How do I keep my helmet liner in place?
Our standard passively secured helmet liner will stay wherever you place it, held there securely by your helmet (assuming your helmet is securely fastened). Please see the Directions for Use guidelines and videos elsewhere on this site. Loosen the tightening mechanism, place the liner in the helmet, put the helmet on your head, then tighten it for a snug fit.
You also have the option of the hook and loop version. This is essentially a front pad replacement system with loop material for hook-and-loop at the front of the SweatHawg Helmet Liner. Remove your front pads, and then place the SweatHawg in the helmet centered and aligned with the front edge. Press the helmet liner onto the hooks that are embedded in your helmet for the pads. You now have a comfy thirsty SweatHawg instead of front pads!
How do I care for my SweatHawg?
We recommend hand or machine washing, warm or cool water. No fabric softener please, it clogs the absorbent layer. Dry cool, or hang dry. Best not to wring it out, rather squeeze excess moisture out or roll it up in a towel. When washing a headband, wash closed and be sure the hooks are embedded in the loops. Exposed unsecured velcro hooks will snag delicate fabrics.
The helmet liner covers my head and brow? Won't this make me hotter?
If you are a person who doesn’t sweat, or sweats little, this may be true. You will love it in cool weather. For people who perspire heavily however, the SweatHawg is soon damp, and the moisture is wicked into the top fabric where it cools by evaporation. If you are headed out on a hot day, dampen the helmet liner first, and it will cool you from the start. By the time it dries out, your perspiration will be feeding the evaporative cooling cycle. We sell them sometimes to people who don't sweat at all. For cooling, they squirt it periodically with their water bottle.
Would I like a helmet liner even if I don't have a runaway sweat problem?
Many users report that their helmet is much more comfortable with a helmet liner in place. SweatHawgs are also great for anyone in cool weather, providing a cushy front and a bit of a wind shield. They are also great for the shaved, the bald, and the balding, providing UV protection from the sun, which can burn bare heads through the helmet vent openings.
I wear an XL helmet, and I noticed the helmet liner is one-size-fits-all? Will it work in a big helmet?
SweatHawg helmet liners are large enough to block the top vents of every helmet we have placed them in, including mine (XL), and therefore prevent sunburn (if you are bald) and insect intrusions that might happen through the top vents.
Why do you place the SweatHawg in the helmet first? Seems easier just to put it on your head.
More than one person has asked about putting it on their head first, and if you have a mirror handy that might work...sort of. SweatHawgs are non-circumferencial (do not go around your head) and won’t stay in place until they are snug under a helmet. When held inside the helmet as you put the helmet on, you keep it aligned where you want it to be and stay. When I put the helmet liner on first, and then the helmet, the helmet pushes it out of place. You will find that placing it in the helmet first is much easier. Remember to lean forward a little and place the loosened helmet on first, with helmet liner held in place, which keeps the SweatHawg where you carefully placed it. Then tighten it, and you’re good! See our photo sequence and video for a demonstration.
How breathable is the helmet liner? Is the absorbent material just in front?
The brow section, which is about 9″ wide and goes from temple to temple, is made of three layers. Wicking fabric against your forehead, (wicks away from your skin into the absorbent layer), then the hydrophilic layer (absorbs like crazy), then over everything an aggressively wicking material similar to coolmax or drifit. This pulls moisture out of the felt, where it evaporates and cools.
The Helmet Liners offers a trade-off. Less direct air flow, but no drips. And, enhanced evaporative cooling. The brow overall is breathable, yes, but it does tend to block the wind as it is thicker than the single layer top. Overall however it has a cooling effect as the moisture evaporates from the brow and the wicking material across the top. The simple thin headbands and do-rags permit more air through them, but they saturate very quickly. They do not solve the drip problem, just delay it.