Bandana Republic

So much more than a doo rag; It's cheap, it comes in a couple of sizes, and a million colors. I know you have one.......what uses have you found for your Bandana?

It can be dipped in cool water to cool my bald head.

Lets see, off the top of my head:

1. Water filter
2. Bandage
3. Sling
4. Oven mitt
5. Dew collector
6. Edibles basket
7. Distress signal
8. Dust mask
9. Sun screen
10. Neck cooler
11. Dish rag

Lots more that I just can't bring to mind right now. When I am in the woods I always have one on me and at least one in my pack.

Four corners tied together hung on belt = carry bag for a water bottle

Too numerous to mention them all.

This week's critical bandanna function is clearing my camera lens (the UV filter, to be precise) of snow and ice.

Excellent subject. Love my bandannas, each and every one -- camo, hot pink and every hue in between. I hardly go anywhere without at least one -- they're in all my backpacks, purses, the car....

Since we are on the subject of bandanas, does anybody have a Survival Bandana? I am trying to find one to wrap around my PSP kit. I know most, if not all the info on them, but if i am in a high stress situation, i will most likely forget. I go Morel hunting with my cousin alot and he has some survival knowledge, not alot. I am getting him to read the Army Survival Manual! but i am afraid we will both forget something, or lose something, like my PSP.. not good!!

I have seen them for $5 on the internet, but i do not have a great enough allowance <--($1 a week!!!) to pay $5 S&H for one item, anyone have one i can buy for $5-$6 without S&H?

[censored]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Nature-Facts-SUR...=item2eaae0a20f

Shipping is very reasonable. I buy from them as often as I can. No affiliation, just great service and fast shipping. I am one happy customer.

One time I bought a heatsheet bivvy, they sent me a blanket instead. When I pointed out the mistake and they verified it with a quick inventory, they sent me the bivvy and let me keep the blanket for my trouble. Just goes to show some folks on evil-bay are doing things right. Hope this helps.

Believe it or not, there are no bandanas for sale in Argentina! You can get the silk handkerchiefs that ladies wear but not cotton bandanas. I've been checking the web and all the bandanas measure from 20 to 22 inches. Is this size OK? because I heard an expert say that he likes them to be 30 x 30". I am going to have a seamstress make a dozen and I'd like to get the right size. Can anyone help?

Bigger is better for many applications. but there are limits. I EDC a bandanna in my hip pocket, finding it tremendously useful in all the cited applications, even in urban settings. But eventually it becomes too big and bulky to keep conveniently at hand....

If you have a custom maker available, just get an assortment of sizes, using whatever scraps of cotton cloth are available. It isn't like there are ASTM standards.

You can blow your nose with a bandanna, but that tends to decrease its applicability for other usages, like filtering water.

It is common knowledge that red bandannas are more efficacious in all applications, than any other color.

Funny. I carry a bandanna AND a buff headwear. I tend to use the Buff for everything and my bandanna is the backup. I love both but if I only have room for one, its the buff.

Thanks for the input. Seamstresses only provide labor, you have to furnish the material. I was thinking some medium weight red or orange cotton. My question about size was directed to what was the preferred size among users. I'm going to try with 60cm and see how it works.

I tend to use an od green army issue triangular cotton "bandage". Common name, "Drive on rag", the bane of BtB soldiers everywhere, but like a regular bandana, tremendously useful. Somewhat bigger tho, and triangular.

When the powers that be finally regulated we were not to wear then around our necks in the field, many of use took to wearing on through our belt loops on top of out belts, just to have it handy.

Uses included:
Sling
Bandage
Weapons cleaning
Personal cleaning
Emergency TP (usually leading to the rag being retired)
Torn into strips for camo
Rucksack strap padding
Do rag under helmet in the winter to hold in a little more heat

and all the uses previously mentioned

ahhh memories. Good job JBMat

I have several bandanas of several fabrics, sizes, colors, and patterns.

