This is my first opportunity to do a "touch and feel" evaluation on a Shemagh:
1) The base-layer cotton material is very lightweight with a thread count/inch of around 10. I am speculating that this is by design to allow the material to be highly breathable (note that one usage is to prevent dust/sand from entering the noes/mouth). An artifact of the low thread count/inch is that the material snags somewhat easily.
2) Initial inspection showed that the material had an odor that I am attributing to the dye. The odor was annoying enough that I opted to hand wash the Shemagh.
3) Hand washing was the correct technique. There was a great deal of dye that washed off and it would have certainly stained any other item had I washed it together with something else. I actually had to hand wash several times to remove most (but not all) of the dye. While there is still an odor, it is slight and easily tolerable.
4) Keep in mind that I am a Shemagh "newbie": I originally thought that the primary purpose of the Shemagh was simple protection from the sun (keep the sun off the head and back of the neck). It actually does much more: acts as a mini visor to keep the sun out of your eyes and also acts as eye black to further reduce glare. b) is a multi-purpose head wear where you can optionally use the face mask, use it as a scarf only (retain heat in cold weather and wet it for evaporation in hot weather.
I'm compelled to confess that I have little knowledge of Middle East culture, so I was hesitant to try a Shemagh; however, I have a couple of military friends who swear by a Shemagh so I opted to give it a try and see what all the fuss was about. I am very happy that I overcame my initial bias and gave it a try. I am so impressed with it that I plan to purchase another in the future, although I am going to look for one made of thicker material (if it even exists).
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