The Festival Wristband Debate...

Woo, yay, Reading 2015!!

I've seen so many people complaining about how stupid people look when they keep festival wristbands on after the festival season. And other people saying how gross it is that you wear the same thing for months on end, without washing/cleaning it.. (Emma.. Kinda..) So let's look at the pros and cons of wearing festival wristbands!! 

Okay, firstly, there is a valid reason behind some people's arguments; scientists have discovered that bacteria on festival wristband is twenty times higher than that found on clothes that have been regularly laundered. This bacteria can cause cuts to become infected, and, if ingested, can cause acute food poisoning. Fun. (To read more on this, click here). 

The next argument people have is that "you look like a pretentious idiot". I've seen a fair few articles, or blog posts, and even tweets, where people complain how idiotic you look when you keep on a festival wristband or two.. It seems a little to me that people are jealous that you've been to a festival and they haven't.. But they do have a valid point, as literally everyone goes to Glastonbury now, so it is a little bit common, and not as cool as it was.. 
Then there's the fact that, apparently, festival wristbands smell bad. I've not noticed it, and I've been wearing mine since the end of August, after spending the day in a field, and using hella gross festival toilets.. (eugh.. All of those germs...) But if you wash everyday, and you wash your wristband everyday, it shouldn't be that bad. And people wear watched all day everyday without cleaning them, so..? 

Yeah, to me, the type of people who complain about people who keep on festival wristbands seem to be the type of people who complain about festivals, so they might be a little bit biased. 

Now onto why you should keep on your festival wristband!!

Festivals are so freaking crazy, and a lot of fun, if you get to see your favourite bands, and hang out with friends, right?! And the wristband reminds you of that!! It's like a constant reminder on your wrist of how much fun you had over summer. Pretty cool, huh? You don't need to flick through photos on your phone to remember how brilliant your weekend was!!

They can also be a conversation-started. I made one of my lovely college friends because of my Reading wristband, which was pretty great. They show what type of music you're into, and what type of person you are.. Or they did.. Nowadays, every fucker seems to be at a festival. Remember when Reading & Leeds used to be for the punks, metal heads and misfits? Yeah, not anymore.. Apparently Metallica have become the band for under-age teenage girls, because they were everywhere at Reading. Annoying, right?! But I guess they're the type of people to cut them off, so.. 

Finally, I guess, it's just nice to have something on your wrist. You don't really need to bother with bracelets or anything, you can just pull on a pair of jeans, a band tee, put on some eyeliner, and go.. Just punk chic.. So that's a thing!! (I do it often, it works pretty well..) 


For me, I keep my wristband on because this was the first proper big festival that I've been to. I know it's only a day one, which is kind of really crappy, but I still had an amazing day, and I hope to remember that for as long as I can. It also helped me to make friends at college, which I've already mentioned, so I keep it on as a reminder of that. And it glows in the dark. Yep.. I wear it because it glows in the bloody dark. Isn't that just amazing?!?! 

Hahah!
So that's the end of my lovely blog post. It wasn't amazing, but I'm trying to get the standard back up after freaking out on you all for a few days!! Sorry!!
Here's to next year's festival season!!
- Dottie.