I have the following uses, depending on the fabric (which varies by season):
It's a muffler to keep out chill winds
It's a pad to keep my shoulder-carried canteen from chafing my neck and shoulder
It's a moderately successful filter for dust and sand in windy places
It's a face-covering if I'm really being blasted by sand
It's a head covering if my hat disappears and I need sun protection
It's a sign of love and caring - my wife says I look good in one she made for me
It's a signal device - light-colored ones can be seen waving through tinted glass, e.g.
It's a potholder
It's a sling - some of my bandanas are a yard square
It's a gauze pad
It's a compression bandage
and on and on.

I just wanted to point out that 100 years ago last Monday, Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts, felt that the bandanna was so useful that he made it a standard - and very noticeable - part of the Boy Scout uniform - the Boy Scout neckerchief.

Over the years the Boy Scout neckerchief's design has devolved from a large square multi-use piece of cloth to a small triangular limited-use wisp of fabric. Some troops are trying to bring back the original neckerchief. I'm trying to talk my son's Scoutmaster and the youth leaders into doing that in their troop.

Ken, that was a good point. As an eagle scout who had the square kind, I'm ashamed to hear about this triangle. Oh well.

Gaucho, I typically use a 22 by 22 inch red bandana. Not really sure if it is actually big enough but seems plenty big to me. 22 inches is about 60 cm so I think you're right on. Have you tried something like cutting your own cloth (maybe an old shirt or tablecloth or similar item) to the size you think would be big enough? I have done this with paper to compare sizes of pouches that I could not actually see before ordering on the internet. If you don't want to cut the cloth, simply folding it to the size you want to test and pinning it in place might work.

Philip you left out a use. Using the bandana to cover the shiny spots on your head.

Gee, I've come up with a few ideas for bandannas too...always a good thing to have, and I even advise other people on how to use them and they are sometimes surprised at the number of things I tell them they can do with them.

Hmm, based on comments above, a bandana is kinda like ... a towel.

But you can't go around saying "I'm a guy who knows where his bandana is!" People will misunderstand.

> Hmm, based on comments above, a bandana is kinda like ... a towel.

Arthur Dent would approve. :->

A bandanna is possible the most useful bit of kit anyone can carry.

They are water filters, bandages, field expedient socks (portyanki), and loincloth (emergency replacement underwear or swimsuit). A string around the waist, possibly a narrow strip ripped from the bandanna and twisted to form a cord, and a narrow rectangular cloth formed from the larger piece by folding or cutting.

My favorite are simple unbleached cotton muslin sold as a 'triangular bandage', that are typically about 30" square, and sell for a bit more than $1 each and often come with a couple of cheap but handy safety pins. You can dye them any color you like but the natural off-white looks good to me. I'm not willing to pay an extra $5 to get the OD green version.

Thanks Marks, that's a good idea. I'm off to raid my wife's supply of fabrics!:-)

Any size is OK, but I fint that the bigger ones are more useful. You can make them from cotton cloth, they don't have to be fancy.

OK, I'll take the bait. Red is certainly better for bullfighting, but for all other applications, I recommend olive green. Looks great tied on my head with a long tail, and it attracts rich and beautiful women.

Howdy Everyone! If you are fortunate enough to have a 99cents only store in your locale,they regularly stock 100% cotton,22"x22" Bandanas in just about every Hue, you could desire.They all have that fancy:Cowboy Paisley pattern,printed on them,however... they are Definitely made Elsewhere,so I've handwashed mine,a few times,with Castille soap/Cold water.

Another use, You can blindfold your self. If you do not actually have to see the perils you are facing you can be less scared!

Sorry I had to.

More uses: Trail marker, and a pretty flexible dump pouch (tinder/edibles/morels)

If you get a white bandana, you can use it as a French Battle Flag....

Yeah, respectfully, I'm a little cautious about revisionist history, as the final accounting tends to point in an inconvenient direction. But hey, that's me, YMMV.

Returning to the OP:
I think the best bandana is a chunk of synthetic chamois. It weighs nothing, and it absorbs many times its weight in liquid. So, it washes and dries skin and hair, it absorbs blood if needed, and it is largely indestructible. If only it came in red, it would be perfect.

use 42: Pad. protection from snow/ice/gravel/sharps.
Today I locked my keys in my truck with a couple inches of snow on the ground. (Late to class and rushing) To get to my hide-a-key underneath my truck I had the pleasure of kneeling in the snow. I don't really enjoy a soaked freezing cold knee, so I ran through my options. Rather than trying to get in the snowy bed of my truck to force open the sliding glass window and slip and slide on my plastic bedliner, or using books/papers in my bag as a barrier (terrible waste of paper and would upset my instuctors "I had to kneel on my homework sir, I will have to re-do it.") I decided to use my bandana folded several times over. Kept my knee dry, and dried out on the trip home. I have put it back in its designated pocket, so I will know where it is.

