How To Protect Your Hair While Riding Your Motorcycle

When riding a motorcycle, riders want a hairstyle that can fit inside a helmet without becoming messy. When wearing a motorcycle helmet, it can tug out and pull out your hair by the roots, resulting in hair loss. However, this can be prevented if you know how to wear your motorcycle helmet correctly.

Read on to discover tips on how to protect your hair while riding a motorcycle.

• Table of Contents
• 1. Wear a Helmet
• 1.1 Helmet for Long Hair Protection
• 1.2 Helmet for Short Hair Protection
• 1.3 How to Maintain Your Hair Style While Wearing a Helmet?
• 1.4 How to Prevent Hair Damage When Wearing a Helmet?
• 2. Wear a Comforter
• 3. Last Words

1. Wear a Helmet

Wearing a helmet offers protection for your head, including your hair. Though constantly wearing a helmet can cause hair loss and ruin your hairstyle, wearing a helmet the right way can ensure your hairstyle does not become messed up.

Hairstyles like the milled, gradient or other innovative haircuts will easily fit inside a helmet. Though it is possible to wear a helmet with long hair if it is pulled back or pinned, it is best to stick with short hair.

Before donning your helmet, try to avoid using any styling products. Since it can become humid beneath the helmet, gel or hair spray will destroy your hairdo. Furthermore, it's not very sanitary because your helmet's interior will become contaminated by the chemicals in styling products.

1.1 Helmet for Long Hair Protection

Use a Headband or Scarf

Cotton and silk headbands or scarves can keep your hair untangled while shielding your long strands from bad weather conditions. Always use a tidy scarf or headband to minimize the risk of hair damage.

Headbands or scarves constructed from ordinary fabrics might contain germs that will damage rather than protect your hair’s roots. Make sure to wash and dry the fabric often to wash out any harmful germs and bacteria.

Braid Your Hair

An easy way to keep your long hair from getting tangled and appearing scruffy is to braid it. Whether you choose a french braid or a fishtail braid, you can maintain this stylish appearance even after you reach your destination if you wrap your hair around your neck like a scarf.

For your bike ride, loosely braiding your locks can help you decrease traction and friction and leave you with gentle waves that give your appearance a little dynamism.

Get a Good Quality Beach Spray

Long hair will likely be frayed or messy at the end of your motorcycle ride, whether you choose to braid or wrap your hair in a messy bun. If you want to improve your hair’s natural look, you can apply some beach spray.

Though you can purchase a commercial beach spray, you can easily make your own by combining lukewarm water, two tablespoons of sea salt, one teaspoon of avocado oil, and a few drops of your preferred essential oil.

1.2 Helmet for Short Hair Protection

Use a Head Sock or Beanie

You can also maintain your hairdo by wearing a head sock, though it might not be the most fashionable choice. However, it is one of the cheaper options available. Alternatively, a beanie can be used to keep the sweat out of your eyes.

If you choose either option, make sure to wash them frequently to prevent bacteria from accumulating.

Get a Good Quality Hair Wax

Even while wearing a helmet, hair wax can help make your hair more resistant to wind and moisture. However, using low-quality hair waxes might harm your hair, so make sure you use hair wax with natural ingredients.

1.3 How to Maintain Your Hair Style While Wearing a Helmet?

Head Scarf or Bandana

Wearing a head scarf or bandana under a helmet usually keeps your hairstyle from being ruined. It is best to use a bandana made of cloth rather than leather since the latter could cause excess sweating and rashes on your scalp.

Keep Your Hair Dry

Always dry your hair completely before putting on a helmet because damp hair will take the shape of the helmet’s interior.

Less Styling Products

Avoid using styling products as much as you can. Hair spray or gel doesn’t easily come out and may result in wet hair. Moreover, any gel in your hair traps dirt inside the helmet, resulting in messy and dirty hair.

Spray Antistatic Agent Inside the Helmet

To prevent your hair from standing on end, spray antistatic agents inside the helmet.

Rose oil is a natural antistatic agent that you can apply on a hairbrush when styling your hair. This will prevent your hair from frizzing out due to static electricity. 

