Sports headbands are a great way to look stylish or cute while being active in sports. They also serve a practical purpose as well and keep your sweat and hair out of your face. There are a few different types of sports headbands, each with a large selection of colors and styles to choose from. You will usually see people wearing sports headbands if they are runners, tri-athletes, yoga enthusiasts, tennis players, basketball players, and gym members.
Sports headbands, or sweatbands, are worn around the forehead during physical activity to absorb sweat and keep it from reaching your eyes. Sweatbands are often made of a continuous loop of terrycloth, as it is a particularly absorbent fabric. Folded bandanas, usually knotted behind the head, also serve this purpose. Headbands are usually used for sports but have not been as popular since the late 1970s or early 1980s for men.
You can purchase sports headbands at most sports stores, or you can make them yourself. If you’re feeling creative, here’s some basic instructions on how to make your own attractive headbands for cheap.
- Measure around your head where you will be wearing the headband or use the terrycloth material you want instead of a measuring tape.
- If you used a measuring tape, cut a length of terrycloth material that is 4 inches shorter than the measurement taken in Step 1. Cut a 2-inch length of elastic. If you used your terrycloth material, then just cut 4 inches shorter than the length needed to go around your head.
- Apply a small line of Fray Check to the raw edges of the terrycloth material to prevent fraying, and eventual destruction of your pretty sports headbands. Allow enough time for the Fray Check to dry.
- Hand stitch one end of the elastic to the end of the terrycloth material, overlapping the edges by 1/2 inch.
- Holding the unstitched end with your fingers (pinching the terrycloth material and elastic), check the fit of the headband around your head to make sure it will be snug enough that it doesn’t slip, but loose enough that it won’t leave a mark on your forehead when you take it off. Trim the terrycloth material and elastic if necessary to make the headband fit perfectly.
- Stitch the remaining side and check again to make sure that the headband fits comfortably.
- Now go out and work up a sweat!
You can also find sports headbands on a number of websites for a decent price. Most places carry stock and can usually ship next day. I have included a number of Google links on this page to help navigate you to other sports headbands related sites. Feel free to check a few out.
