Benefits Of Wearing A Durag and History – Du-Rag Explained

Over the years du-rags have been affiliated with a lot of different things. These range from being a secret code of some gang or having ties with the underworld. Recently, a school in the US banned du-rags for being culturally inappropriate. In 2001, the NFL banned all of its active players from wearing du-rags. The motivation behind that decision was to improve the image of the NFL.

But the question withstands, is this all true or is it just another stereotype we need to break? In this article, we’d be giving you a brief history of du-rags and the benefits of wearing a du-rag.

History of Durags:

The history of du-rags dates back to the 19th century. Originally, it started as headgear for poor African-American laborers and slaves to label them. However, it was in the 1930s, during the era of the “Great Depression” and “Harlem Renaissance” that people came to know about its benefits and started wearing it as a hairstyle preserver.

Later during the “Black Power Movement” in the 1960s, it became more like a fashion statement for African-American people and was worn by the people belonging to almost every aspect of life including rappers and athletes. As time passed, du-rag lost its charm in some areas of the US but maintained it in others. Nowadays, du-rags are gaining popularity again because of celebrities like ASAP Ferg, Master P, 50 Cent, and GZA among many others.

Benefits of Wearing A Durag:

To make things more interesting, let me tell you du-rag is not only a fashion statement, but a solution to different problems, and here is how it can be a perfect solution to some of the hair issues.

1. To Maintain 360 Waves:

The first of many reasons to wear du-rag is to maintain 360 Waves. Basically, it is a process where your hair is trained to lay down in a wavy and curl pattern. However, hairs grow outwards which is a problem if you want to maintain 360 waves, and this where the du-rag comes into action.

Basically, Du-rag trains your hair to lay flat on the head instead of growing outwards and helps you in maintaining your favorite 360 waves.

In the night, when you are asleep your sheets can dry out the waves and can make the hair frizzy. Du-rag is the solution to this problem as it holds the moisture in and maintains the progress made by each brush session.

2. To Improve the Texture of Hair

Rough and dry hair are two major problems a modern-day person faces every day. This is mainly because of the pollution in the atmosphere which causes moisture in hair to evaporate.

This, in turn, renders the hair dry and consequently makes them rough. Du-rag is the perfect solution for this problem and here is how.

After applying oils, creams, and other products to moisturize hair, wearing a durag can ripple their effect as it would stop the moisture from evaporating and would make your hair smooth and healthy.

3. Straightening the Coarse Hair

For women who have coarse hair and straightening those hair gives them a tough time, du-rag can be pretty beneficial.

Normally, women perm the hair to straighten them, but repeating this process again and again can cause damage to the hair. This is because the excessive application of heat can denature the keratin protein.

Du-rag can reduce the number of perms required to maintain the straightness in hair by keeping them tied neatly in place.

4. To Maintain the Braids

Stray hair is a problem for women who love their braids. But, they can avoid this problem by using du-rag. Wearing a du-rag can prevent the stray hair from coming loose by keeping all the hair in a braid together. This consequently helps in maintaining the braids you love.

5. Helps to Prevent Eye Irritation in Summer

Working in summer can cause your body to sweat a lot especially from the scalp. When the sweat from the scalp starts dripping in the eye, it can cause irritation which is a great deal of discomfort. A du-rag on the head stops the dripping of sweat and prevents any sort of irritation.

6. Du-rag for Athletes

Long hairstyles are in these days. These kinds of hairstyles are very popular in the athletic community. These hairstyles surely make them look good but they come with a problem which athletes face while running or during exercise. The long hair keeps blowing in their faces which can affect the performance during the match.

Du-rag keeps them bound and also stops the sweat from dripping in the eyes.

7. Protects Hair from Sunlight During Sunbath

Hair can get dull when it is exposed to sunlight for a long period of time. This can be a problem if you like taking sunbaths. Du-rag can help with this problem by minimizing the exposure of hair to sunlight.

8. Keeps Your Hairstyle Intact

Du-rag can help you in keeping your hairstyle intact by forcing the hair to lay down and by holding them perfectly in the place you want.

If you are planning to go to a party and there are chances your hairstyle might mess up when you are on your way because of wind or other factors. For this problem, just make the hairstyle you want and apply durag. Upon reaching the destination simply remove the durag. You would get the exact same style you made when you left for the party.

9. Durag for Bikers

In a country like the US where you can get a ticket for not wearing a helmet, not wearing it is not really a choice. However, there are certain problems that come with it.

When you wear a helmet on a long bike trip, sweat and sebum secreted from the scalp can enter the foam of the helmet which produces an unwanted and unpleasant smell.

