Introducing the new smug lifestyle status symbol… the sauna hat

Made of felted wool, often pointy and erring on the unflattering, the latest thing everyone’s wearing hasn’t come from the catwalk or celebrities, but rather from the wintery wilds of Scandinavia.

As standalone saunas continue to surge in popularity (the British Sauna Society says there are now 147 publicly bookable high-quality authentic saunas in the UK), special sauna hats are becoming a British social media phenomenon, selling out online and popping up on hot heads up and down the country. They’re artfully arranged in interiors photo shoots too, an indicator of the owner’s healthy-living lifestyle, and that they know their hot box from their cold plunge. Some have even hailed them as 2025’s answer to the Dryrobe.

Aptly for January – the time of resolutions – how they look is of little concern; the point (if you’ll pardon the pun) of a sauna hat is about how it makes you feel. Or, perhaps more importantly, how it doesn’t make you feel. It may seem counterintuitive but, according to Finnish bespoke sauna specialists Finnmark, wearing this woolly layer in the sauna actually reduces the effects of the sauna’s heat on one’s head and ears.

Regular use of “thermal therapies” has been linked to many health benefits, from improving cardiovascular and bone health to increasing metabolism, guarding against Alzheimer’s disease, improving sleep and decreasing stress levels. However, many sauna newbies find the sting of the intense heat uncomfortable, particularly on the head.

Which is where sauna hats come in. From regulating your body temperature to decreasing the risk of feeling dizzy in the heat, reducing sweating and guarding against baldness, advocates of sauna hats claim lots of anecdotal benefits from the item.

Hot boxes, of course, are not a new thing. The earliest form of sauna dates back 10,000 years, and the same goes for sauna hats; similar styles have been worn in Russia, Eastern Europe and Germanic countries for thousands of years, starting with versions made from straw.

Marjo Karhu from Finnmark Sauna says sauna hats – which start from £4.99 – have been selling like hot cakes on the brand’s website over the past year, in particular as sauna-goers in the UK catch up with what’s long been a Scandinavian tradition. “Finnmark makes bespoke saunas, and while sauna hats are a tiny part of our business, it’s really grown a lot in the last year,” says Karhu, who grew up in Finland. “It’s obviously tied to the huge rise in growth of the sauna in British culture. The more people see saunas on the beach or popping up in unusual locations, the more people see people in sauna hats and it sparks a curiosity.”

Sauna hats are popular because they provide an insulating barrier between your head and the heat, allowing you to enjoy the “löyly” (a Finnish word for the steam that rises from a sauna stove when water is thrown on the hot stones) without feeling uncomfortable, says the brand. “This is particularly true if you’re sitting on the top bench nearest the ceiling, where the sauna gets the hottest,” adds Karhu. “In this environment, some people find their head feels uncomfortably warm even if the rest of their body feels perfectly fine, which is where the sauna hat comes in useful. Protecting the scalp, ears and hair from feeling too hot means users can enjoy the health benefits of the sauna for longer.”

As intense heat is bad for hair, particularly colour or chemically treated hair, there are also reported benefits for one’s locks. “Wearing a proper felted sauna hat protects the hair from heat,” says Karhu. “Some also say that protecting the scalp from the heat of a sauna can help guard against hair loss.”

Traditionally made from wool felt (alpaca or sheep’s wool are good), which has natural antibacterial properties and resists dirt and moisture, sauna hats also have moisture-wicking properties. They’re suitable for wearing both in the sauna and in the traditional post-heat cold plunge or in a hot tub, and while purists advocate dry hats, they can also be soaked in cool water and wrung out before entering the sauna (it’s important to note, though, that wet sauna hats will heat up, so will need to be dampened with cool water sporadically throughout the sauna to retain the cooling benefits).

While pretty much any head covering can work (natural linen is another popular moisture-wicking and skin-friendly material for sauna head coverings), anything using synthetic fibres is to be avoided, likewise styles which fit closely to the top of the head are not going to offer the same cooling benefits as the taller, more airy styles.

Sarah, of Seaside Sauna Haus, on Seatown Beach in Dorset, is a fan. “I made the dark grey ones myself,” she says. “The thicker the wool, the better the insulation. And ideally 100 per cent wool.”

The best thing, though, is that sauna hats are low cost and low maintenance – simply air out or rinse out with clean, cool water after use and hang up to dry. Not something you can say about most fashion trends.