Kit : Bandana

Maybe not the most hi-tech bit of equipment but if there is a prize for versatility this has to be a contender.  My love affair with the humble bandana can be traced back to Saturday afternoon.  Not a specific one, anyone, coz that was when they used to run old cowboy movies.  A cowboy without a bandana was some sort of effete town dweller who owned a suit.  The real deal wore a scruffy bit of cloth around their necks, Clint Eastwood in The Unforgiven is a perfect example.  The baddies hid their faces behind them when robbing banks and the good guys protected their faces from sandstorms when they chased the bad guys into the desert.

Morgan Freemans character seems to shun the bandana, bet he wishes he had remembered to wear one.  Clint Eastwood wears the biggest by the looks of it and the townies simply have become too “civilised”.

Anything a bit of cloth can do, a bandana can do.  It can do a fair job of keeping light weather conditions off your head much favoured by Les Stroud in survivorman.

Pour water on your bandana and it cools you, don’t and it warms you.  It can dry things like cloths are famous at, you can use it to pick up hot objects.

In the winter I tend to favour the larger bit of cloth about 2.5foot square as it goes around my neck twice and so is nice and warm.  Summer, the smaller version favoured by Les as it is slightly less flamboyant when on your head.

This is one of the very few bits of kit I am never without.  Its not very glamorous and while the marketing boys have done their best to create bandanas which are less useful and more expensive generally its not been successful.  I have used the remains of favourite shirts to create bandanas over the years.

When the sun is beating down hard I stick it in the back of my baseball cap and it hangs down to protect my neck and ears and depending on how it is arranged as much of my face as necessary.   This might look a bit daft, but not as silly as a bright red neck and usually there is nobody about to point and laugh.  There is something intrinsically humorous about this arrangement though.  As evidenced by the Outdoor Research Sun Runner Cap

The going prepared blogsite has the lowdown on the benefits of these things.  You pays your money and you takes your choice.