I’m calling these “tubedannas” because there isn’t a single good name for the whole category, one that isn’t a trademark. It’s my blog, I can call them any silly thing I want.
What these are, what they have pretty recently evolved into, are tubes of thin, stretchy material, often without seams or hems, usually in fabric called “microfiber”, sometimes “Coolmax”, and recently in Merino wool. The tubes are large and stretchy enough to be pulled over the head and long enough to reach from the forehead, over the head and down the back of the neck. There are a lot of ways to wear them, that’s one of their great virtues. There are shorter versions out there going by many of the same names, but in general the shorter they are the fewer the ways in which they can be usefully worn. That’s an issue, especially since a lot of manufacturers and vendors don’t publish dimensions. Obviously there are limits in length vs. thickness, long tubes of thicker fabric like fleece just don’t work, they’re way too bulky.
I love these things, I truly do. There are very, very few things that give as much utility per ounce. I’ve got a lot of them, and keep getting more, not because they wear out but because the new ones get better and I keep encountering different manufacturers with slightly different variations in material or cut.
Too bad there isn’t a decent single name for them. It makes it very hard to talk (or write) about them.
In various contexts one of these might be called a Buff, Hoo-Rag, neck gaiter, bufanda, snood, recon wrap, tactical wrap, sun mask, fishing mask, multi-function headwear, multi-function headgear, and no doubt a lot of others. Some of the names are proprietary, and most more properly describe something else, or did until recently. “Buff” used to be a color. Things change.
The ones that are long enough, stretchy enough and made of thin enough fabric to be truly versatile need their own name, and not just a brand name. I’m going to call them “tubedannas” here, it’s simple and descriptive. Given my vast readership, there’s a non-zero chance that it will actually catch on.
Okay, so even rounded to six decimal places the chance is still zero, but in absolute terms it’s more.
I’m late to the game in some ways- I’ve had balaclavas forever (for which I thank Colin Fletcher, his writings introduced me to them, and even the thin ones have been especially useful for regulating temperature when sleeping in a bag outdoors), and neck gaiters when neck gaiters were generally much shorter pieces of thicker fabric, usually fleece, and I was vaguely aware of it when some started to appear that were longer and more versatile, but I didn’t buy them at first and didn’t realize that the change to much thinner fabric had created an entirely new and more useful beast, something less warm in some configurations but much, much handier and more versatile. Part of my ignorance is probably because I’m not often current on “pop culture”, and after watching the TV show “Survivor” for part of one episode it became painfully obvious that it was just a game show/popularity contest in exotic locations having very little to do with actual survival, so I never watched it again, and thus I missed the show introducing the Buff brand into the popular culture. That may be the reason I missed an explosion of diversity of types and a subsequent slow conversion of basic form that’s still going on.
One of these may be the most important thing you can have with you for comfort outdoors in a huge range of conditions, and there is for practical purposes no penalty for carrying them everywhere, all the time, since they weigh only an ounce or two and don’t take much room. Some almost vanish in a pocket. This is not just survival gear, it is Every-Day Carry (EDC) gear in the finest sense. The fabrics that they are made from typically wick well and provide at least decent sun protection, so they can be invaluable in the heat. Worn differently (and especially in conjunction with whatever other outer gear you happen to have) they can also increase the efficiency of your clothing in the cold to a really surprising degree. They are excellent for extending the ranges of conditions in which normal day-to-day clothing is effective.
Some manufacturers claim a dozen ways to wear them, some 16, some 21, but there are probably more. They can be worn simply draped around the neck like a bandana, or, like a bandana, they can be worn over the lower part of the face as a dust mask. They can be worn as headbands, hairbands, foulards, scrunchies (if your hair is long enough), sleep masks, eye patches, wicking helmet liners in soldier style or pirate/biker/motorcyclist style with a knot in the back, doo-rags (“dew-rags”), in “Sahara” or “Legionnaire” style (sort of a doo-rag without the knot but with a flap down the back of the neck to protect it in they sun), as “beanie”-style caps a couple of different ways, as full-head balaclavas and ninja-style hoods/face masks if they are long enough, as old-fashioned stocking or sleeping caps (knotted at one end), and sometimes just as a tube worn on the forehead. Some of the women in the TV show Survivor have sported them as tube-tops and even skirts. That’s hard to believe when you hold one in your hand, but it seems to be the case.
