Young Indian Girl With Pigtail And The Red Bandanna

Bandanas are also traditionally used as handkerchiefs by manual laborers and outdoorsmen, since they more practically hide stains than a white handkerchief. Thus they come to symbolize social revolutions. Anarchists participating in a black bloc, as well as other protestors, may wear a bandana over their face to conceal their identity and provide some protection against tear gas and pepper spray.
Colors, and sometimes designs, can be worn as a means of communication or identification, as with the prominent California criminal gangs, the Bloods, the Crips, the Norteños, and the Sureños. In the so-called hanky code, sexual subcultures, particularly gay men, signal their preferred sexual practices by wearing a particular bandana color or design in one of their pockets.