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NY Times Article: Black Equestrians Want to Be Safe. But They Can’t Find Helmets

Oh man. I remember one of the riders on my show team in high school use to use duct tape over a sports bra when we went to shows.

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Nooooo…that sounds awful! I mean, even today, sports bras are often not great, but they’re at least better than they were.

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Could be, but multi-colored bandaids only came out about 5 years ago. No design or testing needed. As for market, Black people get cut and bleed about as often as White people. Oh, and the multi-colored ones are more expensive.

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not black nor manufacture riding helmets but aren’t helmets supposed to fit snugly?

A proper fitted helmet should be snug all the way around your head . It should not move around and you don’t want any excess space between the helmet and your head.

https://help.sweetprotection.com/hc/en-150/articles/360017127319-Fit-guide-paddlehelmet

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I think helmet manufacturers need to look into this rather than be dismissive. I genuinely believe they weren’t aware.

I also think that people do need to consider hair styles with helmet fit. Anyone with locs will struggle. Buy a helmet with longer hair, cut it off and it won’t fit.

Maybe I’m misremembering but it seems like helmets have fewer sizes now than before.

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Helmet design has improved, for example oval and round shapes are now available. Changeable liners can help with fit. I don’t think it would be hard for helmet companies to tweak designs and liners to accommodate riders with different hair styles or textures. The snarky comments from some helmet manufacturers interviewed were disheartening. The comments from some readers showed they don’t get it.

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I read that quote earlier and it made me IRATE

It’s just so dismissive and shitty. My Brother In Christ, you simply don’t have hair. You are not taking safety matters into your own hands to try & make a safety device fit because the market hasn’t thought about you.

Flames.

Flames on the side of my face.

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Did… the BOT exec… really call the hairstyles of people of color… “an oddity”?!?!? Oh my snaffles. I must have misread that, because it almost sounds like he doesn’t want the business of what will soon be 50%+ of the U.S. population.

Hi. Welcome to the 21st century. Equestrian sport is populated by many different types of people, and — surprise — not all of them look like a C.W. Anderson illustration. If helmet makers can design hats for hunters who will insist on stuffing their entire hairdo up underneath, surely — surely!!! — it’s not too technically demanding to accommodate other various volumes/textures/shapes.

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Well done with the reference, @athelas. Best. Movie. Ever.

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It felt MOST appropriate.

Lots of folks are emailing BOT and I think that’s not
a bad strategy. I wear OneK and you can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, I will be sending them an email. I am their target demographic (re: a cis white adult ammy who had adult $ to spend) and I still wear their largest size because I have a big head and wavy hair. That needs to change. And I know OneK has been very receptive to customer feedback and suggestions!

Also: consider checking out Strides for Equality!

https://www.stridesforequality.org/

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I have dealt with this among our friends and their children when they visit frequently. Also, with our Godchildren. It isn’t just one style that doesn’t fit. It’s several common styles that don’t quite work. Simply change their hair style? Would you shave your head to ride? That would be the closest equivalent.

I didn’t make a big deal of it and just used our largest helmet to make do, but it pained me that we didn’t have a better option for the kids. That sort of thing discourages participation. I’m glad one company is at least working on it.

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At what point should a child taking riding lessons be compelled to cut their hair to fit into a helmet? Before their first lesson? Or perhaps equestrian sports equipment manufacturers don’t want to encourage inclusion? Perhaps equestrians don’t want to encourage inclusion?

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Right? Natural black hair and hairstyles designed for natural black hair are not “weird.”

And I’m pretty floored by the lack of knowledge / awareness here too. Black hair texture has nothing to do with fashion. The issue is that white people hair is by default the design standard and everything is an afterthought or an “oddity.”

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I doubt they don’t want to encourage inclusion. It’s much more likely they simply haven’t thought about it.

I can admit I am uneducated about hairstyles for natural black hair. I teach beginners and frequently a child will show up with a ponytail on top of their head or some other hair style that won’t work under a helmet. So I show the child and the parent what will work and it’s an easy on the spot fix. But it sounds as if there are styles that a person might wear that are not an easy alteration. So now I’m thinking about how to work with that should I encounter this in the future.

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I have tried to help a handful of new riding students trying to find a helmet to fit over braids or locs. It’s definitely a challenge, and I ended up having to send one young lady to a store that stocked Troxel as their sizing was more generous than the Ovation and One K we stocked. I talked to her about some ideas for keeping her hair flatter under the helmet, as pulling it back, even down low, made a large lump at the back of her head that made fitting hard; trying to contain her hair in low pigtails on each side, keeping the total volume of hair in each tie smaller.

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When I read the article, I was wondering whether the Troxel’s DialFit System might work for some people?

Helmet fit for hair is AWFUL. So hard on teen girls that just love their horses.
I had a student that kept multiple helmets for when her dreads were in or not. We were at an IEA competition one time and someone from another team tried to get her disqualified for her hair and helmet. Ive also had the fb helmet police go off on me before for a picture of her when the big hair helmet slid back one time.

I was like sure… find a helmet company that accomodates this hair.

Its awful and somebody should create a more accomodating helmet so its not such a barrier to entry to the sport, which she said helmet hair was. Withoyt her dreads, a helmet would leave rings around her hair for days if she didnt have big helmet/dreads in - which is why a lot of girls dont ride she said.

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I’m not black but my hair is very thick, curly, and long. If I want my hair up only 3 brands fit me without looking like a giant penis mushroom head Gpa, Kask, and Ovation. I think the bigger problem is not the size of the helmet its also the price point of the ones that actually fit. If you are on a budget the first 2 are definitely pricey. Every time I went to the tack store the girls helping me were in disbelief that helmets in the largest size they made just perched on top of my head. lol

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A lot of education needed on this thread about inclusive.behaviours, equity and biases. I would suggest, especially those in professional atmospheres, that you look into a bit of education.

At the end of the day, equality and equity are two different aspects. Everyone has equal access to helmets. Not everyone has equal access to helmets that fit, allowing them to display their authentic selves. If we want to encourage inclusivity in equestrian sports, we can’t be dismissive of these needs, and other people’s stories.

A mom in Toronto just designed a new bike helmet for her kids, it’s both a wonderful and shitty story.

Also the comment about football helmets…where do you think a chunk of our research comes from for head injuries?

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Multicolored Band-Aids have been around for at least 65 years. Ask me how I know.
Remember Arsenio Hall on “flesh”-colored Band-Aids decades ago? He made a good point.
But multi-colored bandages, e.g., Band-Aid and Curad, have been around as long as I can remember.

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