Its superlight and doesn’t bind your head. Plus, it doesn’t leave a silly indentation on your forehead like those other ridiculous headbands that use a silicone or rubber ‘gasket’.
The Castelli summer headband is also super thin and will easily fit under a helmet without you even feeling you have it on. IF you sweat a lot, pull the headband down just above your eye brows when using.
I met the owner of veostrips at a century I did a couple of years ago and he gave me a number of samples to try. Great concept, but I found having a plastic strip to be uncomfortable on the forehead vs a sweat band. The other issue is that sweat is channeled to the side of your face . . . not so comfortable and as you turn your head panting up a hill on a hot day you taste it. I haven’t tried GUTR, but it seems to have a similar design concept.
FWIW: I’m a heavy sweater and been using Pearl Izumi headbands for 20 years. They’re pretty good, but not perfect. Perhaps Halo would be good to try based on others’ comments.
I use a cheap FILA one off ebay like what John McEnroe used to wear. Usually it’s saturated after half an hour, so I put it on after i warm up, then either put another one on, or keep a towel on-hand on top of my headset.
So what that silicone/rubber piece is designed to do is prevent sweat dripping into your eyes even when your headband is completely saturated with sweat. If you are a heavy sweater, than you know this is an issue and other headbands eventually fail at this point. That rubber piece ends at the side of your head/temples, so hopefully sweat drips there instead of into your eyes. If your worried about the temporary indentation it leaves, your band may be too tight. Even so, it’s more function over vanity if you truly have a stinging sweat in eyes issue, expecially with those that wear contacts.
An 11x44in towel works great. It’s not an easy size to find, but you can fold/roll it up and then tie it off around the back of your head. My first few were swag from conventions, but they work so well I decided to just buy a set of them. These are the ones I got:
(no affliation, just a great price for an uncommon towel size)
I saw a brand they have a range of headbands that I’ve been using for years now. Great value, cool styles and durable materials. I have a variety of different colours depending on the colour of my team’s shirts.
Im at the point where im considering a hair transplant (Yes, i fully get how ridiculous this sounds). Im a bald dude and extremely heavy sweater. Its obviously fine while on the trainer, mildy annoying on the bike under regular circumstances and down right dangerous while racing.
Total first world problem but annoying none-the-less.
I live where it’s very humid and even indoors need a headband. The Halo Bandit (it’s a Halo with a wider band) has been very helpful. It’s not perfect, but it’s much better for me than a regular Halo. I didn’t find the Gutr to work at all. It just drips sweat directly into my eyes. https://store.haloheadband.com/halo-bandit-sweatband-p/hbp.htm
I’m using a Sweat Hawg Helmet Liner X2 -it’s amazing. Takes about an hour to get saturated when it’s hot & humid but I just wring it out & I’m good for another hour or so. It’ s hands down the best solution I’ve found. I’ve tried helmet Halo, Sweat Gutr, x-wide Halo, etc. This is the only thing that gives me more than 1/2 hour with no worries. Thinking of trying the X2 skullcap for trainerrides.
Does anyone know of any cycling caps with sewn in sweatbands of any sort (that isnt the Halo, doesnt work for me)? Looks like i need to learn to use a sewing machine.
This is the next on my list. Just got done with a 3-4 week trial of the Trax product that was posted earlier in this thread and unfortunately it didnt get the job done. I do think im slowly realizing that nothing will work perfectly unless one day i just happen to stop being such a heavy sweater
