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Sweat in the eyes on warm days

Old 07-20-21, 12:39 AM
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NextDIYikeproj
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Sweat in the eyes on warm days

I’m a guy that is blessed with a beautiful head and therefore have no hair 😉. I also tend to sweat a lot when I ride on warm days. The sweat simply flows down in to my eyes and drips on to my glasses.

I got an idea to solve this in a cheap and simple way and I thought I would share it.

Do you have the same problem? How did you sole it?

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Old 07-20-21, 01:05 AM
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CliffordK
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Interesting solution.

I like cotton sweat bands. I was doing a lot of commuting earlier, so I would simply hang it out to dry whenever I would stop, then rotate the driest, least white section to the front. But they would generally do fine for longer rides too.
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Old 07-20-21, 01:41 AM
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I wear a cycling cap
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Old 07-20-21, 01:46 AM
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Originally Posted by Germany_chris
I wear a cycling cap
I've tried a lot of caps, but I like the helmet tight and a cap tends to be uncomfortable and sqeezed in. But that is a matter of personal preference!
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Old 07-20-21, 02:06 AM
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Never found anything that effectively wicks away all of the moisture, for the full duration of a ride (or run, or hours of tennis, or whatever).

A cotton sweatband around the head seems to work as well as anything, for me. Perhaps with today's newfangled wicking materials, a better "mouse trap" has been designed.
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Old 07-20-21, 02:16 AM
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Originally Posted by Clyde1820
Never found anything that effectively wicks away all of the moisture, for the full duration of a ride (or run, or hours of tennis, or whatever).

A cotton sweatband around the head seems to work as well as anything, for me. Perhaps with today's newfangled wicking materials, a better "mouse trap" has been designed.
I doubt there is a 100% solution, it''s more about damage control. And some ways are better than others!
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Old 07-20-21, 02:37 AM
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Cotton bandanas. I have a zillion of 'em. They're thin enough that my helmets fit fine over the bandana. They keep the sweat out of my eyes. It disperses and evaporates quickly.

If I want to leave the top of my head exposed I'll fold the bandanas to cover only my forehead. My older bandanas are worn and thin enough that it doesn't hinder my helmet fit.

I have enough of them that I can wear a fresh one every day for a month, so I wash 'em every couple of weeks.

Usually I'm a fan of newer synthetic wicking tech fabrics, but in this case plain ol' cotton works fine for me.

FWIW, I have long hair and that usually helps control sweat. But not always.

I also have helmets with drip channels over the brow to divert sweat away from the face. It works pretty much like your window sealing method -- the sweat band diverts sweat to the drip channels. Those kinda work, but the dripping sweat gets blown back into my face anyway. Kinda feels like fat raindrops in a summer sun shower. So the cotton bandanas work better for me.
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Old 07-20-21, 03:51 AM
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Skull cap with SPF50 rather than a cycling cap. Super thin but no more sweat in eyes or on glasses.
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Old 07-20-21, 05:02 AM
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With temps in the mid to high 90's here in Maryland, I've struggled with sweat in my eyes for most of July. My brother suggested a skullcap. I bought this one, which is also SPF50 rated, helpful as my bald head burns if I forget sunscreen. I've taken a few rides with the cap, it's definitely not a 100% solution, but helps. The weather strip solution.in the video doesn't look viable to me, it seems like the helmet would be too snug.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093GBGKPD...roduct_details

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....483369110_.gif
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Old 07-20-21, 05:35 AM
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Originally Posted by NextDIYikeproj
I’m a guy that is blessed with a beautiful head and therefore have no hair 😉. I also tend to sweat a lot when I ride on warm days. The sweat simply flows down in to my eyes and drips on to my glasses.

I got an idea to solve this in a cheap and simple way and I thought I would share it.

Do you have the same problem? How did you sole it?

https://youtu.be/DjVf2K-9qag
I always ride with a do rag. Don’t you get helmet lines all over your head?
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Old 07-20-21, 05:43 AM
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https://store.haloheadband.com/
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Old 07-20-21, 06:02 AM
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Bandana and another in jersey pocket for quick dry and swap when needed.
Can also rinse for cool / clean off.
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Old 07-20-21, 07:42 AM
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I have less hair than this guy and I use a halo headband AND a Under Armor Skullcap. Adter 90 minutes I usually stop and wring the headband, and I'm good for another hour or 90 minutes.
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Old 07-20-21, 08:20 AM
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SweatVac has worked for me for quite a while. I got one just to keep from getting those strange spotted patterns on my head from where the sun shines through my helmet. It's also seems to cool my head better than without. Sometimes I wet it before the ride on real hot dry days.

There was a time a few years ago that I was having a lot of trouble with sweat again rolling down into my eyes, then I realized I'd just started putting my SweatVac on so it sat further up on my brow, concealed by my helmet. When I started putting it just over my brow again, the sweat stopped getting in my eyes.

