The RWR hairnets are awesome. As others mentioned it let’s you smoosh your hair all over instead of being in a single rope up the back. Especially nice for those of us with already long oval heads!
Helmets do reduce the severity of a concussion. The deceleration of the skull is not as abrupt since the transfer of momentum takes place over a longer distance as the styrofoam compresses. That means your brain isn’t as abruptly slammed around inside.
Physics.
I have extremely thin hair and ride with my hair up. When I say thin, I mean a few mm of hair when it’s flipped up. My helmet fits the same with my hair down.
Really, the only solution for the hunter ring at an A or AA show is hair up. Tradition, ya know. It might change, hasn’t yet. With thick hair, I agree it can alter the fit of the helmet, however in my experience the biggest problem is how people put their hair up. I worked at a tack shop for 2+ years fitting helmets and constantly saw people put their hair in a ponytail, twist it and make a thick 1in+ ridge of hair, and try to put the hair tie inside too. Which meant that no helmet of any brand would fit, and they often got headaches. You need to spread it out evenly, with as much as possible outside over your ears and hair tie outside the helmet. There’s a little ‘pocket’ in the harness on Samshield, CO, etc where this lump can be without being seen. People would often go down multiple sizes in helmets when they did their hair this way, getting a better more uniform fit.
Or, you can do the jumpers.
My hair is thin and gets lots of wispy bits around my face if in a ponytail. I always ride with pigtail braids as that is what keeps it out of my face. For shows. I just remove the rubberbands and tuck those braids into the hair net. They are small and typically just sit below the helmet without being so bulky as a bun would. I’m sure that would not work for others but it works well for me.
I am not wanting to argue about what is correct, I have bought a new helmet, while shopping three major tack stores say EC is going to make a ruling that hair cannot be under your helmet. I am way old and have worn a helmet every day of my life, for the last 25 years on racehorses, so hair out was not an issue.
I have a tonne of hair so there is no doubt that it alters the fit of a helmet.
OP - my friend wears her hair in a long braid When she shows hunters, she puts it down the back of her hunt coat. You can’t even tell. If I was concerned about my helmet not fitting properly with my hair up or with a new rule that disallowed it, I would try that…
While technically most of this is true, I find it a bit irresponsible in how it is worded. A helmet cannot prevent all concussions but they do help decelerate the head as it impacts the ground and therefore reduces the “sloshing” of the brain. Does it always reduce it enough to prevent a concussion? No. They also do not prevent concussions from things like whiplash because there is no impact to absorb forces from (my friend got a concussion when her horse tripped at the canter and it whiplashed her head back. Eek!)
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that having you hair up under your helmet, even when the helmet is fit to your hair, can compromise the fit. The ends of you hair “slip” more easily over each other than the roots do. This could cause the helmet to slide, even if its a little bit and so not protect where it needs to protect.
I don’t know if any tests have been done as to this effect, but if I try it on my hair (tied up and down vs tied up and up) the latter seems to slip more.
My hair is too long to flip forward anyway - it would pop out the front under my visor!
When I was looking into a new helmet EVERY person who was fitting me told me to put it how I would wear it normally. I always have my hair up in my helmet. Low pony and then splay it out flat on top. They then fit me with a helmet with that hairstyle. I have thick hair that is fairly long (past mid back) and this method works just fine. Sure I could braid it or I could do a ponytail and leave it down, but I hate the feeling of my hair on my neck when I ride.
For those of you sighting tradition, take a look at some show photos from the '50s/'60s, or even today’s fox hunters for that matter. The “hunter hair” look is relatively new, and there is no reason why it can’t change back to a more traditional style. Hairnets used to be thicker, and simply held the hair in place to a little bit above the shoulders. You just stuffed your hair in the hairnet, arranged to smooth it and then let the hairnet hold everything below the helmet line. Easy peasy.
Would be nice if there was a helmet that had a hole for your ponytail to go through!
I like my hair up higher than the helmet edge. Having it low and on my neck makes it hot.
