Hello friends! <BR> <BR>so i just started wakeboarding like a month ago and i cant do much besides W2W and sometimes FS 180's. however, i keep slamming real hard and whiplashing my head into the water when i fall and it really hurts. hence i was wondering if wearing a helmet would be appropriate. However, it is also important that i don't break proper wakeboarding steeze standards, so basically i don't wanna look like a homo who wears a helmet. <BR> <BR>in short, is wearing a helmet really gay and out of the question, or is it a good way to keep my head from hurting? does it even do anything cause its hitting water?

Helmets are pretty much just for rails otherwise they just increase the surface area of your head and make falls harder!!!

Depends on the helmet. Some helmets can prevent concussions from hitting your head on the water, yet there is know way of proving it

I'd say you'll get a 50/50 mix of responses saying that a helmet will or will not help with water impact crashes. I have to lean toward saying they do help although I do not regularly wear one myself. As far as looking like a homo goes, I wouldn't worry about that, If it saves you brain from getting shaken up, do what you feel comfortable with!

I rock a helmet, not sure how much it helps but I feel more confident with it so I ride it. I've only had one fall with the helmet on where my head got rocked but it was more my face so I just think it was because I face-planted. But rods right people will have mixed responses. It seems to be a semi-large trend at lake clementine up here. I've see quite a few people riding with them recently

Shred Ready helmets are really good... That's the kinda I wear when trying stuff and I haven't gotten any more concussions... <BR>I'd highly recomend investing in one up front...

Yes get a Shred Ready Helmet, they work really well. <BR> I haven't had a single concussion since I stared riding with a Shred Ready.

If you are new, it also pays to learn how to fall. You can tuck your chin to your chest and avoid a lot of faceplant/whiplash related problems. <BR> <BR>I wear a helmet, but I wear it because the earflaps protect my eardrums when I take hard falls sideways. I burst an eardrum a few summers back and had to stay off the water for several weeks, not to mention the discomfort. I know for a fact that if I hadn't started wearing a helmet, I would have blown that same eardrum at least twice more. <BR> <BR>As far as the embarassment factor goes, I manned up and got a pink helmet. My friends have decorated it with fairly entertaining stickers, so we all get a laugh.

I always had my helmet with me, but would wear it off and on.. 2 weeks ago I was doing screwing around doing some surface spins and cuts and caught my heel edge really hard and slammed by head backwards... disclocated my jaw and ripped the tendons in my jaw.. end result is I have permanent TMJ now... I guarantee you if I was wearing my helmet the helmet would have taken the impact over the back of my head.. so I wear it now..

Get one and make sure it fits correct. Had mine for going on three seasons and have had no bell ringers since wearing it.

Wear the helmet. I bought a pro-tec helmet to protect my ears. While learning 3s lately, I was routinely catching an edge and taking back or forward head plants. I wore the helmet to protect my ears. I had no headaches with the hard falls. <BR> <BR>Decided not to wear my helmet last week and head planted on a TS 3. I had a good headache for the rest of the day. <BR> <BR>Now I wear the helmet. Make sure it is tight fitting to avoid the bucket effect.