Helmet head isn’t only about a bad hair day. Other problems can crop up as well.

For instance, an itchy head. That’s been bothering me a lot lately. I’ve no doubt that the cause is a sweaty head. Many a day the temperature at 5 am is already in the low 80s. Even a well-ventilated helmet doesn’t keep my head from becoming hot and sweaty. I wear the thing, though; better a sweaty head than a concussion or a skull fracture!

One night last week, before getting in the shower, I mixed up a rinse: 2 tablespoons of organic apple cider vinegar in a pint of warm water. I put the lid on the jar so the solution wouldn’t get diluted, and took it into the shower with me.

After shampooing and rinsing my hair, I poured the vinegar solution over my head; rubbed it in a little; and rinsed it out. It seemed to help relieve the itchiness a bit, so maybe I should do it more often. Not that I truly enjoy it; vinegar doesn’t smell so good.

In cold weather, use of a helmet liner keeps my hair smoother; but that, of course, is not my real reason for wearing one. My head is very sensitive to cold. If I didn’t have that helmet liner, rides on cold days would be absolutely miserable.

Helmet head isn’t a big deal to me. My helmet-crumpled hair brushes out easily. I’m lucky in that respect; my hair is fine and soft. If it were thick, I might have more trouble. I also wonder whether avoidance of helmet head is why so many pro cyclists have such short hair!