And, perhaps most importantly they can be worn as a wrist-band (I’ll explain).
Add all of that to most of the versatility of any bandana, which are used from everything from potholders to (initial) water filters, and you probably have thousands of uses… all for an ounce, maybe two.
Let me just say as an aside here that if you have been forced to learn to live with a bald spot, which can lose amazing amounts of heat in the cold and pretty easily become painfully sunburned in the summer, these things are no less than a godsend. At this writing I’ve pulled one out and put it on a couple of times already this week, when walking out in the open sun. I forgot one day last week, and while not severely burned, I was pointedly reminded.
You may see a number of reviews panning and dismissing these things as being too thin to be of any use, even calling them a ripoff. They are massively missing the point. Insulation/warmth comes mostly not from the fabric itself but from the layer of air it traps. Weight matters not at all. A wrinkled, accordioned surface traps a lot more air than a thicker fabric that doesn’t bunch up, and a thin fabric stretched not-too-tightly over hair can make a big difference. The fact that these things are THIN fabric is what makes them flexible enough to be warm in cool (and at least a help in cold) weather and also to be cooling in hot weather, especially direct sun. If they were heavier they wouldn’t work that way. Let me rephrase that, there are a lot of heavier fabric versions out there, and they do not work that way.
One of the simplest ways to wear it can also be one of the most effective in the cold in conjunction with your normal clothing, just loosely around the neck. How much difference this makes is partly dependent on the design of the jacket you’re wearing, but most are subject to a “chimney effect” to one degree or another, where convection currents start taking heat upward and out of the jacket through the collar. It may take a little while to notice a difference if you add one of these, but in fifteen minutes or so it’s often quite noticeable- and sometimes even too hot. Unfortunately that configuration does nothing for your ears or nose, sometimes vulnerable spots, so if you don’t have a cap of some kind you may need to use the gaiter in one of the full-head configurations. It also works very well in conjunction with the USMC watch cap, or even another gaiter, one for the neck area and one for the head,
In a lot of areas related to survival- in survival kits, bug-out bags, get-home bags, “Every Day Carry” (EDC), equipment, weight and bulk are huge factors. There are limits to what you can practically carry even if you’re not planning on going that far, and for circumstances and planning that include travel by foot, on horseback, bicycle, small boat, motorcycle, light aircraft, etc. weight and bulk are always strong negatives. This is why there is so much overlap in interest and requirements between the areas of survival and ultra-light backpacking, for instance. The goals of each are very similar- to sustain life without infrastructure support with as little weight and bulk as possible.
Because of this lightweight gear is always valued, but even more valued is versatility. An object that can be used for ten different things has ten times the utility for its weight and bulk as a single-purpose object. That is a gain in utility-per-ounce that can’t usually even be approached by simply making objects lighter in weight. There is no point in even trying to list the possible specific uses of a knife, of duct tape, of cordage or a multi-tool or the ability to create fire, the uses are for practical purposes infinite. In contrast consider the silcock key, for example- as valuable, even critical as its function may be in urban and suburban and even rural environments, it’s very much a single-function tool, it does only the one thing, and for that purpose it’s distressingly heavy. I won’t have a kit or even a glove compartment without one, but I can’t help but begrudge the weight for something that is otherwise pretty useless. Worse, it could be designed to do its one task and be much lighter.
For survival purposes versatility also becomes a critical quality in an entirely different sense. In a survival situation you are, pretty much by definition, dealing with the unexpected. If you expected the situation you would have taken steps to prevent it from happening, or prevent it from being a threat to survival. Since you are dealing with the unexpected, the more (and less-specific) ways that the tools you have at-hand can be used, the more likely they are to save lives.
Everyone tends to lose a lot of body heat through their head (I know it’s been “debunked”, trust me, from long and varied experience I absolutely know that the “debunking” is bunk). Your body has no choice but to keep full blood supply going to your brain, because without it you die, simple. Much of our physical nature has to do with having and supporting a big brain, and this is one big area of compromise. If you have a bald spot, you lose that much more heat through your head. If you want to be comfortable and intermittently active in a wide variety of conditions, you need to be able to deal with that. You need some form of head cover.
