Same situation here - I just made sure to try things on with my hair up in a hairnet when I went helmet shopping.
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I refer you back to my post #9 which might be, in effect, straight from the horseās mouth.
No knot hairnets are the best, even for those with thin fine hair. Here is a tutorial to how to use them. Quick and easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvWH48UtPjQ
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Truly, this person isnāt for real. Donāt feed the troll.
The issue is that hair in the helmet negatively impacts how the helmet works. Helmets (of all kinds) are meant to be in contact with our head and remain still upon impact. Creating a thick layer of hair under the helmet can cause the helmet to rotate or twist upon impact which can lead to injuries to your scalp or cause a TBI.
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I think this is kind of BS, and IMO a little racist to think this way. And no, Iām not calling you racist. Thereās been a lot of misinformation around helmets and itās been spread through the horse community.
There are people, especially POC, who naturally have thick hair and unless they shave their heads the helmet is not going to be in contact with their head. Shall we tell them they canāt ride because of this?
I actually had a student once who told me she couldnāt ride anymore because of this sort of misinformation. She was terrified that because she had naturally thick hair her helmet wouldnāt work.
A properly adjusted helmet will stay in place no matter if you have hair up in your helmet or not. It will even stay in place if the person is wearing a wig, or a headscarf, which yes, some equestrians do.
Edit: I canāt even find one study thatās compared accidents involving hair up vs hair down. If anyone has one, please link it. The studies do show one thing though; any helmet use is better than no helmet use.
I also donāt give a flying fig about tradition. I ride jumpers anyways, so I could wear a neon pink shirt with orange riding pants and no one could do anything about it.
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This is one of the most idiotic posts I have ever read. It is proof the poster has no idea about what a helmet does or how they are designed and tested. The post to which you, @StormyDay, replied had nothing to do with racism. It was pure scientific and engineering fact. PERIOD.
And, yes there are studies done to look at the effect of hair up of down. This was done as part of the development of the MIPS system in ski helmets. Hair down allows the helmet to properly engage the skull at a tighter fit, increasing its effectiveness.
If you want to argue against facts, go get some.
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Then please show me these facts. Because from all I have seen, there has been no studies done in equestrian sports whatsoever when it comes to hair up vs down. And saying that a helmet has to fit tightly against your head disqualifies a large portion of the population from wearing one properly.
This is an interesting way of wording this.
Do helmet fit studies have to be for equestrian sports to work here?
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Disclaimer: I am not a POC. POC that I know who ride horses, bikes or motorcycles generally use a bandana or a skull cap type of covering and/or pull hair back. I do not know anyone who has tried to fit the helmet to their hair- because helmet rules are pretty clear it should fit securely to your head (not to mention the fact one of my BBFs POC said she wouldnāt dream of it without a skull cap because her hair is very britlle and doesnāt want it to break).
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@StormyDay doing a quick 5 minute search here are a few items:
Letās start here. Of course as a member of ASTM I will not publish the standard or the testing results etc. as they are intended to be purchased (even I have to buy the standards that I helped write).
ASTM F1163-15 Standard Specification for Protective Headgear Used in Horse Sports and Horseback Riding
Abstract
This specification provides a description of a test method for protective headgear used in horse sports and horseback riding that will measure the ability of the headgear to reduce head acceleration when impacting objects of various shapes. Materials covered by this specification include the pair of appropriate size headform and helmet and the anvils for the impacts tests, which consist of the flat anvil and the equestrian hazard anvil. The helmet shall be conditioned in the following environments: ambient, low temperature, high temperature, and water immersion, and shall be impacted at each of four sites centered on or anywhere above the center of the impact line (two sites on the flat anvil and two sites on the equestrian hazard anvil). Dynamic loading and helmet stability tests shall be performed and shall conform to the requirements specified.
This is a test that uses a skull headform and not one with hair as that is how all helmets are designed by all manufactures (any sport or activity).
Here is an example of a bicycle helmet test where they even examined if shampoos and hair products can damage the helmet materials: https://helmets.org/substancetest.htm
Here is a study on football helmets and hair. Interestingly their conclusion was:āThese findings indicate that hair at the headāhelmet interface and/or a loose helmet attenuate a head impact, possibly by allowing more movement of the helmet relative to the headform during the impact.ā
http://www.ircobi.org/wordpress/downloads/irc18/pdf-files/50.pdf
Here is nice biomechanical test that shows hair significantly affects helmet biomechanics: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325240618_Evaluation_of_the_head-helmet_sliding_properties_in_an_impact_test
There are literally hundreds of tests that prove this point regardless of helmet. The key as many allude to have the best fit with the hair hanging down that enables the most padding to be used.
In the end, as said, a skull cap (doo rag, surgical cap, etc.) or short hair gives you the best protection when wearing any helmet. Hairnets donāt count as they do not fit tightly to the skull as a skull cap would.
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So, no, there havenāt been any studies on equestrian helmets demonstrating that hair being worn one way or another makes a difference.
