Yesterday's ride made me remember another point regarding why i pick up a helmet instead of a regular hat.
I have already mentioned here that I am a hat wearer by nature. My helmet is just a hat that keeps my head cool, holds my rear view mirror, and stays on my head even on the most windy days thanks to a strap. And it MIGHT keep me from getting stitches in my grape 'cause I tend to fall off about once a year although, I have never hit my head...yet.
Yesterday I realized that I use two helmets - one for summer and one for winter. Countless people have asked me how I keep my head warm in the winter. That's easy - I wear a wool or fleece beanie under an insulated, wind-proof ice chest. I choose a helmet with no vents, or adjustable vents/plugs/liner so I can close off all of the vents if I want. So basically I DO have a Styrofoam ice chest on my head holding in all of my skull heat.
During the hottest part of the summer I have a helmet that is mostly vents. It weighs about as much as a baseball cap. The key to this working is a sunscreen product called
Kinesis. I keep my hair really short, spray the Kinesis into my hands and cover hair and exposed scalp completely - just like applying shampoo without trying to lather it. The stuff dries fast and is very slightly oily. Give it 5 minutes to dry and towel the excess off. This lasts 5 hours, does not sweat into my eyes, and is completely invisible. Without this product I guess I would be wearing a regular cycling cap. A bud of mine wears a regular cycling cap under his summer helmet. Sounds hot but I have never tried it myself.
So this is the addition to my previous posts: My two helmets are used for temperature management during extreme weather.