Headbands can truly make or break an outfit. A headband can be the cherry on top of your perfectly put together outfit, or you could be stuck all day wearing an annoying headband. It's a love-hate relationship. The idea of wearing a headband is often more alluring than the reality. You might picture yourself in a pretty, preppy outfit that is incomplete without a Blair Waldorf inspired headband. Or you might be into novelty fashion and simply adore animal ear headbands; if Ariana loves cat ear headbands, I do too.
There are a couple of problems with headbands. Firstly, they can really hurt. Some headbands are so ridiculously beautiful, yet the moment you put them on, you just know you wouldn't be able to wear them for a prolonged period of time. In cases like these, it would appear the designers seem to value style over ergonomics, but the best headbands are actually a wonderful mix of the two. Secondly, some headbands always seem to slip off. No matter where you place them on your cranium – the smallest part or the widest part – headbands seem to relish in the strange game of escaping your head.
So why does it happen? Well there are a few contributors to the problem. The biggest issue is of course, gravity. A headband that is placed tilted downwards, across the forehead, or with its weight unevenly distributed is bound to fall down, because that's just the way the world works. This is especially annoying if you are wearing a material, rather than a rigid, headband as the knot or bow where the headband is tied acts like an anchor weighing the whole headband down. If you're placing your headband in the center of your head, but it's still falling down, take into consideration how slippery your hair is. If your hair is freshly washed, chances are it's going to be soft, shiny, and a headband's worst nightmare. Don't wear your headband on a day when you're rocking freshly washed hair, as you're setting the poor thing up for a fall.
You may be wondering how Blair Waldorf manages to look so flawless whenever she wears a headband? Well for one, she's not a real person and I'm guessing Leighton Meester and the rest of the Gossip Girl cast had an awesome behind the scenes crew to assist in all fashion and beauty matters, including headband slippage.
For the rest of us mere mortals, depending on the type of headband you want to keep from slipping, you could use an intricate hairstyle or some color co-ordinated bobby pins to hold that headband in place. Style Caster offer some handy advice on how to wear a headband all day, including adding some texture into your hairstyle.
IMO, as long as there is gravity, headbands will always slip off. So we'll just have to come up with new, ingenious ways to stop them from slipping in the meantime, or maybe emigrate to the moon, where there's far less gravity. The choice is yours.
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Images: Getty Images (3); The CW/Warner Bros. Television
