Why the Hell Did We Ever Stop Wearing Sweatbands?

Sweatbands, popular in the ’80s, now only really exist as a symbol. Just like a floppy disk lives on as the “save” icon, and an old-school telephone handset is the image we tap when we want to make a call on a smartphone, a set of sweatbands are a cheesy way of indicating that somebody is working out (see picture above). Gerald the elephant sported some in a picture book my daughter recently read to me (he was learning to dance). Nobody actually wears them anymore, right?

Well, nobody except me. I bought myself a rainbow-striped set, not for a costume or as a joke but for genuine athletic purposes. (The fact that they come in fun colors is a bonus.) And as I’ve done my workouts in them, I can’t help wondering: Why did they ever go out of fashion?

Get some sweatbands and join me in comfort:

• Eight sets of headbands and wristbands in eight different colors 

• For extra retro style: Four matching sets of headbands, wristbands, and striped tube socks

• If you’re boring: just order these plain black wristbands, and these plain black headbands.

I mean, in one sense, strips of terry cloth around your wrists and forehead can make you feel sweatier. They do, technically, trap sweat and heat onto a particular spot on your skin. I feel a bit cooler when I peel them off at the end of a workout.

But that’s a small price to pay for their ultimate purpose: keeping some of your sweat off your face, and giving you an easy way to wipe off the sweat that does accumulate.

I don’t wear them for every workout. They’re not really necessary for weightlifting or cool-weather running, where you might glisten a bit but you won’t really find yourself dripping. But they’re absolutely perfect for exercises where it’s not convenient to stop and grab a towel.

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I first discovered the joy of sweatbands when I did a competition with a 30-minute kettlebell event. The winner is whoever gets the most reps in the time limit, so I had to keep moving. It turns out there’s no easy way to grab a towel and wipe your face when you are clean-and-jerking a kettlebell in your other hand. That is, until I remembered that long-forgotten technology, the sweatband.

Let me tell you, these things were a game changer. Even though I’ve always thought my upper lip is the sweatiest part of my face, some of that grossness must be coming from higher up. With a sweatband around my forehead, my face stayed a lot drier. And with a fresh, dry sweatband around each wrist, I could easily wipe my face between reps. Best of all, the wristbands kept my arm sweat from dripping down onto my hands, an issue I didn’t even realize I had until it suddenly disappeared.

I made it through my 30-minute competition with a winning 392 reps. And I became so enamored of the sweatband concept that, two years later, I now wear them for outdoor runs and indoor spin cycling sessions. These things are brilliant, and they never should have gone away in the first place.

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