Havu™ Grey Merino Sauna Hat

It is shaped and stitched to hold its form over years of use, not a loose one-piece felt that flattens.

A sauna hat is a wool cap made for wearing in the sauna. It covers your ears and the top of your head, goes on dry, and stays on through the whole session. Caps like this are a long-standing part of sauna tradition.

A sauna hat keeps the most intense heat off your head and hair. Heat rises, so your head sits in the hottest part of the room, and a wool cap takes the edge off that peak heat so you stay comfortable through a longer session.

It is not strictly required, but it makes the difference between cutting a session short and sitting through it. Without one, the heat hits your head and hair directly. With one, the sauna stops being about your head and becomes about the rest of you.

The good ones are wool. This one is 93% merino wool with 7% elastic fiber for stretch, finer and softer than regular wool. Cheap ones are often acrylic or thin felt, which can scratch and, being fully synthetic, do not belong near high heat.

Dry. Always dry. Dry wool holds the layer of cooler air that keeps your head comfortable. Wetting it crushes that layer, so the hat gets heavy and hot and stops working.

Yes. It shields your hair from the dry, intense heat that causes brittleness, breakage and frizz, which is why many people wear one specifically to protect color-treated or long hair.

Not if you hand wash it cold and dry it flat. It will shrink or felt if you machine wash, tumble dry or use hot water. Follow the care steps above.

One size, cut generously. It fits most adult heads, roughly 7in tall and 7.1in wide laid flat, with room for long hair or a bun. Unisex, for men and women.

It helps less than in a traditional sauna, where the air is far hotter, but it still shields your head and protects your hair, so plenty of people wear one in infrared too.

Wool naturally resists odor, so airing it out after a session is usually enough and it rarely needs washing. Hang it somewhere dry and well ventilated rather than leaving it balled up in a bag.

Yes, same idea. Banya is the Russian name and sauna hat the Finnish-rooted one, but both are wool caps that protect your head from the heat. This is the sauna-tradition version.