The warrior prepares for battle. The ritual is serious. Preparation is physical, mental, spiritual. Ready the body. Steady the mind. Steel the soul. This is what all the training was for. Meditate. Visualize. Breathe. Everything before and after means nothing. There is only now. The warrior dresses for battle. Finally, the warrior dons a headband.
Wait. What? A headband? Really? Like an accessory – for your hair?
According to the internet, which knows about such things, the first headbands were brought to us by the ancient Greeks around 400 BCE. They were made from leaves and flowers and branches, which sounds itchy. In the twelfth century, the samurai made himself a less itchy headband called the hachimaki, which translates to “helmet scarf”. The hachimaki was such a strong fashion choice that years later, in World War II, many kamikaze chose to wear this headband to their deaths. Military experts in America weren’t going to allow a headband gap so they introduced Rosie the Riveter and her red headscarf to the public. Countries waged a headband war alongside the other, fighting war.
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said: “Know thy enemy” and military experts agreed the best way to know thy enemy was to see thy enemy. So dedicated warriors with a lot of hair relented to the headband way.
Like other military innovations that made their way into civilian life (aviation technology, cargo pants, etc.), the public found a use for the headband. You see, it was the 60s and people had a lot of hair. In the 60s, when you shouted “get a haircut!” at a hippy, you meant it. Wilt Chamberlain, on the other hand, wore a headband to keep sweat out of his eyes. Brigitte Bardot, however, wore a headband so you see her perfection unobstructed.
There was less hair in the 70s but still plenty of hair to justify a headband. Bjorn Borg had the most famous headband until John McEnroe came onto the tennis scene with his own headband. Of the current top 10 men tennis players in the world, 4.5 take to the court in a headband. Serena Williams won most of her 23 grand slam titles in a headband. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had a headband rivalry for fifteen years. Most wore headbands to keep hair out of their eyes but there was a moment in the career of Andre Agassi when he wore a headband to keep his hair on his head.
The 80s gave generously of the headband. Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons, and Olivia Newton-John often bounced around in a headband. Jim McMahan won a Superbowl in a headband. The decade in cinema gave us Rambo’s red headband and The Karate Kid’s white headband.
Many musicians really rock a headband. Jimmy Hendrix enjoyed a long headband while Janis Joplin and Axl Rose preferred a wide headband. Keith Richards wears his headband high; Prince wears his headband low. Tupac Shakur likes his right in the middle - but backwards. Also, Steven Tyler, Madonna and Beyonce like their headband.
A lot of athletes like to sport headbands. Vogue did a whole piece on soccer players and their headbands; David Beckham tops the list. In basketball, LeBron James might be in the twilight of his career but his headband still looks very young. Only time inhibits me from expanding on the headband in professional tennis.
Athletes. Musicians. Warriors. Actors playing warriors. Many, many folks do their thing in a headband. But the warrior in a headband that caught my attention was The Weekend Warrior. The Weekend Warrior partakes of sport sporadically with extremely modest results. Yet, what The Weekend Warrior lacks in ability he makes up for with effort – and sometimes a headband. I appreciate you, Weekend Warrior. And we all really, really appreciate your headband, Weekend Warrior.