Originally Posted by
cthenn
Yup, take it in the shower with you, get your hair nice and sudsy with shampoo and go to town on the helmet. Shampoo works really well on helmets, gets it clean without leaving a soapy residue. You can even put your helmet on and rub it around on your head, then rinse off with it still on. Nothing tastier than a mouthful of 3 months of salty sweat!
You have to have hair to do this.
When I ran hire bikes, I would get a bucket of water, some disinfectant used for dabbing on cuts (Dettol) and dip the helmets in there for a couple minutes, then hang out to dry.
Now, for personal use, I have four helmets that I rotate -- they sort of match the bikes I ride -- so the build-up of stuff takes longer. I haven't washed any of them, and if they go too far into the realms of horror, then I just replace them.