My first truck came from a repo auction and had a small hole in the floor (a plug should have been there). I duct taped over the hole and tapes spare keys to it. One winter I started the engine and got out to scrape the window and out of habbit locked the doors. I thought no pboblem I get my spare taped over the hole like I planned. Punched my hand through the hole and heard the keys ping as the bounced around in the bac. had to reach my arm in and finally was able to reach one, unlocked my door and drove home. When I got home I relaized the key i had reached was the square head which fits the igniton so I went out and tried it in the door and it wouldn't work, yet somehow earlier it did. Someone was watching over me that night.

Correction:

It was 100 years ago Feb 8th (1909) that William D. Boyce founded Boy Scouting in the United States.

Boy Scouts was actually founded three years earlier (1907) in England by Lord Baden-Powell.

Use 7261 for a bandana: Tying the legs of a ladder together so that it doesn't trap your fingers when your carrying it.


On a more serious note: It's probably one of the most useful items you can and should E.D.C.

550 cord.
Electricians tape.
Duct tape.
Swiss army knife (with saw).
Multi-tool.
L.E.D. torch.
Disposable lighter.
Cell phone.
Bandana.

Zip ties, paper clips, a couple of nails, bolts, and wire can also be quite useful.

Leigh, somehow I knew a discussion on bandanas would lead to EDC. But IMHO and FWIW I think you are correct.

I carry a bandana everywhere, it can go on an airplane where my Swiss army knife has to ride in the baggage compartment. A clever person knows how to make a bandana do nefarious things, should the situation dictate.
I think every gentleman should carry one so that he can offer it up to a young lady in need of drying her tears, it can be spread out to allow the young damsel to sit upon a soiled surface and naturally it can be used as a head scarf or even a makeshift container should a young ladies strand of pearls break....

My grandfather carried a "hankey" for all of his adult life. When did it become acceptable to not? Either a bandanna, handkerchief, or a some other form. They were once a part of getting dressed, for men and women alike. Did disposable tissues sign the death warrant for re-usable bandanna?

Edit: looking for other names for the venerable handkerchief I searched Google for "handkerchief" Wikipedia has some funny ideas about "handkerchief code." Was very shocking, but I think that it warrants mention, apparently a red bandanna hanging out of my back left pocket (like my grandfather) means something to some people. I do not think that it is really relevant, but thought I should give a heads up.

Bandanna presence and color can have meaning in some areas. In the violent gang culture and Crips/Bloods/other gang war of the 80s showing the wrong color bandanna could get you hurt. I don't think you can avoid all of it but it pays to be aware and select colors that don't put you at additional risk. It also pays to stay sharp and observe your surroundings. If everyone in an area is wearing a particular color you should find out why. It is also not necessarily safer to copy what you see. Gang colors can show affiliation and also membership. Wearing something that shows you to be a member if your not can cause conflict.

Likewise bandannas worn on way or another, often one side versus another, is a common way of showing sexual orientation or preference. It likely won't lead to immediate violence, assuming you handle it gracefully, but unwelcome advances can be uncomfortable and can escalate into conflicts that are better avoided.

The lesson here is to stay alert and to be aware of, and show respect for, the local culture.

Isn't it just sad.....

... Then again, sometime a handkerchief is just a handkerchief (apoligies to Freud)

(Somehow a Freud quote seemed appropriate)

At that level, bigger is better. It's easier to wear a 22" on your head than a 20"; you need the extra for knots etc.

A bandanna is substantially more useful if its diagonal is long enough to go all around any part of your body, so you can use it as a belt or a bandage or as a loin-cloth or a bra or a cloak. A 30" one will wrap a 42" waist but without leaving anything for a knot. I like the 35" ones from Jinglebobs. However, these are silk, which is significantly lighter and thinner than cotton. A 35" silk has about the same weight and bulk as a 22" cotton. I've never seen a 30" cotton and it might be too bulky for every day use.

