How To Wear Helmets Without Messing Up Hair? (Explained)

It’s gorgeous outside, and you want to embrace the perfect weather by taking your motorcycle to work or to your lunch date.

You want to soak the sun and stick your knees in the breeze… but not your hair!

Helmet hair is a side effect of ripping and roaring, and sometimes your destination is somewhere you want to look good, full of people you want to look good for.

But how do you wear a helmet without messing up your hair? Find out in this article.

Table of Contents

Here’s How to Wear a Helmet Without Messing Up Your Hair:

To prevent helmet hair, wash your hair regularly with dandruff-fighting shampoo, use lighter hair products, cover your head with a bandanna, style your hair with buns and pony-tails, and wear a quality helmet that fits properly and keeps the interior clean.

Is It Really Possible To Wear Helmets Without Messing up Your Hair?

You can avoid messing up your hair while wearing a helmet by washing your hair regularly with shampoos intended to reduce dandruff, using light hair products, gels, and waxes, and by covering your hair with a buffer like a bandanna while you ride.

Let’s face it, half the fun of jumping on a motorcycle is pulling up, jumping off of it, and looking fly. While there are times that rough-edged mountain man is the vibe I’m going for, your boy has certainly gone on his fair share of moto-dates; the name of the game there is cool, collected, crisp, and clean.

I find that when I wash my hair regularly, it cooperates more when I’m aiming for the classier moto aesthetic.

Washing your hair with your routine quality hair products regularly will help it retain its shape once you pop off your helmet, but I find that using shampoo recipes written to combat dandruff works overtime.

Dandruff removing shampoo helps your hair to keep shape by repelling seat beads and dandruff flakes off of your hair, making it less adhesive.

The less sticky your hair is, the less it sticks to your helmet’s interior, and the more it retains its shape on your dismount when you shed your protective lid.

Another way to achieve a hairstyle advantage over your helmet is to use light hair products to keep it in place. When we say light in this case, we mean light.

Heavy hair products have the potential to cause your hair to stick to the inside of your helmet, taking on its dome shape and locking it in for the rest of the day/night. Lighter hair products, waxes, and gels will keep it in place without sticking to the inside of your helmet.

Lightly treat your hair with products that let you restyle your hair on the fly once you’re free of the helmet.

Most states want motorcycles to have at least one mirror for safety, but who’s stopping you from using it for style?

Once you’ve got your hair cleaned and sweat resistant and styled with some light hair products, go ahead and cover it with a bandanna or something similar for an extra layer of protection, further preventing your hair from sticking to the ads inside your high-grade head protector.

Read on for some stylish head covering options.

Is There a Motorcycle Helmet That Doesn’t Mess up Your Hair?

There isn’t a helmet on the market that won’t affect your hair with a helmet head. That said, not wearing a helmet allows the wind to mess up your hair even more. The best defense against helmet hair is washing and styling your hair and covering it with a bandanna.

Everything comes at a price. The thrill and timesaving qualities of high-speed moto-roasting cost some wind in your hair, but that’s part of the fun.

You could commute in a car and wear your hair however you want, with the added comfort and safety of being in a car, but you’re sacrificing the joy of the warm sun and cool breeze.

And while you lose some hairstyle options when you jump in the saddle, you have the unique Motorrad cool factor that more than makes up for it.

I don’t always have access to a car, but when I do, I choose the option that makes the most sense for the situation at hand.

Now don’t go ditching the helmet just because you can’t rock a beehive at the chopper show, no matter how hard-headed you might be—the wind will mess your helmetless hair up even more than those soft helmet pads.

And if an accident should happen while you’re not wearing a helmet, the impact won’t be good for any part of your head, let alone your hairdo.

Just treat your hair with some light product, throw a bandanna between your hair and your hard shell, and restyle your doo in the rearview mirror when you get where you’re going.

If you’re indeed going to a chopper show, don’t worry—the most real moto-maniacs will be doing the same thing.

How Do I Keep My Hair From Getting Flat in a Helmet?

The problem of having flat hair under a helmet can be solved easily by styling, positioning, and covering your hair adequately, using the correct hair cleaning and styling products, and wearing a good quality helmet. Also, make an effort to keep the interior of your helmet clean.

High-Grade Helmet

It’s the friction of your helmet that flattens your hair while riding. A poorly fitting helmet will put pressure on your hair, and cheap pads will yank, pull, and split your hair.

Also, keep in mind that even the best brands in motorcycle helmets design their skull defenders to fit different head shapes.

