Hair Poll

[indigoiis]

Okay, my vanity is inquiring...

How do all you fellow women cyclists wear your hair? Short? Long? Medium?

Ponytails, braids, clips?

Damage from helmets?

I'm turning 40 in April. I recently lost 15 lbs. I love my new hobby. I am thinking of cutting my shoulder length hair a la Keira Knightley. Is short hair a good thing for under the helmet?

Please help me rationalize an expensive haircut.

[silver]

I'm 42.

I wear my hair longish, several inches past shoulders. for riding I wear is pulled into a ponytail with a soft scrunchy and pulled through the opening between the helmet tightening lock and the helmet. No damage from the helmet.

For endurance activities (very long rides) and triathlons, I braid it, otherwise it becomes a big dreadlock.

I would wear my hair longer if not for trimming off the damage from swimming/chlorine/sun/highlighting.

I used to wear my hair short (pre-fitness) and don't really like short hair on my anymore.....I associate it with my non-fitness lifestyle.

[csr1210]

My hair was already very short when I starting cycling and I love it. Super convenient, and when I take my helment off, I can just run my fingers through my hair and I'm good to go (it also dries very fast). I know a lot of long hair peeps can do that too, but my hair is higher maintenance when its long. I wore it long for most of my life, but it always looked pretty cr@ppy after any athletic stuff.

I guess it just depends on your hair....

[mimitabby]

shoulder length hair; tie it back. want to cut it short but i'm chicken

[wannaduacentury]

Long hair here, I put it in a low ponytail and it works for me. My hair grows too fast to have short hair and long hair looks better on me. It doesn't bother me w/ maintaince either-it's easier. Just my 2 cents. Jenn

p.s. it's long enough to braid if I want to-if I ever remember to do it since I'm into ponytails

[limewave]

I'm always jealous of my friends with really short hair when we go cycling. They don't have to do anything with the hair at all. Although, I do get to make fun of them because there little spikes of hair stick out of the air holes on their helmets

[7rider]

Used to have long hair that I pulled back in a ponytail for cycling.
But it's so straight and flat, that it always looked icky.
So I chopped it all off and go short now. I don't have the hair-sticking through the helmet issue, b/c I usually use a headsweat or buff, but then, that creates problems of its own. Short hair looks gross after a sweaty ride under a buff - and I'm not talented or creative enough to do anything with my buff other than wear it over my head, hanging down in the back. Nothing fancy with it.
Can't win. Levi L. has got it right.....

[coyote]

Used to be a butch cut - about a 1/4 inch all over. About once every 10-15 years I grow it out to remind myself why I like it short. This is that time period. It is just at my neck. The front is long enough to be annoying but not quite long enough to tie back. When it does, I may do the ponytail thing.

The benefit to my current hair length is that I do not need to use sunscreen on my neck. Downside is that it takes much longer for my head to dry when I've been really sweating. Gross I know.

[segolene]

Hi!

I have been athletic (and competitive) all of my life...and my hair length has gone from a "number 2" to "down to the waist" (ahem...sometimes the same year!!!). For the purpose of "looking reasonably good no matter what", I have had a rule for the past 5 years (I just turned 40): If it is short, it should be short enough so I can tuck most of it under my helmet/swim cap etc..., if it is is longer, it should be long enough so that I can make a pony tail (one that last!).
Expensive short haircut are..well...expensive...but if it makes you feel good, go for it!

Seg.

[Jolt]

Long (about mid-back length) hair here. I pull it back in a ponytail and stick it between the helmet and the fitting ring for cycling; actually, I wear it in a ponytail most of the time because it's quick and easy and keeps it out of the way. Too bad I don't know how/am not coordinated enough to braid it--that would be another nice practical way to wear it. Sometimes when it's cool out I'll just wear it down with a headband to keep it out of my face, or with a bandanna tied as a kerchief. It's actually pretty low-maintenance--no having to get it cut every six weeks like I did when I wore it really short, and I never blow-dry it (I don't have the patience to spend the time, and the sound of the blow dryer drives me crazy anyway!). It also doesn't tend to look as bad after being active or wearing a helmet or hat. I haven't noticed any damage from the helmet, just a little breakage from the elastics (resu lts in lots of little flyaway stuff that, if it's humid, sticks out every which way and makes me look like I have just stuck my finger in a light socket). An added bonus of having my hair long is that I never get mistaken for a boy (this happened on a few occasions when I wore it short, and was quite embarrassing), even though I rarely wear makeup and don't dress in anything frilly.

[GLC1968]

I have super thick curly hair. I also refuse to spend a lot of time on it. This means that my hair needs to be super short, or super long. Right now it's long, and I'm dying to chop it all off.

This was my hair when I first started riding. It didn't look good when I pulled off the helmet, but I kept a buff, bandana or baseball hat on me at all times to pull on when the helmet came off.


Now it's long and I can't stand it. I have WAY too much hair to wear it long, but at the same time, it's just so easy. I wear it in a big bushy pony tail and it looks the same whether I've had a helmet on or not! You can kind of see it in my avitar - that big mass sticking out of the back of my helmet!

DH finally admitted to me that he didn't like it *that* short...so now I'm torn as to what to do with it. Oh, and I'll be 40 next February.

[Pax]

I wear mine pretty short (I'm 46), it's so thick that when I try and wear it long it gives me headaches...that and I love how short hair looks and feels. The "no fuss" part of it is a bonus as well.

[redrhodie]

Do it!!!! Know this, though....hair always looks like crap after being under a helmet in 90 degree temps for 2.5 hrs, whether it's long or short. Since I know you I know you deserve to treat yourself (and I think we all deserve a treat!). You're worth a great haircut!

I just looked at a pic of Keira, and this would be fab on you!

Oops, I just read the short-haired girls' comments, and evidently they don't look as crappy as we do! ha! Sorry if I offended anyone. I didn't know it was just me who looks like a wet dog after riding!

[Pedal Wench]

Mine is long - growing it out a little longer than usual so I can donate to Locks for Love. It's between bra-strap and waist-length right now. When it hits the waist, 10 inches will go, but still will be well below shoulders. I usually keep it just long enough that I can tie it in a self-sustaining bun, so I can twist it up out of the way whenever/wherever I want.

Every May, I get it cut to a certain length - this is just long enough for the aforementioned bun, but short enough so that when I wash it in the sink at the Bright Angel campground at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the ends don't touch the bottom of the sink which invariably has a few stray macaroni's left in it from someone else's dinner mess. Gross!

[Crankin]

My hair is short and gets even shorter in the summer. It looks a lot like KSH's pic.
I do have it cut every 4 weeks, and every time I try to grow it, it just looks like s***. My hair is in between curly and straight, very frizzy in humidity and even very short it requires lots of "products." I am envious of people who can just shake their head and their straight, dry hair falls out from under their helmet. I take some water from my bottle, pour it on my head and run my hands through it to get it back to looking human!