I'm doing a write up for the Grease Rag blog on bike commuting, and I have a question for you all.

Stylish hair. Helmets. Never the two shall meet?

I have a few thoughts on this. The first is that I think that it should be acceptable to have helmet hair. I also think it should be okay to wear cycling socks, have a little grease here and there, and rock the practical footwear. But maybe my ideas of "beauty," and "work appropriate" are a little off. I know most of us aren't being forced to wear corsets or nylons and stilettos to work, but I also know a lot of workplaces would not be okay with a lady in sneakers and shants. So let's talk about how to look professional without giving up the helmet habit. (btw, my views on redefining beauty and work appropriate attire and in general just being less fussy applies to male and female dress, but I'm going to focus on the WTFs for my article.)

I have a few tips and tricks that I use to get by. I want to hear what you are doing, because I see some beautiful locks and tresses out there, so I know you've got some secrets!

Be honest with your hair stylist. "I don't own a hair dryer, I have no idea where my part is, I would like to look sexy after I've had a styrofoam bucket on my head." I've had decent results with this approach.

Braid it, tie it up, pin it down. I call this method "Binding the Beast." Twists, buns and french braids are work appropriate in my world.

If I have wet hair because I either showered before I left or I showered at work, I just work a little mousse or light gel into it, shake it around, and let it air dry. (I have a ton of fine, coarse, voluminous hair cut into mid-length layers, so this works for me.)

For dry hair I get my hair to look how I want it to, then slap a cycling cap on it and go. As long as my hair isn't too long the ends don't get wind-whipped and when I take off the cap I'm good to go. If I don't have the cap I find my head resembles one of those spiraling nerf footballs because of how the vents in my helmet shape my hair into ridges. (This goes double if my hair is wet.)

Thanks in advance for sharing your hairstyle knowledge with me. =]

Super short hair (<1\2") accentuates helmet grooves. That's all I got for ya.

+1 on finding a good hairstylist - I have a lot of super fine hair and letting it go longer so I can put it up and hide the marks from the helmet is working. I'm still dealling with sweat on the bangs - may be the cycling cap will work, but then I worry about just increasing heat/sweat overall which would not be good, but plan to try it.

I also stopped at one of the hair thingy boutiques at the mall and bought some cute hair clips and thing-a-ma- bobs that hopefully will increase my proficiency. I brought them in last night when I got my haircut - just hoping for some advice and before I knew it they were all out of their packages and my wonderful stylist was checking 'em all out and showing me what works, how it works and what doesn't.

Another thing I have been using is a butane hair curler - very small barrel, but I can fix some of the wildness from the wind and tame it down a bit as well as try to fix my bangs. Link:

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod. ... tid=119802

Very easy to throw in your kit in a pannier.

Any one got tips for the bangs for when the helmet is on and off, on and off a multitude of times?

Here's a little plug for Konawerks Hair: Home of the Helmet Resistant Haircut. I am sold. I've always felt that going to a salon and saying, "I don't want to style my hair. I don't want to spend more than 2 minutes with it," is sort of like going to a surgeon to ask about homeopathy. Both are professionals trained to cut. All stylists have said to me, "This will only take 20 minutes." Uh, no. Jason gave me the cutest hair cut I have ever had AND it gets cuter the more I take my helmet on and off and the more I sweat.

Okay, aside from that, I suggest:
- keep it simple and avoid having to use a bunch of products
- accept and love your hair for its natural quirks which helps decrease the number of products and time
- for long hair, put it in pigtails or a french braid before leaving and take them out and comb through once at work
- use the hand dryers if you really want dry hair

Winter is different because in the summer sweat can be a hair-styling product and, at least for me, makes my hair curlier. A hat and a helmet is a different thing, but at least a little mousse doesn't run into my eyes in the winter.


We used those butane curlers in junior high when big bangs were the thing and you had to get dressed after gym.

Having either really short hair or really long hair (at least, long enough to tie back) seems to help sometimes.

Mine is waist-length and getting longer, and I put it in a low twist or back braid if I am wearing a helmet (which is not often enough, I must admit).


As for my bangs, wind and helmets just cause them to get mashed or stuck straight up. I just walk around looking worse for wear most of the time.

I cut my hair very short 2 weeks ago. I ride, I sweat, I shake it out, it works. It is off of my neck and doesn't really take much effort post shower. I am in love with it. I don't have pictures. Guess I need to show up for WOW this week and show it off.

Hot!

I usually chop my hair off for winter. (Takes less time to dry, I can smooshe it under a hat.) But this humid summer has really made me want to take the scissors to it a little earlier. Holy big hair, Batman.

I did that too, but I'm finding that it now sticks up in weird places (or all over, actually). I just wet my hands and run them through it if it's being unruly. I never had helmet hair when my hair was long, but it was almost always pulled back anyways.

I found pictures of the new hair from last weekend, post ride. They are on facebook. I will try to bring them over here after work.

I have a giant curly fro... which looks insane no matter what I do to it. Me and my fro have an agreement to disagree on what looks good and live symbiotically together. Bikefrocurl<3

New hair cut.




This is after the UAR. I wore a helmet. I sweated a lot. It was 90-some degrees out and humid. I think I'm keeping this style.

Gorgeous! it definitely is a keeper

wish my hair would do that, it won't