The headband was the symbol of a free man of Krypton, after an old Kryptonian incident where slaves overcame a tyrant by using headbands as slings, garrottes, etc. (One of the better World of Krypton stories by Elliot S. Maggin.) Come to think of it, we've seen Jor-El asleep with it on SEVERAL times.
Too bad the original Superboy stories are no longer in continuity. One could explain how a small-town inventor/professor invented the "imperfect-duplicator" ray that created the original Bizarro (who was a Superboy foe, not a Superman one) by saying General Zod influenced the Professor's dreams, leading him further along than current science shold have allowed.