by Lars Hundley
https://www.headsweats.com/cycle-cap-white/
Also on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2A2VsBo
Wearing a traditional cotton cycling cap under your helmet can be a pretty hot and sweaty experience. Fortunately, Headsweats has designed a traditional looking cycling cap that’s made of a modern high tech fabric that wicks moisture and stays much cooler on your head. Even better, it also operates as a headband and keeps sweat out of your eyes and off your face.
Cycling caps used to be a fixture of road riding back before everyone started wearing helmets. Even as late as the end of the 1980s, most of my cycling buddies only wore helmets during races and often trained without them. Today, it’s fortunately much rarer to see a serious cyclist riding without a helmet. Helmets have gotten lighter, cooler and safer.
I hadn’t worn a real cycling cap in decades, so I was feeling nostalgic when Headsweats sent me their white cycling cap for review.
The small bill is the same size as a traditional cycling cap, and it gives you a little bit of shade on your face and protects your eyes from the sun. You can flip the bill up or leave it down.
They’ve even thoughtfully added a reflective stripe on one side of the bill that lights up when a light shines on it in at dawn, dusk or in the dark. I’m a huge fan of reflectivity and love this feature.
When we recently wrote about some of our favorite UV protective cycling apparel, we heard back from several readers that some kind of a hat or head cover under the helmet is essential for people with no hair, or with very short or very thin and light colored hair. It prevents sunburn, and also weird stripey tan lines on your skull!
The cap is machine washable, and doesn’t shrink. I have been washing mine in the sink after a ride, squeezing it out and leaving it out to dry. It’s typically completely dry later the same day because of the wicking fabric that dries much faster than cotton.
The Headsweats cycling cap is well made, looks good, and is a good option if you want to keep your head covered and still keep sweat out of your eyes on a ride.
I’ve been wearing Headsweats for many, many years as my go to summer head covering. The caps with a bill are especially useful on a rainy day.
I wear a bandanna “pirate” style under my helmet. It keeps my head covered and absorbs sweat. It’s low tech at a low price and it’s effective.
That reflective stripe on the bill sure isn’t very likely to show up under a car’s headlights! But wicking caps are great summer or winter.