Earlier this month, we heard from the good folks at Hoo-Rag, a headwear company founded by a pair of outdoor enthusiasts in 2012. One of their most popular products is the Hoo-rag itself, a 100% polyester microfiber bandana that can be worn in more than 10 different ways — as a face mask, neck gaiter, headband, balaclava, doo-rag, ponytail wrap, skullcap, headwrap, and more. The bandanas are rated to 30 UPF for sun protection.
Given the current pandemic, we were doubly interested in the company’s series of motorcycle face masks, and they were kind enough to send us several designs to test. They shipped out of Florida and arrived in just a couple of days. Now, most of us here at BikeBound have been wearing traditional bandanas as our pandemic mask solution. We keep them knotted around our necks while we ride, then raise them up over our noses and mouths when we stop and enter a store, bar, or other establishment — “train-robber chic.” If you wear a bandana all the time, there’s no risk of forgetting a mask. However, traditional bandanas stretch easily, tend to slip off your nose, have to be re-tied often, and you don’t always want to look like Jesse James when you’re shopping at the grocery store or going to the bank. So we were eager to try Hoo-Rag’s microfiber bandanas.
We received red and black bandanas in traditional paisley patterns — our favorite style — as well as one of their “Howl at the Moon” and “Beautiful Disaster” patterns. In all cases, we were highly impressed with the quality and practicality. The microfiber bandanas stay up much easier than traditional cotton ones, and they don’t seem to stretch out over time. There’s also the added benefit that we can wear these masks underneath our helmets, whereas a regular bandana would blow all over the place. The only criticism is that the bandanas fit a little loosely on one of the smaller females from our team. For the rest of us, however, Hoo-rags have become our daily mask solution for 2020 and beyond.
