Helmets and Long hair

I've been growing my hair out for quite some time. I haven't had it trimmed more than an inch or so for the past 7 years, so it's close to my waist. However, I want to get into serious touring if my health permits. That being said, on the short rides I've been doing (8 miles or so) this summer have always ended up with the same hair: Warm, moist pony tail that's starting to knot up right near the band. The best solution I've found to long hair and tangling while riding is putting it back in a low ponytail, but I'm tempted to just chop my hair to my ears if this continues. I'm tired of pulling knots out from my hair just because I want to ride a bit.

Any suggestions?

Have you thought of braiding it?

Mine's not as long, but I've been using a Buff and depending on the day, I might wear it such that it covers my hair completely. That tends to keep it from getting too tangled.

When my hair was hip length I kept it in a single braid when I rode. In those days I was riding upward of 200 miles a week. The only problem it gave me was the weird tan line from riding in a bra top. :p

My reasons for cutting it short had nothing to do with sports. But I do love it short.

Every time I've put it in a braid it's caused problems. It is certainly less of a problem than before, but the knotting still happens because my hair likes to inch out and then knot.

I have super thin hair, though.

The buff sounds like a good idea, though.

my 78 year old riding buddy miss Janet has waist length hair. She wears it in a center braid which she pulls through the back of her helmet and then clips in a double loop up near where it comes out of the helmet with a french (spring type) clip. She has to release the clip and pull her helmet off the braid if she takes her helmet off, but since we are both distance riders that usually only happens at the end of the ride.

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my 78 year old riding buddy miss Janet has waist length hair

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And being in Texan heat that's impressive. But then maybe long hair is all she's known for last few decades.

Hope onia, you get used to cycling with the hair..and go longer distances without worrying about your hair.

I use a Buff cut in half and used as a headband to keep my hair back and smooth, it picks up sweat as an additional bonus. I don't have really long hair, though, long enough for a ponytail but fine and curly so it knots easily. I've tried growing it out but it just grows sideways :-P

No personal experience (I tried to grow mine out not long ago, and couldn't make it past chin length before it started driving me nuts!) - but I wonder if you might find inspiration here. The author appears to have long hair, and usually does 2 braids. Might be worth asking her opinion directly, as she does lots of long distance riding. Her blog is pretty amazing reading btw - lots of inspiration there:)

Good luck! Cut if if you want to - but I'm confident you can find some kind of solution if you don't want to.

Short rides I just ponytail, but long rides or mountain biking it's either one or two braids. If I get tangles, conditioner usually takes care of that in the shower.

Waist length here, and I just put it in a low bun just under my helmet. That way it doesn't flop around and tangle (or at least not any more than it would doing other day-to-day activities). I have to admit I've never gotten the hang of doing a single braid down my back, so if I'm going swimming mid-ride (I used to ride out to Walden Pond to swim a fair bit) I'd put it in two braids and then twist the braids into the same bun, so that if it came out of the bun while swimming it wouldn't tangle around my shoulders.

My real issue with my hair & riding a lot is that I have to wash it so often to get the sweat out -- it's really much happier only being washed every 4-6 days (which I promise is not gross if one's hair prefers it), but I a: have nasty sweaty hair and b: get dandruff from the nasty sweaty hair if I don't wash it after every ride long enough to get sweaty-head. Alas.

I go with the two-braids solution, it seems like my neck stays cooler that way than with either a single braid or ponytail. I did like it when my hair was short, but I'm not committed enough to get it cut regularly so that never looks very good and I like it long when I'm off the bike.

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Originally Posted by antimony

My real issue with my hair & riding a lot is that I have to wash it so often to get the sweat out

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When my hair was long I'd only shampoo my scalp. Some shampoo would get onto the rest of my hair when I rinsed it, obviously, but not enough to strip it.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

When my hair was long I'd only shampoo my scalp. Some shampoo would get onto the rest of my hair when I rinsed it, obviously, but not enough to strip it.

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Oh, yes, I do this. Shampoo just at the scalp, conditioner everywhere else, and I just used up the last of my old stock of shampoo bought on sale, so except for dandruff shampoo everything is SLS-free. And I can just rinse-and-condition a lot of the time after a ride, but it still dries it out a bit. I really, really hate the smell of vinegar, so I'm not willing to go to vinegar instead of shampoo, which would probably be the next step.

Another advocate for the low bun here, it doesn't get in the way of my helmet, and I also wear a bandana which helps to hold everything in place. My hair is waist-length and curly, and if I don't tie it back like this it ends up in one big tangled mess!

I also only shampoo the scalp once a week (when you rinse it washes the ends anyway), otherwise I just rinse with water to get the sweat out, then apply conditioner, but only from the shoulders down.