For anyone reenacting a Canadian milicean during the Seven Years War in America during the summer, being too hot can be common place.
We know what a typical allotment of clothing would have been in the summer from various sources but this one is from Bougainville in 1757:
One capote
One blanket
One wool stocking cap
2 cotton shirts
One pair of wool leggings
I breechcloth
The wool stocking cap or toque can be worn even in the hottest of weather. You can get it sopping wet and let the water evaporate and cool your head. You can flip some of the bulk up to create a sort of brim but let’s face it a double thick knit wool cap can be murder in the summer. There are of course practical applications for a toque in the summer, especally at night or in inclement weather. Would the milice have gone bare headed in the summer? Probably not.
For social and religious reasons 18th century French Canadians would have been compelled to cover their heads while in public. If they weren’t issued an alternate head coverings what did they do when it was just too hot for a toque?
The written record is quite clear we can see that from Detroit to parts farther north the practice of wearing a hanky on your head was quite commonplace and notable enough to be written about in multiple observations of Canadians. Here is a list compiled by Ryan Clark:
“…& about sixty militiamen with a kerchief on their heads and wearing shirts and their backsides bare in the Canadian style.” - Pierre Pouchot (1755-60)
"it is not uncommon to see a Frenchman with Indian shoes and stockings, without breeches,wearing a strip of woolen cloth to cover what decency requires him to conceal. Yet at the same time he wears a fine ruffled shirt, a laced waistcoat with a fine handkerchief on his head." Carver near Detroit 1766
Alexander Henry leaving native captivity, 1761, “Being now no longer in the society of Indians, I laid aside the dress, putting on that of a Canadian: A molton or blanket coat, over my shirt; and a handkerchief about my head, hats being very little worn in this country.”
An 1811 description of Canadians by Henry Breckinridge Shows that styles had not changed much in fifty years, he says:
“we still see a few of both sexes in their ancient hibailaments - capotes, moccicans, blue handkerchiefs on their heads, a pipe in their mouth, and their hair tied up in a long que.”
From these descriptions it seems as through the practice of wearing a hanky wrapped around the head in lieu of other kinds of hats were worn in tandem with combinations of simple shirts, loincloths, leggings, and capotes, exactly the kind of clothes being issued to milice by Bougainville.
The pictorial record is much more scant. Hardly any representations from the 1740’s-60’s exist of Canadians and only one potentially shows a Canadian with a hanky on his head.
The figure on the left wearing at red mantlet or veste in the Ex-voto à Sainte Anne et à Saint Antoine, may be wearing a hanky tied onto his head, or he may be bare headed. Also notice that the man on the left appears to have a black handkerchief tied around his neck, a white one on the man on the right and exclusively white ones around the necks of the women.
In the ex-voto Notre-Dame-de-Liesse Rivière-Ouelle probably painted in 1745, we see these gentleman wearing black handkerchiefs wrapped around their necks.
For the next best thing we can look to Europe. the painter Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) depicts a probable hanky wearer in “the cellar boy” ca. 1738. 
Note that he is working hard in his shirtsleeves while he has a hanky tied onto his head and no hanky around his neck, possibly he has tied the one from his neck onto his head?
Chardin also showed himself wearing a hanky tied up with a ribbon and one draped around his neck in 1771
Nathan Kobuck also identified some hanky wearers depicted in 18th century media:
Check out his fantastic blog The Buffalo Trace 1765
http://thebuffalotrace1765.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2020-05-03T17:35:00-07:00&max-results=7&reverse-paginate=true&start=5&by-date=false&m=1
From these depictions we can begin to see a theme of the hanky being tied up with the knot in the front or side of the head, most often without the tied ends flowing down ones back like modern depictions of pirates. And of course wrapped around the neck or draped across the shoulders of both men and women.
My question is then if they weren’t issued handkerchiefs where did the milice get them in order to wrap around their heads or their necks?
The real answer is, we don’t know. My best guess is that they brought them from home.
Four out of twelve inventories of people’s goods for postmortem sale contained in Costume in New France from 1740-1760: A Visual Dictionary by Suzanne and André Gousse list kerchieves:
“Six white kerchieves”
“One pair of socks, one towel, one old kercheif”
“Six kerchieves of muslin”
“Six muslin kerchieves”
“Theee kerchieves of Indian cotton”
“Four white kerchieves”
“Forty three kerchieves of Filoselle” {filoselle, the portion of a silk cocoon that is not used for good quality silk cloth or yarn because the filaments are damaged or broken.}
“Nine kerchieves of silk twill”
“Nine kerchieves of silk”
Sale of goods of Jacques Charly merchant, ca.1747, Montreal. Note that this sale likely includes his merchant stores as well as personal items.
“Seven small cotton kerchieves”
Inventory of Charles Dufraux de Lajemerias, a present ca. 1750 Vercheres
“One expectation (an unknown word) [sic] wool belt and one neckercheif”
Inventory of Genevieve Benoist dit l’hivernois widow of Francois Tetro dit ducharme, ca.1751, Richelieu
“Six dozens of kierchieves”
Inventory of Marie Elizabeth Rocbert widow of Claude Michel Begon ca. 1756, Montreal
These kerchieves are described as “cotton”, “Indian cotton”, “muslin”, “silk”, “silk twill”, and “ Filoselle” for materials. No colors other than white are listed, although we can speculate that “Indian cotton” may have referred to a dyed or printed textile from India. In one description they are listed as “small”, one “old” and one specifically as a “neckerchief”.
In the same book the French word for “neckercheif” is listed as “Fichu”, a term generally used for women’s neck coverings but also applicable to men’s neckercheifs.
A modern French equivalent for “kerchief” is “foulard” and a modern equivalent for the term “handkerchief” is “mouchoir”. According to the Gousses “mouchoir de cou” was a 18th century term for a neckercheif or “fichu”. They are defined as “ milliners term, these kerchieves are made from silk with a satan sheen but with no wrong side, with prints showing on both sides. Only ordinary women uses these neckerchieves to wrap around their shoulders. ... in Normandy, there are some in plain white, striped or checked linen (coloured threads on plain ground) , in Indian cloth, in plain, striped or embroidered muslin, in plain or printed silk.”
Wether linen, cotton , or silk it seems as though from the available pictorial and written record that they were quite large and black, white, or any of the available prints from India. It seems from the historical record that in the heat of summer it is perfectly acceptable for a milicean to take his “mouchoir de cou”, whatever that looked like, and to tie it around his head. Was the term then “mouchoir de tête”? That is pure speculation.
Finally, I leave you with some of my interpretations of how to wear a hanky on your head.
The red scarf is from AHL, Naval Clothier who I cannot recommend highly enough!
https://www.facebook.com/AHLTailorNavalClothier?mibextid=LQQJ4d