I found their 42" ones too big to be practical. All that extra material just gets in the way. At some point it's probably better to have two smaller ones.

Another unpractical use... Improvised Weapon !!!! Twist it up, and give it a nice twitch of the wrist! It hurts more if you soak it then ring it out and use it!!

You could use as an emergency defensive weapon. Put your pocket change or some smooth gravel into your bandana, hold it by the four corners, and you have a sapp.

If you do some creative folding it can be a pocket organizer.When folded there is always an oped end that is devided.A folding knife in one division,a flash light in another,a fire steel in one.I think you see where this is going....

BOATMAN
John

Neckerchief Uses
First Aid uses

The Japanese govt in their attempt to reduce the problems with plastic shopping bags were promoting the use of large scarves for carrying shopping.
They refer to it as Furoshiki.
The scarves resemble large bandannas There are 8 standard sizes from 18 to 52 inches but usually they are about 30 inches square.
Of course you can make them any size you like.
The preferred cloth is either synthetic (nylon, rayon?) or silk because it is strong and the knots hold well.
They have some interesting ways to tie them into bundles.

These two sites are a brief introduction.
http://www.infomapjapan.com/hstore/200709-infospecial.phtml
http://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/attach/060403-5.html

I've used mine (actually an old St. Johns ambulance association sling) for the usual lot, i.e. to:
-save other people's brains from frying a few times
-pre-filter water
-sling
-carry items

I just came back from 7 months in Gabon, habituating wild chimpanzees and gorillas in Loango national park. In order to try to find underground honey chambers where chimps had dug for underground bees nests, we would push old tent poles into the ground. More than a few times my slingdana ended up being necessary in order to be able to pull our perforating tool out of the ground, what with humidity, sweat, grease.

I also never thought that my leatherman would be used to saw through a chimp bone!

My most common use is to keep my head warm, and many times I've been glad to EDC a bandanna, although a thin SmartWool knit cap is small enough to serve that role, too.

It is often helpful to spread out a bandanna to keep together small items, such as emptying my pockets, etc.

As for size, about 22 inches square seems to be optimal for use as cap-style headgear. Smaller and you don't have enough cloth to tie a knot; larger and the cloth is bulky for tying a knot. So it is interesting to play around with it and see what you prefer. A larger bandanna will let you tie it so cloth hangs down the back of your neck to reduce sunburn.

Although cotton seems to be preferred, I'm looking for silk in the right weight/texture.

I try changing the way it is folded from time to time so it does not wear holes in it, something I learned the hard way.

Steve

My dad, who turns 80 next month, still does. For myself, however, carrying used boogers around in my pocket was not appealing. I still carry a bandana and sometimes a hankey for the uses you mentioned, but NOT for blowing my own nose and putting it back in my pocket.

And to avoid any confusion, I do NOT leave a bandana or hanky of any color just "hanging out of my pocket."

I must need more sleep -- when I first saw this thread, I read it as "Banana Republic."

Or maybe I have seen that skit too many times...

Agreed. But it is a great backup to tissue paper, which is my primary nose blower. With two small kids I really appreciate always having a "backup hankie" nearby. Tissue paper in your pockets will just turn into soggy, frayed paper fibers really quick. Hankies - don't leave home without it.


In my smaller first aid kits, sterile (or at least clean!) triangular cloths are preferred to gauze binds. (Packs smaller, easier to use and more versatile). My emergency bandana substitute, so to speak. The smaller triangular cloths won't cover all aspects of a bandana. But the headgear bandana options are not that important to me - in my climate proper clothing against the cold must be worn anyway.

I've always carried one as well and have been told its nasty. But compared to trying to carry around thin tissues that tear through when you try to use them its seems better to me. You just have to be careful how you use them, don't use the same spot twice and fold the used side inward when you put it in your pocket.

It was meant as a play on words

I must have a giant pumpkin for a head! I can't tie a 22" bandana on my noggin!

Me neither. I purchased some 27 inch cotton bandanas off of eBay, and they work great.