As much as I love full-brimmed hats (and I have a lot of them), even the fabric/canvas based ones are an intense nuisance to try to carry or store when you’re not actually wearing them, and in hot conditions they become intolerable with even a little moderate exercise. Net result is, the hats often get left behind, or are often on your head when they need to be in a pack or in the pack when they need to be on your head.
I refuse to go out in rain, sleet or snow, or a day with reasonable prospects of any of that without a hat, but there are some nice days when I just don’t feel like wearing one. There are also circumstances when it’s just not practical at all- motorcycles, bicycling, other windy or high-speed pursuits, wearing heavy winter parkas with hoods, traveling in low-roofed cars, and on and on. Even when you can’t reasonably carry a hat though, you still stand to lose a lot of body heat through your head and/or get sunburned outside.
Watch caps are one solution, and not a bad one, but they’re a “one-trick pony”, they’re either on or off, nothing in-between.
There is now something else, though, and it’s relatively inexpensive, hugely versatile, easily portable and pocketable, weighs almost nothing, works amazingly well under a huge variety of conditions, is a whole lot better than nothing even if it isn’t really enough, but somehow hasn’t caught on nearly as well as it should have.
This is not the first time in history humankind has come up with “multi-function headgear”, of course. I remember well how astounded I was when I first realized that the bizarre turban-like headgear with all sorts of scalloped and tubular dangling bits of the early renaissance was actually the same garment as the medieval (think Robin Hood) “chaperon”, a separate hood that also covered the shoulders and had a tail-like appendage hanging down the back, usually made of fulled (and consequently unhemmed) wool with the lower edge in points (“dagged”), presumably to help it shed rain better off the lower edge rather than holding water. Somewhere along the line someone apparently decided to take it off and put it back on with his head going in the hole that his face had been looking out of, with the edges dangling like a cockscomb and the tail of the hood draped around the shoulders. Inexplicably the idea caught on and became the fashion. Maybe there was a warming period, I’m sure it was somewhat cooler, and if it got cold or started raining or snowing one could always put it back on the original way.
Thankfully, this modern concept is somewhat more compact, if not as flamboyant.
Length is critical in these if you want them to be as versatile as possible. When worn as a balaclava or ninja-style hood, it must reach from the forehead in front over the top of the skull and down the back of the neck, and not all will do that… especially the extra-cold-weather variants, those sold primarily as fishing masks or “neck gaiters”. Less than 19 inches generally won’t do it, and a few more inches can make a big difference, especially if you’re a large person. I find I much prefer the ones that are 21 inches or more, even though they’re harder to find, they are much better at protecting the back of my neck from cold or sunlight. Beware vendors that won’t tell you how long their product is.
Some ways to use “tubedannas”:
Around the forehead as a sweat band. Some are too tight for this to be comfortable.
Just around the neck, like a bandanna. This actually works quite well for extending the warmth of many jackets, but also works as a “reserve” position for the tube to be ready to use as a fishing mask, or breathing/dust mask, or camouflage.
A special word about that last- the human species is very, very good at recognizing patterns. This is the ability that camouflage must combat, and evolution has especially tuned us to recognize each other, with facial recognition dominating that ability. This is so much a part of our existence that it is sometime difficult to become consciously aware of how important it is, but if you want to remain unseen, you must obscure your face, period. There are few ways to do that both quickly and effectively. This may be the best.
Worn cowboy or “outlaw” style as a dust mask.
There are a couple of ways to wear it as a balaclava, covering the entire head and neck with an opening in the front that can expose the mouth, nose and eyes, or pulled closed enough to expose only the eyes. Again, length is critical.
The “ninja mask”, similar to the balaclava but folded a little differently and intended to cover everything but the eyes. Length is critical.
Worn as a “doo-rag” or “dew-rag”, or “pirate” style. A convenient cap with a knot in the back that allows adjustment for tightness, which can be critical for high-wind situations, as in when riding a motorcycle without a helmet. The knot is typically created by turning the tube inside out, putting both hands trough it to reach the opposite end, each grabbing an edge in opposite directions with the finger facing out, and pulling it right-side-out again. Once you’ve learned the move it only takes a second.
