THE BEST HEADBANDS FOR NATURALS?

Keshia Whitelaw

The Best Headbands for Active Naturals

Yes the need for a “summer hot bod” is long gone. The winter months are creeping up. Soon we’ll all be swallowed up by coats, blankets, scarves and hats. However, some of us like to keep our summer bodies year-round. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you’re anything like me, going to the gym is simply a necessary part to your week. Do I always enjoy it? No. Well if I’m not going to enjoy it every time I should at least be comfortable and look cute.

In the past I never thought twice about my hair when I was working out. But recently, as my hair has grown, I’ve started considering it during my gym preparation. If you walk down most drug store hair care aisles you see much of the same. Cute advertisements, but nothing that looks like it would suit natural hair. Because of our curls it is not as simple as grabbing anything from the shelf. Will it snag? Will it break? Will it stay in place? You combine a head full of curls, working out and sweat together and well let’s just say you better have a good plan of “hair-action”.

I decided to do my own trial and error to see which head band would work for natural hair. I chose 3 different brands, varying in price and style, and tried them during separate workouts. 

Sweaty Bands claims to be the #1 fitness headband in the world. I found them through a quick Google search. The website had a plethora of colors and prints to choose from. The prices were ok, they had a few headbands on sale. The word “sale” as always makes you feel better about adding things to your virtual cart, lol. I was excited to receive my headbands, but not so excited when one of them broke when trying to put it on. This made me a little worried. Man was I glad I bought two. The second headband fit perfectly. It stayed in place throughout my entire workout. However, one thing I did notice is although the brand is called “Sweaty Bands” there was nothing about these headbands that seemed to absorb moisture. I think if you were expecting this to keep sweat from running down your forehead and neck well this product may leave you drenched.

Verdict: Did it stay in place? Yes. Was it cute? Yes. Sweat catcher? Hardly. Worth the price? If you’re looking for a unique headband, than sure, but I would shop around first if I were you. 

If you’ve been to Walmart or K-mart then you must have seen the Scϋnci brand on the shelves. They must have some sort of monopoly deal with Walmart because this seemed to be the only brand that I could find there. They had about four different design options to choose from. Surprisingly none of them boasted about absorbing sweat or keeping you dry during your workout. The one I chose seemed to have the best balance of elasticity and grip. The fit was snug but midway through my workout I no longer noticed it which was great.

Verdict: The headband stayed in place. But like I mentioned for the headband above that is pretty much all it was made to do. I’m not sure how well this would work for someone with more hair, it could be problematic. And FYI, if you’re looking for more headband options don’t try Walmart lol.

The last headbands I tried were very inexpensive and purchased at the Dollar Tree. I felt they were only a dollar so I didn’t have much to lose, besides maybe a few strands of hair, lol. The set came with one wide soft headband and two slim stretchy ones. I used the black stretch one to secure my puff (ponytail) and the wide soft headband to make sure I didn’t end up with any “curls gone wild” on the rest of my head.

Verdict: This headband duo worked very well. It wasn’t sweat resistant but it did keep my style in place throughout my workout. And the price was an added bonus. Only spent $1!

Although I haven’t used each headband over an extended amount of time I do feel the last and cheaper option was the best purchase. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have high expectations going into it. Whatever the case may be these were the products I reviewed. Have you purchased a headband from a store hoping that it could hold up during your workouts? Did it satisfy or were you left feeling like you wasted you money? Let me know! Thanks for reading.

 www.colormyfootsteps.com