The Hoo-Rag

Who needs a Hoo-Rag? You do!

 

About 4 months ago the mail was opened to reveal a bandana/buff to review call the “Hoo-rag“. Now, I have found bandanas to be useful in the past, particularly as they help to protect my neck from the sun while out on the trail, but this was an opportunity to put a bandana through a rigorous daily test… cycle commuting in the middle of winter.

Now, for those who aren’t completely familiar with what we are talking about with a bandana/buff, it is essentially a 18-inch long tube of thin fabric that has horizontal stretch but is fairly rigid vertically. It can fit over your head and can be twisted/tied/adjusted to several looks. On the Hoo-Rag packaging the graphic shows what would be the 6 most likely used ways of wearing the Hoo-Rag.

What I also found is that when you take the Hoo-Rag out of its packaging, you may notice a graphic hidden by the sticker showing some of the other, less common (Or less useful) ways of wearing the Hoo-Rag. I did not notice the graphic on the package for my own but did notice it on one I bought for my dad.

So, having received the Hoo-Rag, I began to wear it on my regular 5 mile cycle to work. In the Pacific Northwest, weather can change quite frequently and I found the Hoo-Rag to be useful in all of them. On the warmer days it kept the sun off my neck or the sweat out of my face. And as the winter set in I began to cover more and more of my head, and in particular covering up my ears. This is wear the Hoo-Rag impressed me the most. Not only was I able to easily put a helmet on over top of the Hoo-Rag, but my ears hardly cooled at all in spite of the weather near freezing. In contrast, last year at this same time I was wearing a fleece balaclava under my helmet. The weather recently dipped a few degrees below freezing, which finally made it too cold to wear the Hoo-Rag on its own and forced me to find another layer. Overall, I found the performance of this bandana to be very impressive.

Now, the points raised so far are probably true of many bandanas, so what makes the Hoo-Rag different?

A couple items in particular about the Hoo-Rag:

1) After a couple runs in the wash, the Hoo-Rag is fairing better than another bandana I have of similar design.

2) There are several well thought out patterns to choose from, making it very likely that you will find a design you like.

As good as the Hoo-Rag is, I did find a few things that would have been a bit better.

1) The Hoo-Rag is simply a couple inches too short. I cannot keep my head and neck both covered with the Hoo-Rag, which I found disappointing. An extra couple inches would go a long way to distinguish the Hoo-Rag from similar bandanas in the marketplace.

2) After a while the top and bottom curl from the fabric stretching. This commonly happens to bandanas of this style, and is a bit of an annoyance as the curl gets more pronounced.

Overall, I have found the Hoo-Rag a pleasure to use even though it is just a little shorter than what I would like. The design and uses are perfect for my normal outdoor activities (cycle commuting, backpacking) and the pricing is reasonable among similar buffs/bandanas. However, while the Hoo-Rag works well for me, I didn’t consider it to be extraordinarily different from other bandanas or buffs that are available. Ultimately you will want to choose what works for you, and for me the Hoo-Rag works very well.

 

The Hoo-Rag sells for $14.95 online.