The “Legionnaire”, or “Sahara”, close to the “doo-rag” or “pirate” but this configuration gives you a flap down the back that’s held in place but long enough to protect the back of your neck from sunburn. The trick is to turn it inside-out, place your palm halfway in one end so that the edge crosses your palm, press your palm against your forehead so that the fabric is between your palm and forehead, use your other hand to grab the opposite edge of the same end and pull it back over your head. Again, once you’ve learned the move it only takes a second. this is pretty much my favorite mode in the summer, it’s comfortable, not tight anywhere, it covers both my bald spot and the back of my neck, and can easily be pulled down over the tops of the ears, which also burn painfully if exposed. Like the “doo-rag”, it is also thin enough to wear for extra protection and wicking under a hat or helmet.
Worn as a beanie. Demonstrated in lots of videos, there are a couple of ways, but basically it’s opened up, a twist is put in it about half way, and it’s doubled down on itself. Because of the double layer this may actually be the warmest configuration, warmer than the balaclava or ninja-mask variants that are single-layer.
Used as a “scrunchy” to hold a pony tail back (I’m told)
Worn as a miniskirt. I’ve seen pictures. No, I have no idea how tiny the ladies were.
Worn as a tube top. Yes, really. See above.
As a neck or neck-and-chin warmer with a motorcycle helmet. Some of the tubes are stretchy enough to pass directly over a motorcycle or other helmet. This means that if your throat is freezing, you don’t have to pull over, release the helmet strap, take off your helmet, pull something over your head, put the helmet back on and re-fasten the strap. You can just pull it on over the helmet down to your neck. Mind, I’d still wait until I was stopped. Trying to do this all one-handed or getting it stuck in a way that blocks your vision strike me as pathetically silly ways to die.
As a camouflage or anti-shine/glint and protective cover for goggles, when the goggles are worn (in reserve) on a helmet or on the forehead.
As a hand-muff. When carried in the single front pocket of a non-zipper-front hoodie, it can provide extra warmth for the hands by being used as sort of a muff with both hands inside. The extra layer that wouldn’t provide much warmth on it’s own does better when it can work with the pocket itself to trap air around the hands.
As a pre-filter for filtering/’purifying” drinking water. Obviously, the more suspended material you can keep from going into your microscopic filter the longer it will last before clogging.
Okay, this is admittedly specialized, but as a chef’s/cook’s hat. The law mandates that those working in commercial kitchens must wear a hat, and it’s obviously good practice for any cook to take measures to keep hair from ending up in the food, but it gets hot in those kitchens, and professionals spend a large part of their lives working in that heat. Traditional chef’s hats have thankfully mostly gone the way of peaked caps for yachtsmen, the name of the game now is minimalism, you want the least hat you can get by with, although at times keeping sweat out of your eyes is a benefit. Many chefs has long ago adopted the “doo-rag”, basically a knotted handkerchief. The tubedanna in in CoolMax fabric sports the same look, has fewer layers and so should be a bit cooler, and wicks much better.
There are a few ways it can be used as an improvised pillow. The ends can be knotted, of course, but when pulled over a rolled or wadded t-shirt or similar most tubes are elastic enough to hold it in the middle without that step.
And finally…
Worn around the wrist. Scrunch it up into a ring, stick your wrist in it, twist the rest of it a half-turn and stick your wrist through that. I initially dismissed this carry, but once I tried it I found out that it’s amazingly useful. For one thing, especially if you’re wearing little clothing as when out running, this gives you a place to “park” the tube while you’re not actively using it, without taking up pocket space. In actual practice this works amazingly well, simply because it’s always there, you never have to look for it or fumble through clothing, especially while you’re on the move, or at night. If you get too cool during the night you don’t have to start searching for it in the dark, it’s right there on your wrist until you need it. After a while you just get used to the fact that it’s always with you, always at hand, either on your wrist, around your neck or on your head. On the wrist it also works well to camouflage or kill any possible glint or reflections from metal and glass in wristwatches. You get used to twisting it so that you can easily check the time by pulling one edge aside, it’s much faster, easier and quieter than those webbing-and-velcro wristwatch cover/bands that are sold for this purpose. Of course, it can’t do that and be on your head both… there are several arguments for carrying two.