However, this problem can be avoided by wearing a durag which prevents the sebum and sweat from entering into the helmet and makes your trip comfortable.

10. Fashion Statement

Durags have been used to get waves, avoid dripping of sweat, and for many other purposes for a long period of time. However, because of the variety of designs and stuffs people can choose the durag which suits them, the most so they can wear it out in public.

This has made the modern durag more like a fashion statement than functional headgear and why not it makes you look sexy and hot.

Which Du-Rag To Buy – A Brief Guide:

There are a number of different du-rags in the market right now. So, it becomes important to select the one which would suit your style and hair type.

Whenever going for a du-rag, the key is to select durag material that does not remove the moisture from your hair. Currently, there are three types of material used in the manufacturing of durags; cotton, polyester, and satin.

To determine which type of durag is suitable for your a simple porosity test at home can very useful. This test basically determines whether the ability of your hair to absorb moisture is low or high.

If you have low porosity you can go for any of the three materials used in the manufacturing of drag. A polyester durag like this one is a better choice for low porosity hairs because it is of better quality than cotton. However, high priced satin does not provide any added advantage over a polyester one.

However, if you have high-porosity hairs, we recommend you go for a good quality satin durag like this one to get better results. Satin is a blend of nylon, polyester, and silk.

In addition to material, du-rags come in all sorts of different colors including white, black, and pink.

How to Wear a Du-rag correctly

So, we had a whole lot of discussion around du-rags and how they can be of benefit to you. How actually to tie a du-rag remains a question. There are several ways to wear a du-rag as there are different purposes and different designs, so here are a few techniques you can use to wear it correctly

Basic Technique

There are several designs available with different textures, but I would suggest you wear those which are more stretchable as they are breathable even when they are tied tightly around the head.

First step

• Place the durag on your head
• Line up the center of durag with the center of your head to get proper symmetry.
• To make sure the hairline is completely covered place the durag in such a manner that the front edge sits right in between hairline and eyebrow.
• Sideburns should stick out from under the durag.

Second Step

To wrap the ties behind the head do the following step

• Hold the two ties with hands and pull back the ties in such a way that both cross over, but don’t let them move up on the head.
• Pull both ties back and these ties should rest between head and ear.
• Wrap up the ties on the back of the head

Third Step

• After crossing the ties on the back of the head, pull them on the front of the head again.
• Make sure the cross is at the center of the forehead.
• Pull them to the back of the head again.
• You can smooth them at this point if you want to lie them flat.
• Don’t pull them too tightly as it might cause a headache.

Fourth Step

• Tie the knots at the back of the head, but don’t tie them too tight because you would face difficulty later in undoing it.

Fifth Step

• Pull down the flap that is hanging down your neck.
• Pull it and try to touch your back with it as it will tighten the durag and would provide nice compression on hair but don’t pull too hard

Final Step

In this final step fold the flap as you desire.

• Tuck or tie the flap up as this will prevent the flap from handing down
• Another option is to tie it up into knots if the flap is too long, however, will create small bumps at the point where knots are tucked.

Tying Du-Rag Before Going to Bed

This method is used to get the proper 360 curves and the steps you need to follow are:

First step

• Hold the durag and turn it inside out so the seam is on the outside. This will make sure that the seam doesn’t leave any sort of impression behind.
• Place the durag to seam up the lines with the center of the face.

Second Step

• Hold one tail in each hand and wrap them at the back of the head.
• Tails should cross the back of the head.
• Pull them around the head and make sure they cross the forehead before wrapping them around the back.
• Do not tie them as it will leave lines on the forehead.
• Twist the ties together to make sure they stay in place for a moment.

Third Step

• Use a soft headband that has elasticity, but is not too tight to wear overnight.
• Tuck the durag under the band.
• You can tie the durag without the band, but that technique will leave lines on the face and won’t be very comfortable.

Fourth step

• After tucking the durag into the headband separate the ties by pulling them gently.
• Once they are free and are not wrapped around the head tuck them back into the headband to avoid tangling during sleep.
• If the ties stay wrapped overnight, they can leave lines on your forehead so don’t forget to unwrap them.

Final Step

• Tuck the flap back into the headband, it will ensure that durag doesn’t dislodge from the headband.
• Roll the flap up and stuff it inside the band or tuck it inside that

Conclusion:

By now, I hope you have learned to wear a durag. It has a lot of benefits and the people who wear it are not criminals and not all of them are connected with gangs. I think the authorities should take notes and remove all kinds of bans from durag. After all, it is the choice of the individual what he or she wants to wear.

This was all from my side, but if you have anything to add or comment you are welcome to do that in the comment section.