want to debunk the massive amounts of false sauna information the internet is full of.

So, let’s get right into it!

In this article, I will show you what a sauna hat really looks like, what it does (if anything), why people wear them (they don’t) and why you need one (you don’t).

What Is The Point of a Sauna Hat?

In reality, there is no point in getting or wearing a sauna cap or hat, but the commonly claimed purpose is that it protects your head and hair from the heat.

Already this claim alone is ridiculous, considering most so called sauna hats are wide and loose and let your hair fall freely. How could your hair be protected from the heat when it’s exposed to the heat just like the hair of hatless sauna-goers?

But the true million-dollar question is, why would you need protection from sauna heat in the first place? Isn’t that exactly why people go to sauna, to enjoy the heat and steam?

I have to break it to you: if you feel your head needs protection in the sauna, you’re saunaing the wrong way. It’s as simple as that.

Your sauna is probably too hot, which is a common problem, and you aren’t throwing nearly enough water on the hot sauna rocks.

A lower sauna temperature and more water use translates to a much more comfortable and steamy sauna experience, which is what most people prefer instead of a hot and dry sauna.

If you were saunaing correctly, you’d never feel like you need a hat to protect your head and/or ears from the heat.

I personally have sensitive ears, and am always wearing hats and ear flaps outside to protect them from the cold, but it’s never even crossed my mind that I’d need a hat in the sauna. That’s because I sauna correctly!

There is little anecdotal evidence suggesting that if you suffer from migraines that heat can aggravate, some sufferers feel it helps to protect their head from the heat.

Most people in these cases use a towel (possibly first soaked in cold water) wrapped around their head and neck, and some even have another towel for their shoulders.

So even with medical conditions like these, you don’t need a sauna cap as towels get the job done much more efficiently.

Sauna Hat for Hair: Legit or Scam?

Now that we know you don’t need a sauna cap to protect your head and ears, what about hair?

Does hair need protecting, and if so, can it be done with a sauna cap?

In general, your hair doesn’t need protection from sauna heat any more your head or ears do. The heat from hair tools is WAY hotter and also touches your hair directly unlike much milder sauna heat.

Saunaing the correct way isn’t damaging for hair and certainly doesn’t lead to dryness or split ends. You can see my hair below (I’ve been saunaing for 35+ years and never wear a sauna hat):

There are still several reasons you might want to protect your hair in the sauna:

🔶 your hair is recently washed, so you don’t want it to get wet and sweaty, and have to wash it again

🔶 your hair is recently dyed or permed; after these treatments, there can still be chemicals in your hair that normally wouldn’t be there and that can react negatively with the heat

🔶 your hair is very dry and frizzy, or humidity turns your locks into a hairy beast (think of Monica in Friends)

The question is, do you need a sauna cap to protect your hair in these cases? Once again no as you can use a towel and have much more protection that way than with a wide hat that doesn’t cover all or even most of your hair.

Since so many people dye their hair regularly, it’s good to note that most of them don’t cover their head in any way when saunaing; it’s only recommended with fresh color you’ve just had done.

Are There Any Reasons to Even Consider Getting a Sauna Hat?

As we saw above, you never need a sauna hat, not even in those rarer (medical) cases where you may want to protect your head.

A towel works just as well or usually even better as it can be wrapped around your head loosely or tightly and covers larger surfaces.

There is still one (yes, only one) situation where you should probably get sauna headgear: you simply love the look, and feel it goes perfectly with your fashion sense.

You just want the damn thing! That’s as good a reason as any other.

Ideally you could then wear the hat elsewhere, too, because why limit wearing it only to the sauna?

And the styles to choose from! How about turning yourself or your friend into a sauna hat viking, grown-up baby, or mystical elf?

Final Thoughts + Debunking Sauna Hat Benefits

If you want a funny-looking hat, then there’s nothing wrong with sauna hats.

Also, the best sauna hats constructed from wool felt are usually handmade, so if you want to support someone’s craft, that’s great.

What make these hats a scam, however, are the exaggerated sauna hat benefits with no evidence to back them up.

(No, sauna caps don’t accentuate other sauna benefits and certainly don’t do your taxes.)

Also, some of the claimed “benefits” are no benefits even if the claims were true: let’s say you really could stay in the sauna longer when wearing a hat. Why would you want to stay there longer than what feels comfortable to you?

Why would you first want to heat up your sauna too hot (= wasting energy, either wood or electricity) and then have to protect yourself from that overheating with a hat, costing you even more money?

It’s a much better idea to ditch the excess heat, and therefore the hat, and enjoy a more steamy, comfortable sauna while having a thicker wallet.

The least responsible sources claim sauna hats prevent dizziness and headaches. (We discussed migraines above and how you can cover your head, neck, and even shoulders with a wet towel.)

Even when getting a headache in the sauna (which happens to a minority of people), it’s much more likely due to dehydration and/or poor ventilation (especially in wood-burning saunas with fumes) than not wearing a hat or a towel around your head.

The remedies in these cases are drinking plenty of water and improving ventilation, NOT wearing a hat!

What can cause dizziness after saunaing is your blood pressure dropping. Sitting down helps, and you can even bring you head down closer to your knees.

After a few minutes the dizziness is gone, and without a hat that can’t control your blood pressure.

As Max so accurately points out in his Amazon review, a sauna hat can be hilarious even though it has no actual use.

If hilarity is what you’re after, a hat can definitely deliver. Just don’t be fooled into thinking it’s something you need or what many people wear.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What kind of hat do you wear in a sauna?

In the absolute majority of cases, no kind of hat.

In fact, if you wear a hat to a public sauna, be prepared to be the only one with a hat.

2. Should I cover my head in the sauna?

When saunaing correctly, there is no need to cover your head in the sauna in most cases.

But if you want to protect your recently dyed or washed hair, or suffer from migraines, you can cover your head with a towel.

Also, if you use public saunas in a country where there’s a lot of misuse of saunas (like the US, for instance), then you might actually need something to protect your head from the excess heat.

That’s because the temperatures are too high, and throwing water on the sauna rocks may be prohibited although it’s against the sauna heater instructions (= leads to a hot, dry, and uncomfortable sauna experience).

3. Do sauna hats protect your hair?

If you have very short hair, then they do.

But even with a short bob cut or anything longer, your hair ends won’t be protected when wearing a sauna hat.

That’s far from ideal since it’s usually your hair ends that are the most damaged anyway and require the most protecting.

A towel is a much better option.

4. Is there another sauna hat name?

Another name for this kind of hat is a banya hat. That name also emphasizes the Russian nature of the hat.

What about sauna hat origin? It’s still debated whether it was the Russians or the Germans who “invented” the sauna hat around the 1500s or possibly as early as the 1200s.

5. Is it better to wear a sauna hat wet or dry?

Most brands specifically mention not to wet the hat as wool shouldn’t be washed often but prefers airing.

If you want something wet wrapped around your head in the sauna, a towel, once again, is a better option.

6. Do Finnish people wear sauna hats?

No, they don’t. You may see one person wearing a goofy sauna cap in a YouTube video showcasing Finnish sauna culture, but it’s only for show and entertainment.

When going for sauna and cold plunge, then you can see people wearing (wool felt) hats to protect their head and ears from the cold. This is especially the case when not just plunging but actually swimming in ice cold water (avantouinti in Finnish).