oh so shallow.. but what the heck to do you do with your hair?

[mizzbananie]

i have lots of mid-length fine, curly hair.. and commute about 15kms to work. mostly rolling hills, and one longgggg steep hill. by the time i get to work, my hair is plastered to my head and sweaty. this spring/summer has been one continuous bad hair day.

do you have any suggestions?

woops on the title.. apparently i cannot proof read.

[HillSlugger]

I have a shower available at work.

[shootingstar]

Guess it depends mizzie how much you will get into commuting daily and how much cycling is part of your daily routine in general.

Some of us ..over the years from learning and cycling lots for a number of years..learn to have a shorter haircut.

I have found a haircut which looks ok after a ride and when I need to freshen up and change into something nicer. I have straight hair which requires a haircut that gives abit more shape and volume. Haircut is short enough that it leaves part of my lower earlobes visible and I have shaped hair layers all over. But right now, it's abit too long, that my bangs fall into my eyes. In the past..I actually used to bring in a curling iron.. But I haven't done this in the past 8 yrs. of cycling-commuting. Ah, what we do for vanity!

I gave up on shoulder length and longer hair when I turned 19. I'm 50 and it seems my hair cut style gets abit shorter every 5 yrs. or ao.. I do use a tiny bit of mousse when I blowdry hair after showering at home.

I actually have never showered at any workplace ..and I have cycled commuted regularily to work for past 15+ years. Depending on the employer and their location, my cycling ride have been approx. 12-16 kms. 1 way.

Yea, I'm wierd, but haven't worried about it.

N.B.: There are certain hair styles I would love to have and I know I might look abit better. But with cycling /helmet, it would be difficult to maintain to have the style looking continuously chic and sharp. But given the choice of a gorgeous hairstyle every day vs. a more fit body from regular cycling (and feeling healthier), I will choose the latter immediately first. To me, a very tiny sacrifice for long-term gains in terms of my health. A fit body will outshine any haircut...any time.

[lph]

I have shoulder-length curly fine hair too. I shower at work, but if I didn't have a shower I think I'd be fine with just running wet fingers through my hair several times and letting it air dry, adding some light gel to settle the frizz. But I have the kind of workplace where I could arrive just wearing a Buff and leave it in if I wanted to.

No, not just a Buff. You know what I mean.

[OakLeaf]

Years ago I had a butane curling iron for touch-ups when I'd go to hearings on my motorcycle and there were no electrical outlets near the mirrors in the restroom. I don't know if they still make those.

You can wash your hair in the sink, if the restrooms aren't too gross at your workplace. Dunking your head in cool water will help the rest of you stop sweating, too. Keep a hair dryer, and whatever other tools and products you need, either at your desk or in the restroom if it's the kind of place where you can do that.

[Medianox]

I have long straight very fine hair that reaches past my tailbone and I keep it in a single braid down my back to ride. When I get to work, I unbraid, brush, fluff and clip it in some kind of bun. There is a shower at work but usually I clean up with baby wipes or at the sink...my hair dries quicky (a hair dryer stashed in a locker would be good though) and in a few minutes you can't tell I rode to work.
Short hair, depending on the style, could be easier to maintain I guess, but my hair doesn't suffer too much from being under a helmet and a little sweaty since its straight and pretty flat anyway-lol! If you had hair that reacted to humidity by getting frizzy you may have more of a problem
I wash my hair in the evening when I get home then and I'm ready to go in the morning.
Good luck!

[Becky]

I'm probably not the best person to ask.... I cut my hair very very short when I began commuting by bike

[Jolt]

I have long straight very fine hair that reaches past my tailbone and I keep it in a single braid down my back to ride. When I get to work, I unbraid, brush, fluff and clip it in some kind of bun. There is a shower at work but usually I clean up with baby wipes or at the sink...my hair dries quicky (a hair dryer stashed in a locker would be good though) and in a few minutes you can't tell I rode to work.
Short hair, depending on the style, could be easier to maintain I guess, but my hair doesn't suffer too much from being under a helmet and a little sweaty since its straight and pretty flat anyway-lol! If you had hair that reacted to humidity by getting frizzy you may have more of a problem
I wash my hair in the evening when I get home then and I'm ready to go in the morning.
Good luck!