Just because something is tested one way, it doesnāt automatically mean that it wonāt work other ways. Until someone actually does testing showing that having thick hair, or hair up in a helmet, etc is more dangerous than with it down, itās a moot point. And comparing studies from other sports isnāt very helpful; they use helmets much differently than we do. Our sports and impacts are not comparable.
And telling all POC that they should just wear a skull cap or get short hair isā¦. Well I canāt even with that.
I think they do, but Iām just one person.
Equestrian sports are so different than other impact sports. Our helmets are designed very differently even from something like bike helmets.
Stop. A person of color having thick ethic hair and wearing a helmet is NOT the same as white girls shoving 2 foot of pony tail into their helmet for a style. Those things are not the same at all and for you to suggest they are is wildly insensitive.
Ok but they donāt have the same choices the blonde girls with pony tails do. I can shove my pony tail into my helmet or I could just ā¦ gasp show my femininity and leave my hair the f out of my helmet.
Well thatās not what TBI specialists and helmet manufacturers say.
Their are religious and cultural reasons as to why some equestrians wear headscarfās or wigs. Those reasons are a lot more valid than a stupid, dated, look we do for ātraditionā.
Thereās NO valid reason for this stupid āshoving your hair in your helmetā trend and IMO, governing bodies need to outlaw it. Itās not inclusive, itās unsafe, and sexist.
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No, @StormyDay, they arenāt. While the biomechanics of head impact is different our helmets are the same as many others. The key with ours is simply covering the correct parts of the skull.
So, you are wrong in your assertion that the helmets are different.
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No, the fact that people would post that having thick hair in a helmet is a danger is insensitive. There are people who donāt have a choice.
Yeah, outlawing something is always the way to make everything more inclusive 
As I said before, I donāt give a flying fig about tradition. Wear your hair, up, down, in a braid, in a bun, with a bow. Doesnāt matter. But just do what makes you happy and comfortable. And donāt shame or fear monger others for their choices.
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Having thick hair is unavoidable but the stupid hunter hair style is avoidable. This is not hard, come on. You know thereās a huge difference.
Good. Glad you agree.
Most donāt have the privlege of choosing how they want to do their hair. I do, because Iām an adult and also trainerless and I donāt ride for a team or barn so I have the privlege of wearing my hair however the heck I want. But IEA kids, IHSA kids, plenty of hunter jumper barns, all of have trainers and coaches telling them that they need to shove their freakin hair in their helmet. Look at the pictures of IEA nationalsā¦ every kid is wearing their hair like that. Yes, technically itās a choice just like you technically have the choice to go show in a sparkly neon green hunt coat but you still canāt really do it without sticking out like a sore thumb.
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Um, again, @StormyDay, we are discussing the facts that hair changes how helmets function. You render your assertions moot by claiming you donāt care, yet continually you assert weird claims that this is somehow exclusionary.
The facts wonāt change regardless of what you choose to argue.
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I donāt really understand your point here. First you say that the specifications/test standards are on head forms without hair and that is how all helmets are designed. Then you link two articles that do very small sample size studies looking at the effects of hair and show that it does make a difference, in one case actually reducing the forces on the skull and in another showing very different coefficients of friction than standard head forms used in testing/design. Then, you say that hundreds of similar studies show that putting hair up in a helmet is proven to be worse? None of the studies you cited actually addressed that point.
What I took from the articles you cited is that hair vs no hair makes a difference in the results and so perhaps helmet manufacturers and safety standards should actually be considering that and doing tests with real hair instead of assuming that everyone wearing a helmet is a bald man?
I also note that both of the studies cited that actually did look at the effects of hair vs no hair appear to have looked only at Caucasian hair, however the texture and slipperiness of peopleās hair obviously can vary quite considerably. So these studies would need to be done on a wide range of hair types to really be able to provide guidance for all riders.
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Ok, so itās unavoidable but we are still going to post about how itās possibly dangerous, with zero evidence to back that claim up?
I think you missed the last part; donāt shame people for their choices. That applies to everyone; those on here and the judges, trainers, etc. Some people have come on here, and on other social media sites, and claimed that having the hair up or too thick of hair is pretty much as bad as no helmet. Thatās not helpful, itās just fear mongering.
The truth is we just donāt know. We donāt know if a bald person is less likely to have a TBI than a person with a full head of hair. Or if a person with their hair in a net is more likely to have a TBI than someone with their hair down. Or if things such as hair gel or bandanas effect it. We donāt know, because there hasnāt been any studies done.
If we go off of what has been studied, then we are going to see a lot of bald headed test dummies, which would suggest maybe we should all be bald. But Iām not going to go shave my head.
Until someone actually does a study on equestrian helmets showing one way or another, Iām going to give the following advice to my students; Wear what is comfortable. Look into MIPS helmets; the extra tech isnāt going to hurt. Have your hair how it is comfortable for you. Make sure the helmet is snug on your head, and your chinstrap is tightly adjusted. And enjoy your ride.
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