I've slowly been nudging my house-mate towards riding her bike to work more often. It's a pretty ideal distance, about 4 or 5 miles through city traffic but the biggest problem she has is her hair. She only rides with a helmet (which is great) but when always arrives with helmet hair.

So, are there any long-haired helmet wearing commuting women here that have any solutions? Or any who have a solution for long haired helmet wearing commuting women?

Thanks!

Ditch the helmet.

or get a fashionable helmet she leaves on...

I think we'll need some pictures first. Personally, I tend to prefer women with shorter (but not SHORT) hair.

Out of the 157 various unguents she has that sit in the bathroom beside your one lowly bottle of shampoo surely there must be a "product" that will ease the helmet head hair....

For starters we're going to have to see a picture. However, It's my guess that it couldn't hurt to pack a comb or a brush so when she gets to the office she can comb or brush out said helmet head..

Wearing a cycling cap under the helmet helps some.

Without knowing her personally, I am not sure I can help. I used to have shoulder length hair and getting it completely wet again was the only cure I found. Her hair may be very different than mine. Someone with more experience with styling products could probably come up with a solution.

I just pull mine back into a pony-tail, but I wear it like that all the time, and I've nearly always got a ball cap on.

My hair is waist length, and I wear it in a braid when I ride. If I'm commuting, when I arrive at work I just shake it out of the braid, and comb it with a pick-comb, and it's fine. On occasion if I've been half asleep when I've done the braid, I might need to dampen my hair a little bit and comb out an odd lock or something, but that's not a problem.

The first is a photo of me about 800 kms into a 1000K brevet. The second is a photo of me about 50 kms or so into a casual 100 km ride. No helmet hair in either! .......... (and I had been wearing a helmet in both)

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Ditch the helmet if that's the only thing standing between her and bike commuting. The British Medical Association Journal published an article that stated the health benefits of riding a bike were 20 times greater than the risks if you weren't wearing a helmet.

I'm saying you shouldn't wear a helmet, but if that's going to keep you off your bike you are better or riding without one than not at all.

From the article:

"The statistical wrangle over the effectiveness of helmets is actually a side issue; what we need people in authority to understand is that cycle helmets inevitably damage public health. Even for cyclists on Britain's roads, the health benefits exceed the risks by a factor of 20. The health benefits of cycling are so great---and the health injuries from driving so great---that not cycling is really dangerous. By telling people that they need helmets for an activity that for a century has been regarded as "safe"---and in fact has a fine safety record---you inevitably engender the impression that cycling must have become more dangerous than driving and walking. That deters cycling. That reduces cyclists' presence on the roads. That increases the risk of death. And if wild claims about helmets saving lives are published in the media, helmet users are bound to feel overly secure, thus compromising their one vital safety feature---a sense of caution. In addition, over time most people--- and especially parents---will come to believe that it is wearing a helmet that matters, not acquiring skilful technique. These effects have been noted in every country where helmets have come into general use, including the United Kingdom. Millions will die early because they did not cycle. "

women are statistically much less likely to crash than men or children. It's also been shown that women stop cycling at a greater rate than men when helmet use is mandatory. Maybe it's the hair thing.

Lookup what people are doing when they receive head injuries, and see how many of these people are women and then ask yourself, why bother with the lid?

I knew I wasn't the average woman!! I go through helmets every couple years because of crashes. I cracked my last helmet open a year ago, and had a concussion despite the fact that I was wearing it ... I hit the ground that hard. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't been wearing it.

I almost always wear a helmet and I recommend other people to wear one if they like to go fast, but BMJ is "dead" on. Danish medical researches have been researching the subject the last couple of years; commuting on bicycle, even very short distances at low speed, dramatically improves peoples health.
And a 20 minute a day cycling habit where one cycle so fast that the heart gets a little workout adds 3-5 years to peoples lives in average and dramatically reduce the chance of getting one of many chronic modern "lifestyle" diseases like diabetes. These studies have been rather thourough and cleaned for social and economic bias etc.