Thought about attaching a hair clip or rubber tie to the helmet and then clipping/slipping the hair through the clip/tie. Would look funny though…
I suppose tradition is a bit too vague of a term, I was referring to what is common in the last ~30 years, vs 60-70 years ago.
Anyone else have more info on this potential EC ruling about hair?
MissMilly, those were snoods, not hairnets.
I also hate my hair at the base of my neck. On the race horses I put my ponytail thru the elastic of my goggles. Not pretty, but effective.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I don’t think it is an EC rule change as of yet. I am told it will be soon.
I have fairly long and thick hair, I do a bun at the nape if my neck with a long “tail”, then stick the tail under my helmet. Doesn’t add any bulk under the helmet, but keeps things secure. You could add a hair net over the top if you wanted, would probably do for most purposes except actually showing hunters or eq. Neater than a long ponytail anyways.
I think on a previous thread on this topic, someone mentioned that helmet manufacturers recommend you don’t stuff your hair in your helmet. Means the helmet won’t work as it should in a fall. I doubt there have been any conclusive scientific studies. Anyone volunteering to get donked on the head in the name of science?
I have medium length hair (bra-strap-ish) and very thick. I cannot do the nape of the neck bun thing. I literally cannot move my head up because there is so much hair in the way. 
(I’m not exagerrating. This is a picture of my friend and me.
I have fairly long and thick hair, I do a bun at the nape if my neck with a long “tail”, then stick the tail under my helmet. Doesn’t add any bulk under the helmet, but keeps things secure. You could add a hair net over the top if you wanted, would probably do for most purposes except actually showing hunters or eq
I have the hair of three or four normal people. Thick, super curly and did I mention thick? Schooling, I just wear it in a ponytail or loose depending on the length. I also wear a jockey skull type helmet for schooling. Showing or in a clinic, it gets braided and rolled up into a bun/ snood or braid and stick it down my shirt or loose and no one has ever, ever said a word up to and including G Morris. If I try to stuff it in a helmet the helmet has to be size gigantic and it slides around which isn’t happening.
I’m not sure how you’d do a bun at the base of the neck with the modern helmet harnesses; the way the back of my OneK is styled would certainly not allow this, even if I wanted to.
IME, doing something like a french braid alters the fit of my helmet far, far more than putting my hair up properly does. I did that a few times on vacation to ride, and could feel the helmet shifting around. Unless my hair is getting too long, I don’t ever feel any movement with it done up properly, even bending over to pick out feet etc. I’d venture a guess that on the whole, the amount of hair that’s getting tucked back up under there isn’t much to begin with, perhaps a few inches long and splayed flat out. Certainly that’s less altering to fit than a ponytail or bun that you have to alter the harness or shift the helmet to make fit.
Would anyone who does alternate hair styles (aka not under the helmet) for showing be willing to share pictures?? I am very curious to see how it looks, as I have only ever seen hair under the helmet at shows.
I have thick hair, and it used to be quite long. I HATED it at the base of my neck. Bun, braid, whatever… it would itch, pull, and just be irritating. I would generally put it in a ponytail and either smash my helmet on over it (good, I know), or suffer through the irritation.
Before I chopped all my hair off into an undercut/mohawk, I just did a little undercut right at the base of my skull, between my ears. That really helped with the heat, and it would sit nicely under my helmet or at the base of my head. Now, since I shaved off more than half of my hair, I don’t have to worry about fitting the rest under my helmet!
Heidi braids!
I have waist-length thick curly hair. When people see me with it down they are astounded it all disappears for showing. It doesn’t disappear, really.
Here is what I do: make two braids, one right behind each ear. Then I tie the braids low on the neck behind my head; literally, make a loose single knot of the braids as if they were shoelaces. Then wrap the rest of each braid up over my ears and over the top of my head, Swiss Heidi-style. My hair is long enough that I make a second knot with the hair that meets on top my head and then run the ends of the braids down my head and secure with a barrette each side. Hairnet, then helmet. With the helmet on, the braids at the bottom hug the base of the helmet very neatly. They are outside but everything is contained and close-fitting.
Works for me 
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