Wear a Thin Layer of Soft Cloth Under the Helmet

A budget-friendly option to maintain your hairstyle is to wear a layer of soft cloth on your hair before wearing a helmet. A cotton T-shirt would suffice for this purpose.

Choose the Right Helmet

Choose a helmet that perfectly fits your head’s size and shape. Don’t buy loose helmets that will constantly shift around and slip off your head. Examine the inner lining and make sure the helmet does not fit too tight to prevent your hair from being pressed against your head.

1.4 How to Prevent Hair Damage When Wearing a Helmet?

Keep Your Hair Clean and Moisturized

Following a healthy routine of cleaning and moisturizing your hair when taking showers will help wash off excess sebum. Our scalp secretes sebum, a natural body oil that constantly conditions your hair. However, if sebum accumulates on the scalp, this can cause your hair to become oily and greasy when not washed regularly.

Sebum buildup becomes a source of food for bacteria, causing dandruff and hair loss. It is best to wash your hair immediately after a ride since sweating under the helmet can cause more sebum to cover your scalp.

Adding moisturizer when washing your hair helps the hair roots and ends stay healthy. Moisturized hair also reduces friction between the helmet’s inner lining and your hair. This improves your hair’s overall health and prevents hair damage.

Use a Biker’s Mask

Wear a mask made of thin, soft cloth between your helmet and hair. It will act as a barrier and prevent friction between your hair and the helmet’s inner lining. This mask will help absorb sweat, which will keep your hair from becoming greasy and ruining your helmet’s inner lining. Make sure to get a mask that is made of good-quality material and wash it as often as possible to keep it clean and tidy.

Avoid Wearing Helmet If You Have Wet Hair

Wearing a helmet if you have wet hair will cause your helmet’s interior to become damp, resulting in a humid space that will cause bacteria to grow. The lack of airflow inside the helmet will encourage the further growth of fungi and germs. This can result in scalp infection, hair loss, and other problems.

Wait a few more minutes for your hair to dry out thoroughly before wearing a helmet.

Buy a Good Quality Helmet

Buy a certified helmet made up of super-quality materials that are tested for safety in the event of an accident. After checking the quality, pay attention to the size of the helmet, and get the one that fits and comes off easily without disturbing your hair.

Keep Your Helmet Clean

Clean your helmet on a weekly basis by removing and washing the inner lining. This will help you get rid of sweat, dust, and bacteria that may have accumulated. Wipe the rest of the helmet with a clean moist cloth.

Massage Your Scalp

Another way to prevent hair damage is by making sure it is well nourished. Hair follicles tend to die quickly when starved of nutrients. To reduce hair loss and boost blood circulation, it is essential to massage your scalp with warm oil when taking a shower.

2. Wear a Comforter

After choosing your motorcycle helmet, consider the base or helmet comforter you want to use to better protect your hair. It is best to use a balaclava or a bandana to cover your hair along the back and forehead.

Choose your comforter based on the material and season you ride your motorcycle. Fabrics like cotton, polyester, lycra, polypropylene, polyester silk, and knitwear are best suited for summer. These fabrics are sweat-wicking materials, which help absorb sweat and keep it out of your eyes.

In winter, choose comforters made of fleece, merino wool, or polypropylene. These fabrics will help keep your head warm and regulate the temperature of the helmet’s interior.

It is best to buy a comforter for the following reasons:

• Long hair remains outside the helmet and needs protection from moisture, dust, insects, etc.
• With a comforter under the helmet, it is easier to regain or maintain your hair’s desired volume
• A comforter will protect your hair from damager and cold weather

3. Last Words

For years, motorcycle riders have been struggling with helmet hair. You can prevent ruining your hairstyle by fitting you're inside the right helmet and wearing a headband or a soft scarf between the helmet and your hair. In addition, regularly washing, moisturizing, and caring for your hair can improve its health and minimize hair damage while riding. If you are facing motorcycle storage problems then you can increase motorcycle storage capacity by getting leather, hard, or universal saddlebags. You can customize your motorcycle look by installing some parts, including sissy bars, crash bars, or fairings.