Despite all of the sweat-wicking, breathable, fast-drying materials that the gear industry showcases, I'm at a bit of a loss lately. I’ve tried a series of headwear options to keep my ears warm in the
winter and keep the sweat out of my eyes in the summer, and all of the
experimentation has led to one question:
Why is it that my favorite headband is a cutoff sleeve from
a shirt that was so grungy that my wife wouldn't let me wear it anymore?
Now, to be fair, it's not that simple: I have a few special needs as a runner.
One, my head gets crazy hot in the winter, but my ears tend
to freeze up on me.
Two - I shave my head, so in the summertime, sweat just plain
pours into my eyes the second I start moving. It’s like getting assaulted with
seawater. I need something that’ll soak up and evaporate the sweat before it
can offend my ocular sockets.
I’ve tried tons of pieces of gear, but no luck so far. Here are a few notable tries:
I started out with Turtle Fur’s Dryline Frost Ear Beanie
with its lightweight and quick-drying Dryline material and extended ear coverage. It was warm in the winter,
but too warm for all but the coldest of days and waaay too hot in the summer. I quickly decided to go with a headband.
Mizuno’s Breathe Thermo Headband
is warm and leaves the
brainpan uncovered, but it’s too hot in the summertime. The Breathe
Thermo tech makes the fabric warm up when it gets wet, which is neat in
the winter, but pretty much nixes it for summer use. It’s not very
elastic, either. After a few uses it was pretty stretched out and prone to slippage.
This may get me in trouble with notable Buff
enthusiast Steve Regenold, founding editor of GearJunkie.com, but multifunctional marvel The Buff isn’t quite
cutting it either. For every other purpose (full-on beanie, balaclava,
blindfold, gag) it’s phenomenal and versatile, but there’s just too much material
there. Folding the material over and over on itself to use as a headband
makes it too hot during summer runs. Maybe a Buff headband would be good.
 |
| The Buff is great, but again, too hot in the summer. |
The only piece of gear that works for me is a
sleeve I cut from one of my favorite t-shirts. It provides enough coverage to
keep my
ears from freezing off of my head in December, but it’s small and thin
enough
to keep me from overheating in August. The fact that it’s cotton is
definitely
not ideal, but it soaks up the sweat just fine, it just takes forever to
dry. I use it for running, climbing, hiking, just about any situation in
which I might start sweating. Here's a photo of the Sleeve. Note the
telltale seam and vintage "Electric" logo.
Now, I know there must be something out there that’ll work
as well, if not better, than my Sleeve. Consider the
gauntlet thrown, Gear Industry. Beat my sleeve.
