Keffiyeh Tying

January 30, 2009 11:16 AM

We're in the depths of an icy winter here in Kentucky and I've been wearing a keffiyeh like this, which has helped a lot. When it's less cold/windy I pull the parts extending over my head and face down and it forms a pretty good torus of cloth around my neck. What other ways can I wear it? How do you do this?
posted by phrontist to clothing, beauty, & fashion (6 comments total)

Two more shots of that "turban" method I can't figure out.
posted by phrontist at 11:26 AM on January 30

Also, if it's even possible with a square cloth of that size, the the Tuareg/Berber style.
posted by phrontist at 11:41 AM on January 30

My wild-assed guess: you could do it the same way as putting a towel around your wet hair: bend forward at the waist, drape the cloth evenly over the back of your head, twist the hanging ends in front, stand up, pull the twist over your head and tuck them in the back somehow.

I'm not sure how big a keffiyeh is, so you may need to fold it in half. I bet folding it into a triangle and starting with the long folded edge at the back of your head in the sequence above would work.
posted by bink at 11:52 AM on January 30

I'm pretty sure that's a Westerner dressed up as a Tuareg, but as for the wrapping, here you go.
posted by HopperFan at 12:53 PM on January 30

Tuareg scarves are very long rectangles (2 m on one side, if I recall correctly.) Not in the same ballpark. Closer to some Singh/Sikh styles than to generic, more northern Middle East.

The way the other style - the kid, eg - seems to be worn is pretty easy.
Fold scarf into a triangle.
Put folded edge on forehead.
Pull corners back, behind the nape of your neck. Ideally put half a square knot there, but I just tried it with one of mine and it doesn't quite have enough to do this. Exchange/twist the corners so the one that went over your left shoulder is now on your right shoulder, and vicey versy.
Pull the corners up and around your forehead, twisting slightly as you do. Tuck ends into already twisted/folded parts.

You can also do this with two scarves to add more bulk. You add the second scarf into the first one as you're twisting them around/amoung each other.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 1:12 PM on January 30

Try looking for methods of wrapping a shesh.

Here's a YouTube video for you.
posted by zueod at 2:01 PM on January 30