As the weather gets sunnier (yes, it does get sunny in the Pacific Northwest) and the thermometer edges up towards the 90s, I start wearing a straw hat. To help absorb sweat, I usually wear a headband under my hat, so I need a headband that has a low profile. If you haven’t tried wearing a headband under your hardhat, baseball cap or straw hat, I highly recommend you do, because it's really effective at keeping sweat from dripping down onto your safety glasses (and if you aren’t wearing safety glasses, put them on … but that’s a discussion for another time).
In my search for a better headband, I browsed through a few options online until I found Temple Tape, a moisture-wicking 4-inch-wide sweatband. I bought one to try out and ended up liking it so much, I quickly bought two more in case I lose one.
What I love about this product is that it catches the sweat (the company claims that it’s eight times more effective than ordinary cotton) yet dries very quickly. I’m not exactly sure what it’s made out of, but spandex is part of the company’s proprietary blend of materials. All I know is that the headband is very thin and very light. My straw hat doesn’t feel too tight, especially compared with the headband I had last year, which I actually had to wrap around a basketball because it was so tight I felt like my eyes were going to pop out.
The headband comes in a bunch of different colors; I bought a red one, which I like because it makes me look like a bit of a pirate (plus, the pink one I bought just makes me look totally bald). I also like brighter colors because otherwise I have a tendency to lose everything (like my phone, sunglasses, and wallet).
For $9 on Amazon, this is a no brainer for a versatile piece of headgear. It’s a must-wear on a hot jobsite; I also wear one under my bike helmet, and if I ever get to go back to the gym, I’ll be wearing it there too. Templetape.com.
