Monday, August 24

Helmet Redux - Reduce Sun Damage

Poster note: This particular post is of no interest to Canadians, unless they happen to be in Afghanistan with the NATO forces. Everyone knows that even the noontime summer sun barely melts the ice in the frozen northland, making things difficult for the snowmobiles. Gives me shivers just thinking about it! If you are Canadian, read this post instead. If that's not enough, there's more for you here.

As my doctor told me this morning when I was getting examined, a helmet helps keep the sun off one's head so this is less likely. She noted that the sun is intense enough in Texas summers that one is at risk even when riding home from work at 5PM. Use more sunblock! And use that helmet to keep the sun off your head. It's another way that bicycles are different (except for convertibles and cars with open sunroofs). Besides getting more sun, per travel mile, cyclists live for more years, getting even MORE exposure. The simple-minded might think "use a hat, you twit!" but haberdashers do not brag about the superior cooling passages on their products.

The danger is particularly severe for those with superior scalp cooling or who have shaved their heads. Those looking like a yeti (shown here) may not be as concerned with this danger.

2 comments:

Keri said...

I use a headsweat doorag under my helmet year-round. It protects the helmet from excessive sweat, which can damage the padding and the helmet itself. It also keeps the sweat out of my eyes. I don't need to worry about an exposed scalp, my hair is thicker than a yeti's. Maybe because of that I don't notice any decrease in cooling.

RANTWICK said...

Hey man, you WISH you had weather like my fair Canada, where we are completely capable of frying our scalps, just not year round. Thankfully, I have my well documented dinosaur head for protection from both hot and cold.

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