Choose a high-grade helmet that fits your head shape well.
Wear a helmet with sufficient space to let your hair move and breathe.
A helmet with good ventilation will prevent your hair from suffocating; healthy hair restyles easier when you get to your destination.

Bandannas, Baklavas, Beanies, and Braids

Bandannas are an effective defense against helmet friction. Bandannas can also add volume to your hair by keeping it stacked—volume is the antithesis to flatness.

Style your hair first, then wrap it in a triangulated bandanna, tying the handkerchief where the style is most at risk.

In a later section, we’ve provided a complete list of stylish head covering options to mix it up a bit-not that there’s anything wrong with the typical bandanna handkerchief.

Natural Oils

Treating your hair, roots, and scalp with natural fats provides nutrients to your hair, and healthy hair retains its shape.

These natural oils will thicken up thin hair or hair that’s predisposed to flattening.

Adding healthy nutrients and fluffing up hair-thickness can defend against flat hair and makes restyling your hair upon arrival much easier.

Some of the most nutrient-rich natural oils:

Coconut oil
Olive oil
Almond oil
Jojoba oil.

Clean Helmet Interior

A filth-filled helmet will mess your hair up in all the obvious ways dirt makes hair dirty.

In addition to the oil, debris, and friction, helmet shells generate heat.

The hotter your helmet pads are, the more they absorb the moisture from your hair, causing friction and flattening your hair.

Here are a few actions you can take to keep your helmet pads cool and clean:

When your helmets are not in use, clean and moisturize your helmet pads.
Keep your helmet clean and dry it properly to prevent bacteria and other hair-damaging particles from growing in the helmet and trapping hair-flattening heat.

What Hairstyle Can You Use With Helmets?

Any hairstyle that uses light product, dry shampoo, or a blow dryer to increase the volume of your hair will provide more resistance to friction and pressure. The most helmet-resistant hairstyles include braids, buns, and ponytails. Avoid putting a helmet over wet hair.

Avoid risking the ruin of your style by avoiding hairstyles with little to no volume.

The absence of hair volume will cause flat helmet hair, as thin hairs separate from one another, flattening and jeopardizing your hairstyle.

Styling your hair with a blow dryer is a good way to fight against gravity’s effects on your mane.

Arm your hairstyle with volume to fight against helmet-head by following these four easy steps:

After thoroughly washing your hair with high-grade, dandruff-resistant shampoo, towel dry your wet hair just enough so that some moisture remains.
Apply a light bit of heat-resistant moisturizer to your hair.
Set your dryer to high and blow-dry for five minutes, sending your hair in the direction in which you want your hairstyle to flow, ensuring your hairs are indeed going in that direction.
Apply a light wax or gel to set your style in place, something that adds volume but nothing that will stick to the pads inside your motorcycle helmet.

Another pro tip I’ve picked up from some hairstylist friends is to treat your hair with dry shampoo. Dry shampoos won’t wash away your natural hair oils, which provide moisture, volume, and resistance to friction.

That said, I’m told never to apply the dry hair washing products to your roots, and your roots are where those oils are produced. Spray the dry shampoo to the volume of your hair.

Types of Braids You Can Use With Helmets:

Ponytails and braids are some of the best-bet hairstyles to rock beneath your helmet.

There is a multiplicity of braid styles to try, depending on your looks and vibe.

Here are three of the braid styles we think work well with helmets:

Double Braids: This one’s great for guys and gals alike; Willy Nelson’s been proving how stylish the double braids are for years. Quick and easy, part your hair to two sides and form a braid on either side of your head.
Basic Braid: Your standard braided ponytail, achieved by pulling your hairs in one direction, splitting the mass into three even ponytails, and braiding them together.
Low Braid: Pull all your hairs into a bun towards the bottom of the back of your head. Lock your fresh style in place with headbands or hair elastic.

How Do I Protect My Hair From Wearing a Helmet?

Wearing a protective cloth like a headband, bandanna, or scarf protects hair from friction and pressure. Wash your hair regularly and use light hair wax for extra protection, and carry a small brush or comb with you to fix your hair when you arrive and take off your helmet.

Here are a few stylish examples of cloth hairs coverings that protect your hair from helmets:

- Bandanna/handkerchief
- Braid wraps
- Scarfs
- Balaklava/ Kafia
- Sweat Absorber
- Beanie

When you get where you’re scooting to, take your helmet off slowly, and then your cloth covering.

Use that little brush or your hand to fix your style in your rearview mirror, and your biker style will stay bright and bold!

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