But I'm sure most anything like a sweat band, dew rag or whatever works as long as you get it in the right place.
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Old 07-20-21, 09:14 AM
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Halo headband works for me...and I doubt any of you sweat more than me That little rubber strip on the headband works better than any cotton product. Forces all the sweat away from your eyes.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Old 07-20-21, 09:17 AM
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Originally Posted by BikingViking793
I always ride with a do rag. Don’t you get helmet lines all over your head?
Do you mean from the sunburn or from the sealing?

From sunburn, no, never had that problem.

From the sealing, a bit, check the video, but it wears off in half an hour or so. 😃
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Old 07-20-21, 09:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Warbird21
The weather strip solution.in the video doesn't look viable to me, it seems like the helmet would be too snug.
since I removed the original padding, the sealing doesn’t build much more than before the switch. So not a problem. 👍
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Old 07-20-21, 09:33 AM
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Depend on how much you sweat. For extreme cases a GUTR headband is good. Halo is next in line. There used to be a product called a Sweatshoot, which was like a GUTR sewn into a wicking headband. Those were best in my opinion.
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Old 07-20-21, 09:41 AM
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There's another thread on this very topic that's been discussed in detail.

I'm a firm believer in the Halo head band and Halo "bandana". I live in the muggy southeast and the way these are designed with a silicone rubber band built into the head band keeps sweat from running into the eyes. Quite effective actually and also saves the inner pads on the helmet.
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Old 07-20-21, 09:43 AM
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My favorite is the headsweats shorty
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Old 07-20-21, 09:56 AM
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In my racing days, I took a different approach. I did nothing to keep sweat out of my eyes, but I did remove the salt from my sweat. It didn't sting.

The solution was very simple (but very un-American). I kept sodium out of my diet. Consumed perhaps 1000mg/day. But this meant I ate virtually no prepared foods. 3/4s of the supermarket was simply off limits.

Prior to starting this routine, I read that the human body adjusts its salt output (via sweat and urine) to the average amount of sodium it consumes. In other words, if you regularly consume 2000mg of sodium/day, your body puts a percentage of salt your urine and sweat to add up to 2000mg at the end of the day. But our bodies only have a very broad based "sodium-a-stat". It cannot react to what you are doing now. So a person who consumes a lot of sodium will be placing a large percentage of sodium into his/her sweat. The person who stays near sodium free will have near salt free sweat. No salt in the eyes. Also very little need for salt intake on very hot days. (Potassium doesn't play by the same rules. It must be replaced by everybody.)

That this works can be seen simply by looking at other parts of the world. There are people who live in desert climates with no local salt sources. Salt may be very expensive, an item for the wealthy. The poor? They don't eat it and don't need it. We westerners go there and if were aren't hanging with the wealthy, we'd better bring our salt or we suffer. And in contrast, my dad's stories of marching through Texas in the Army, WW2. Very high salt diet. More was consumed before the hot marches. The issued blouses streaked white down the back from salt. Those who consumed too little keeled over. Got rounded up by the medics, given salt intravenously (very, very unpleasant according to my dad) and sent back out.

Lastly, the low salt routine is NOT a quick fix. It takes many months to retrain the body to not excrete sodium. You have to taper down gradually or riskj sodiun deficit. (I found that came fairly naturally. It took my months to identify all the sources of salt; it is so pervasive.) I warned that this was un-American. But there is a real plus. Your jersey will stay far more pleasant!
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Old 07-20-21, 09:59 AM
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Ride a recumbent.

No sweat in your eyes.
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Old 07-20-21, 12:43 PM
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Originally Posted by seypat
I don't know if it was you or another poster that mentioned these but I got two from Amazon about a week ago. I've used it on my walk and my eyes are now protected from the salty, burning sweat for my three mile hilly walk. I have a bit less problem while biking where a HeadSweat works. But hiking I'm always wringing out the Headsweat or other bands. Have not tried the Halo on a hike yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Halo-II-Headb...%2C230&sr=1-11
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Old 07-20-21, 01:42 PM
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I know I've mentioned this in another thread or two but the halo headbands don't work any better/longer than a cheap cotton headband for me, dripping into my eyes after about 30 minutes. I have 4 different halo models (skullcap, wide, regular, narrow). Lately I have been using a SweatBlocker Headband from Original Free Range (https://originalfreerange.com/collec.../sweat-blocker). These are the same concept (although a much simpler implementation) as a gutr but are $7 vs $20+ for a gutr.
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Old 07-20-21, 02:24 PM
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Originally Posted by CliffordK
Interesting solution.

I like cotton sweat bands. I was doing a lot of commuting earlier, so I would simply hang it out to dry whenever I would stop, then rotate the driest, least white section to the front. But they would generally do fine for longer rides too.
I used to take two sweat bands with me. One to wear and one to hang out to dry on my handlebar.

I have found the ultimate solution but you might not want to hear it. Since I started riding recumbents I haven't had sweat in my eyes while riding. Actually I had forgotten about sweat in the eyes until the OP brought it up.

Thanks.
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