I have long (all one length) hair as well and I find that it's actually easier to have it look decent after being under a helmet than when it was really short (because when it was short it would get really flat from the helmet). I generally just put it in a low ponytail and it doesn't look much different after riding--if I want to make it look a little nicer I can put it in a bun once at my destination. The other nice thing is that I don't have to keep getting haircuts every six weeks--just the occasional trim to clean up split ends.

[Eden]

I'm also lucky enough to have a shower at work - but I actually grew my hair longer when I started cycling more..... It would get so messy looking when it was short, but longer (I have curly hair too) I can at least put it in a pony tail and not look too bad.

[malkin]

My hair looks pretty stupid all the time whether it's been in a helmet or not.

[Medianox]

I have long (all one length) hair as well and I find that it's actually easier to have it look decent after being under a helmet than when it was really short (because when it was short it would get really flat from the helmet). I generally just put it in a low ponytail and it doesn't look much different after riding--if I want to make it look a little nicer I can put it in a bun once at my destination. The other nice thing is that I don't have to keep getting haircuts every six weeks--just the occasional trim to clean up split ends.

I agree! When I had short hair I was miserable since I had to wash and style it (using a bunch of stuff) to get it to look good...I had to wash it everyday too to get all that gunk out of it just to start over again. There are people that look great with super short hair that doesn't require all that of course, but it just never worked for me. I had chin length hair 4 years ago and I haven't cut it since! It is all one length and I just bun it or braid it and go...it always looks acceptable. Because it is straight and basically flat, being under the helmet doesn't seem to hurt it...it just gets a little damp.

ps...I saw your sig....lol I'm an RN working ICU

[Jen72]

I refuse to remove my helmet when I'm out cycling. My hair looks like crap since it gets soaked with sweat. I'm always amazed when other women take a rest and pull of their helmets and their hair looks halfway decent. I couldn't commute to work on bike unless they did have a shower so I could get completely ready there.

[GLC1968]

I have a shower at work, luckily.

I have had both super short (right now it's less than an inch long) and super long (braid down my back) hair while biking. Personally, I look better with long hair. A helmet does NOTHING to my hair when its long since my hair is both curly and thick. In fact, nothing does much to my hair when it's long, even me! It's got a mind of it's own and I'm just along for the ride. The problem for me was that it was HOT and that my helmet always felt too tight.

Now that my hair is super short, it looks ridiculous when I take off my helmet, but one or two handfuls of water through it and it's passable. It's way cooler feeling though, and I'll take that over how I look any day.

[Crankin]

I also have hair that looks awful when I take the helmet off. Up until last fall, I had a pixie with spiky stuff on the top. When I commuted, I showered and washed my hair before my AM commute and then just re-wet it and applied a bit of gel when I got to work. No shower, just wipes or soap and a wash cloth.
When I quit work, I grew my hair. It was chin length, with bangs falling about half way down my face. In addition to having to have it straightened, i had to use a blow dryer and flat iron, after years of having to do nothing. My hair is not curly in the traditional sense; it's twisty, bendy, wavy, and frizzy. When the cycling season started this year, I tried to deal with it, but despite cycling caps and buffs, I hated it.
So, I cut it off again, but I still have shorter side bangs and a little height on top, not spiked. I can let it dry naturally, but I still have to use the flat iron on my bangs. Otherwise, they curl up in a backwards C. I am *so* tempted to spike it again, but what I have now is much more flattering. I can't commute to my internship this coming school year or the next, but when I get a job after graduation, I do hope to commute again. And when I do, my hair style will have to adapt to my commuting.

[Fontinalis]

I found that for me, what helps keep the sweat off my hair is a headband, the kind that is quite generous, cotton, with some stretchy fiber in it. It does push my hair back a bit, under the helmet, and the sweat, if any, seems to be absorb by the headband. Once I take the headband off, at work, I can comb or brush my hair, and it doesn't look as bad as if I didn't use the headband. I often make a headband with a cotton scarf. That works just fine too. In my case, since I commute in more northern latitudes, the headband also helps protect my ears from the cold wind factor, since the helmet is vented and at time my ears will get quite cold.
The other solution I have is that I bring a towel and shampoo, and I will wash my hair over a sink, at work, and then dry them. It takes not even 5 minutes, and I have then no worries about bad hair.
I hope all this helps.
Lucky are the ones who can shower at work!