Some motorcycle hairstyles guarantee you’ll have a bad hair day.
Because great biker chick hair takes a little planning.
But who has time to fuss in front of the mirror when there’s a motorcycle purring impatiently in the driveway?
Maybe you should just leave your hair alone and pull on your helmet?
You could do that, sure.
If you’re not worried about your hair, more power to you.
(And you’ll probably enjoy this post: Helmet Hair: It’s Not Herpes.)
But if you DO worry about how your hair looks, read on.
Because I’m about to share some tips on what NOT to do when it comes to biker chick hairstyles.
You have to be strategic about motorcycle hairstyles. Choose one that works, and you’ll arrive at your destination, take off your helmet, and confidently order a coffee. But choose the wrong style, and you might want to drink your coffee with your helmet on. Here’s a quick guide to which motorcycle hairstyles to avoid.
Biker chick hair is not rocket science.
We’re only have three simple goals here.
You want to make sure your hair:
- Is protected from the wind and weather
- Will fit comfortably under your helmet, and
- Can easily be fixed at your destination.
That’s not so hard, right?
Let’s get down to it.
The Top 8 Motorcycle Hairstyles to Avoid
Good biker chick hair is way harder to achieve when you make these mistakes.
1. Leaving long hair loose
Long hair that’s flying free in the wind looks pretty for the first 30 seconds of a ride.
It billows out behind you in a gentle breeze.
It’s feminine, and glamorous.
Until you turn onto the highway, and that soft breeze turns into a ferocious wind.
Oh ho! The wind howls in glee – and spends the next hour whipping your hair back and forth, and knotting it a thousand different ways.
The wind will torture your hair with the same cruel delight as a cat with a mouse.
When you get home, you’d better set aside the rest of the day for Hair Recovery.
I hope you have some detangling spray and a wide toothed comb at the ready.
And a series or two on Netflix you haven’t seen yet.
Because the task ahead of you is a mammoth one.
The tangles will be mighty.
Getting them out of your hair (which is now full of split ends as well) will take hours.
I totally understand that scraping your hair back into a tight ponytail is not the most flattering look.
If you have long hair, you probably like it flowing free, right?
That’s fine – so tie back your hair, and just undo your ponytail at your destination.
There’s no law that says you have to have it scraped back from the time you leave the house to when you get home.
I’ve made some simple suggestions for dealing with long hair under a motorcycle helmet over here.
In the meantime, just know that leaving it flying free is like offering up a precious sacrifice to the wind.
Because taking off your helmet at your destination to discover a tangled bird’s nest is not even the worst of it.
The worse outcome is the damage the wind has done during even a short motorcycle ride.
Your ends are now split, your hair is dry, and you’ll either need a serious trim or the best hair treatment ever.
And probably both.
2. The top-of-head messy bun
You might think you could just put your hair up in a bun, pull on your motorcycle helmet and head out, right?
Surely this style will keep long hair out of the wind?
And how cute is this?
It’s a great look – effortless and casual.
But it’s hard to fit a helmet on top of a high-rise building made of hair.
With this style, your helmet will sit 6 inches above your head.
Oddly, you can’t quite get the strap to connect under your chin now.
Don’t worry.
If you love this style, you can always pull it together at your destination.
It’s an imperfect, messy look anyways, right?
Bring a hair tie or wrap and pile your hair up on your head while you wait for your coffee to arrive.
3. The high ponytail or high pigtails
Personally, a high one is my favorite kind of ponytail.
Pulling your hair up and back lifts your face, and it’s a relaxed and playful look.
But like the top-of-the-head bun, a high ponytail will never fit under your helmet.
Even if you manage to cram the helmet on and do it up, you’ll feel a hard pressure on top of your head for the whole ride.
And if your hair is long, the ends of the ponytail will be flapping free in the wind.
You don’t want to offer the wind another hair sacrifice, remember?
The same principle applies to high pigtails.
They’re a fun look, but now you have two pressure points digging into your head under your helmet.
That’s if you can even manage to get the helmet on, of course.
4. The loose side braid
This is so feminine.
But it’ll never work under a helmet.
All of that loose hair will never stay put in the wind.
The top part of the braid will mat itself into an unformed dreadlock.
Only the lower half of the braid will survive the journey.
If you’re lucky.
5. Extra product in short hair
You want your short hair to be full of volume when you take off your helmet, right?
So maybe the answer is to use an extra few squirts of product.
Don’t be tempted to make this mistake.
A little bit of styling product goes a long way under a helmet.
The dangers are you either:
- Use too much, which leaves your hair greasy, and makes your helmet liner into a slimy mess, or
- Use a product which sets your hair hard.
With that kind of product, your hair is now cemented flat to your head when you take off your helmet.
Neither option is too pretty.
So use a little bit of product, and dry your hair before putting on your helmet.
Then at your destination, you can take off the helmet and ruffle your hair up again to activate the volumizing product, and bring your hair back to life.
6. Groomed glamor
Upswept hairdos can look amazing on a special night out, or with an incredible dress.
But they’re not really an option under a motorcycle helmet.
All the hairspray in the world and 1,000 bobby pins won’t keep a complex, back-combed hairstyle in place.
The motorcycle helmet is dominant.
It will always win.
The pressure of the tight-fitting helmet will smoosh that carefully shaped style back against your head.
And all that hairspray means your helmet liner will now be oddly sticky.
This is probably not the time for upmarket sophistication anyway, right?
We’re on a motorcycle ride here, after all.
7. Large clips or clasps
Those big plastic clasps are such an easy way of holding your hair together into an easy, casual style, right?
You can grab a handful of hair, twist it, clamp it, and it looks like you actually made an effort.
But of course, these clasps are super uncomfortable under a motorcycle helmet.
They’ll either snap in half when you pull your helmet on, or they’ll dig into your scalp the whole ride, like some kind of hairdresser-designed torture device.
Do this instead.
Slip your big hair clasp into your bag, and in the meantime, tie your hair back with a standard hair tie.
When you take off your helmet at your destination, take out the hair clasp and use that to style your hair into a casual half ponytail – all in about 4 seconds.
8. Small, delicate hair accessories
There are some gorgeous hair clips and hair accessories out there.
From flowers to sparkles, they’re like little pieces of jewellery for your hair.
They add some personality and femininity to both long and short hair.
But don’t bother wearing them on a motorcycle.
They’ll either get caught in your helmet liner, or dig into your head for the whole motorcycle ride.
And when you take your motorcycle helmet off, they’ll fall to the ground like glittering rain.
As you can see, the key to motorcycle hairstyles is simplicity.
A motorcycle ride definitely presents hairstyling challenges.
Between the wind, the weather and your motorcycle helmet, there’s a lot to deal with.
But the more you fuss, the harder it is to make your hair behave in these challenging conditions.
By keeping it simple, practical and low-maintenance, you’ll find you can have a good hair day anytime you go out on the bike.
And once you find a motorcycle hairstyle that works for you, you’ll be able to pull up on the bike, take off your helmet and smile.
You can focus on the joy of the ride, and not worry about your hair.
Like this article?
Then you might enjoy this one:
7 Simple Motorcycle Hairstyles (Biker Chick Hairstyles Made Easy)
