Headband

The beginning of headbands was no later than around 475 BC to 330 BC, with the ancient Greeks, who wore hair wreaths. The Greeks and Romans wore these pieces for very special occasions or an important event. Cultures such as the Etruscans and Romans started to decorate their wreaths with jewels made up of gold and silver. While wreaths are certainly a likely beginning of today's headbands, some believe that current day hair bands have slowly taken shape from scarves that were worn around the head or were modified from the band of hats that tied under the chin.

In the ancient times, Jews originally wore headbands, besides turbans, and keffiyehs as their traditional clothing. In modern times, these Jewish fashions are worn by Mizrahi Jews only.

In the early 20th century, wide headbands known as headache bands were very popular accessories in women's fashion. Their name came from the belief that the tight pressure they provided around the forehead could relieve or prevent headaches. The French called such a garment a bandeau (bandeaux, plural). In the 1910s, headache bands would likely have been more lacy in design—a crochet central panel decorated with ribbons and rosettes and bordered with lace, for example.[2] Examples from the 1920s and 1930s are more apt to be dramatic sheaths in exotic fabrics and decorated with feathers, and would have been worn with fashions by couturiers such as Paul Poiret.[3] These sorts of headache bands probably achieved their peak of popularity in the 1920s. Today, items called headache bands are apt to be strictly utilitarian and medical in focus.

During the same period, jewelled headache bands or headbands, often in precious metals and precious gems, were popular.[4]

During the 1950s and 1960s, many glamorous young women in Britain and the US wore plastic headbands with the beehive hairstyle, or silk veils when driving. At the same time, working-class women wrapped strips of cloth around their hair as protection from the industrial smog and dirty rain.

After the Summer of Love of 1967, hippies wore tie dye and paisley bandanas as headbands[5] in imitation of Leftist activists and guerrillas. These were also worn by many hard rock and heavy metal guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Ted Nugent, Bruce Springsteen, or Link Wray during the early and mid 70s to keep cool on stage.

Deely boppers were a fad in 1982.

Princess Diana famously wore an emerald and diamond choker as a headband in Melbourne on the occasion of a state tour of Australia in 1985.[6]

Rafael Nadal wearing green head band during a tennis match

A headband depicting the Tree of Currier House (Harvard College)

There are many materials used for headbands such as wood, leather, plastic, metal, fabric, hemp, teeth, human and animal hair, bone, and novelty materials. The leather headbands are usually glued onto a harder plastic headband, or they are hand-stitched. Plastic headbands, which are most common, can be wavy, straight or angled and come in many colours. Metal can be used to form and support leather headbands. Metal-only headbands may be plain or decorated, sometimes with precious jewels. Fabric headbands are comfortable because they do not dig into the head. They usually have an elastic band, so that the headband forms to the head. Toothed headbands have comb-like teeth that are connected to the top part of the headband. Their teeth ensure that the hair stays in place.

Novelty headbands can be used for holidays and may have decorations attached such as bunny ears, reindeer ears, Santa Claus hats and others. Headbands are often part of a larger fashion statement — they can be colour-coded and matched accordingly to one's outfit.