So if the choice is between cycling and not wearing a helmet, one should choose cycling every time.

--
Regards

C'mon, everyone knows you're different.

Seems you go down more than I have in 40 years (and I too rode with the randonneurs)

20 of those years were without helmets where I fell more often than the 20 years with them, so I know what it's like to crash without one too. I don't have to wonder what would have happened.

I tend to be a little bit of a klutz on my bicycle ... I usually crash at least once a year. Usually I end up hurting my legs, but now and then my head gets in on the action too.

Hmmm, I thought I might join in just a little bit here.

I've had three skull fractures, and while they all occurred as the result of a single automobile accident, not a bicycle accident, I figure I've used up my luck, brain-wise, and prefer not to take any more chances. I already ride a bike, so not wearing a helmet does nothing special to improve my health.

While I appreciate that people have different opinions about wearing the helmet, the debate doesn't really address the OP's question. If the housemate is more likely to ride if she's wearing a helmet, then more power to her. In fact, it sounds as if not wearing a helmet will keep her off the bike. So what kind of hair suggestions can we come up with?

I don't have long hair, so I wish I could offer something specific to that. However, the hair thing is an issue with me, too. I have very fine hair that tends to go flat under a helmet. My solution was to find a good stylist, explain the situation to her, and let her give me a cut that is easy to fluff up after a ride. She "texturizes" it for body, and gave me a hair product (called "mud", I think) that seems to help an awful lot in terms of keeping it from going limp on me after a ride.

I style my hair in the morning, put the mud in, followed by hair spray. Then I ride around all day going to various places, wearing a helmet. When I get off the bike, I lightly fluff my hair and let it air dry. When it's dry, I comb it out and add a light pass with some hair spray again (if needed).

That's what works for me.

I'd take a fit woman with helmet hair over a cager with "perfect" hair anyday.

If she brings the basics (comb, brush, spray, etc.) with her, or better yet leaves a set of those in an accessory bag at work she could arrive a few minutes earlier and fix it up on location.

I'm getting serious thread deja vu, but I'll post anyway. My wife has shoulder-length straight hair. Her morning routine is to comb it out, hose it down with flex-hold hairspray, put on her helmet [often on top of a balaclava] and ride to work. When she gets to work, she combs it again, uses more hairspray and she's good to go. Also, a ponytail works very well for her, as does using hair elastics to put it in a bun-like shape.

My hair is ~3/8" long, so my routine involves putting on my helmet, then later on, removing it.

I've always wondered; why is helmet-hair so much harder to deal with than bed-head? I always figured it was just another poor excuse to not ride.

The normal solution to bed head is a shower....if you ride to work and can't shower you have to figure out another way to sort out your hair. So far I've been lucky all the jobs I commuted to had showers for me so I just waited until I got to work and washed up there.

A-a-a-h vanity, thy name is woman!
Better to arrive with helmet hair than a concussion.
Having said that, may spouse/stoker Kay wears her hair a bit short and runs a comb through it before entering non-bikee friendly envrionments (restaurant, etc).
We always wear a helmet as we've had a couple good crashes at speed and few run ins with trucks/cars at 40 mph.
If we knew we were going to live this long, we'd have taken better care of ourselves! She just turned 73 and we've been happily married for 53 years.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

I either wash my hair when I get home from work in the morning and then blow-dry it before bed (clean, dry hair is less likely to go all wonky under the helmet) or just pull it back in a ponytail. Either way, I bring a brush and a few extra ponytail holders with me.

When all else fails, pull hair up in a bun.

nothing finer,



and read,

https://thedangerousofficial.blogspot...-on-bikes.html

I am a guy with long hair, I always put it in a ponytail when I ride, because if I don't it will be a tangeled mess, after I am done riding I just comb it and let it hang loose.