One of the more recent development in the evolution of tubedannas is the availability of some made in thin, stretchy merino wool. This decreases the hot-weather/sun usefulness somewhat, but not as much as you’d think. Merino wool really does tend to be warm in the cold and cool in the heat, and it certainly is warmer than the “microfiber” versions when it’s cold. It does, however, tend to be a little bit bulkier (again, not as much as you’d think) and a little less stretchy. All in all, if I had to pick only one for use in any weather, this might be it.
Brands I’ve tried:
Buff
This is the company that has seemingly done the most to make them famous, and I think the ones that introduced merino wool. Generally good quality, they do publish dimensions, they have more models and types than anyone else, not all of which are very versatile. They have models in “microfiber”, Coolmax (and, usefully, Coolmax in an “XL” variant since it stretches a bit less easily), merino wool, and some not-very versatile hybrids of thicker fleece and microfiber. They all seem to be made in China. The typical microfiber Buff has no seams or hems, the merino version does have hems. The length is okay, especially the XL versions. The most typical complaints seem to be around price (they aren’t afraid to charge for a simple made-in-China fabric tube that required no needle time to create), country of origin and color and pattern selection. Buff seems to be intent on creating demand changing patterns and colors constantly, but most look like they were inspired by Grateful Dead fandom and there are very, very few that are simple and subdued. Try to find one in tan. I dare you. All of them seem to be made in China.
Hoo-Rag
This line is much like Buff’s, not as much variation, but they’re positioning themselves differently in a cultural sense. They have more patriotic themes, more skulls and such, more subdued colors and camouflage, most notably Kryptek camouflage patterns, which I like (and could have sworn I’d written about, though it doesn’t seem to exist now). Surprisingly, for a company that almost literally wraps themselves in the American flag, they all seem to be made in China.
Rothco Tactical Wrap
Not bad. The fabric is virtually identical to the Buff “Original”, the Spec Ops Recon Wrap and most generic Chinese versions, and it’s not quite as long as I’d like for balaclava and ninja-hood wear, but it’s adequate for other styles of wear (might be marginal for “Legionnaire” style) . Big selling point here is price, at this writing they’re going for under $7 shipped on Amazon, which is probably closer to what all of the companies should be charging for the basic model. They only have five variants, three solids and two camo patterns.
Spec-Ops Recon Wrap
This company claims that their version is “Made in the USA”. I’d like to believe it, but it does bring up the question of what exactly that means. This is not remotely my field, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the government allows companies to say “Made in the USA” if “garments” are made of imported fabric, even imported fabric printed overseas, so long as the assembly and needlework is done in the US… so what does that mean for a product where there is zero assembly and zero needlework? Is it “Made in the USA” if it’s only cut to length here from some huge roll? I really don’t know.
I like this one, it’s pretty much the same “microfiber” as many others (and almost identical to the Rothco above) but it’s cut longer, which is pretty critical.
Generic Chinese direct from China
There’s a lot of these floating around Amazon and eBay and other markets, all cheap (at this writing) and some surprisingly good. No frills. The camouflage patterns that they offer are generally unlicensed copies. A big problem is that few vendors publish dimensions, so it’s hard to know what you’re getting. I haven’t seen any as long as the Buff UV XL or the Spec-Ops.
Conclusion
Tubdannas are highly versatile and valuable in a huge range of conditions, heat, cold, beating sun and as camouflage for just a few. I’m sure the potential is greater, but if having one (or more) increases the comfort range or the range of survivable conditions by even ten percent it makes these things an absolute bargain for their weight and bulk. These are the modern , updated, improved and worthy successors to the bandannas, neck and head-scarves once worn by and portrayed on soldiers, boy scouts, cowboys and pirates, anyone accustomed to spending time outdoors… with reason.
If you’re really an adventurer, or just the sort of person who doesn’t want to be completely helpless should adventure find you, you should have one or more of these in a pocket or on your person whenever you’re out and about. I regard them as essentials as Every-Day Carry (EDC) items. I not only carry them but use them on a continual basis, and miss having one when I forget. As survival gear I rank them highly- certainly not as essential as a knife or the ability to make fire, but up there somewhere, perhaps even above compasses and flashlights. Highly recommended.
– Robert the Wombat