Testing products that might damage helmets
Summary: BHSI is testing helmets to determine what commonly used cosmetics, sunscreens, insect repellents, etc might damage helmet materials enough to affect impact performance.
Experimental Protocol
BHSI bought 50 helmets to be tested. The helmet model chosen was the Giro Section, a molded in the shell bike helmet meeting the CPSC standard. It is a skate-style helmet with a thin shell and minimal vents to complicate accurate test results. Most bike helmets are constructed this way. We bought them rather than asking for a donation to avoid any complications.
The Giro Section has a section of higher density foam in the front part of the liner to reduce the thickness of the helmet there and still pass the CPSC impact tests, so we are testing the two different foam densities and the line where the sections join to see if any of the substances can penetrate between them.
Lab testing of impact performance after exposure to the verious substances is the only way to determine if any visible damage actually resulted in reducing the helmet's protection. If the helmets cannot pass the CPSC flat anvil and curbstone drop we will consider the product tested to be damaging. We will also note any changes in impact performance short of failing the standard.
Prior to the beginning of the dosing, an accredited independent testing laboratory tested four control helmets in their lab to establish a performance baseline. Two helmets were tested dry at ambient lab temperature. Two were tested wet in case wet samples of the treated helmets prove more prone to impact performance changes. Another sample was tested hot, and one tested cold. Test locations are front, rear, and each side.
Products tested
BHSI assembled 20 substances that could damage helmets, including:
- Off Deep Woods Sportsman with DEET
- Sawyer's insect repellant without DEET
- Bull Frog Sunblock with DEET
- Kinesys spray sunblock
- Rogaine for women
- Rogaine foam for men
- Rite Air Hair Regro (same ingredients as Rogaine)
- Foltene Women's hair regrowth
- Big Sexy Hairspray
- Samy Hair Spray
- Coppertone Sport Sun Block
- Demarest Shampoo
- Herbal Essence Gel
- L'Oreal Shampoo
- Monkey Brains Psycho Hair Gel
- Neutrogena Ultrasheer SPF 55 Sunblock
- Rid Lice Shampoo
- Lice Shield lice repellant
- Generic Chain Grease based on Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil
- Gasoline
Dosing the helmets
Interior fit foam was removed, but the straps left intact for lab testing. Beginning in October of 2011, two helmets were wiped inside and out every two to five days for 16 total doses with each of the products. The products were either sprayed on, applied to a cloth and smeared over the inside foam and outer shell, or just smeared on with rubber gloves.
After the treatments were finished we washed the gunk off the helmets with warm water and a mild dishwashing liquid, then shipped them to the lab on January 16, 2012. The lab will test the same four locations on each of the dosed helmets to determine if their performance has changed. One sample will be tested dry and the second sample will be tested wet to see if cracks were opened up and water infiltration could be a factor. On each helmet three impacts will be on the flat anvil at 6.3 m/s, a two meter drop, and one on the curbstone anvil at 4.84 m/s, a 1.2 meter drop.
Total helmets tested: 22 dry ambient samples, 22 wet samples, one hot and one cold sample = 46 helmets, impacted four times each.
The lab will provide test results to BHSI. The results will be posted on the BHSI Web page and publicized.
Initial observations following the dosing
- As expected, gasoline destroyed the foam helmet liner, melting large channels in the foam that reached down to the shell.
- The two products with DEET also appeared to have degraded the foam significantly. The inside surface of the liners of those helmets were sticky and soft.
- The three formulations of Rogaine tested all had the same effect: the helmets were discolored by a white film that formed inside and out. The Men's Rogaine formulation left the most pronounced film, and washing the helmet did not remove it. There was no apparent foam damage to the
Rogaine helmets.
- We did not see any obvious damage from the Foltene women’s hair treatment, and it did not turn the helmet white.
- The two sunscreen helmets experienced surprising levels of foam degradation. The surface of the liner was soft and very sticky. Rubbing a finger across the liner resulted in black goo sticking to
the fingers, a mix of foam and sunscreen. The third sunscreen helmet, dosed with Kinesys spray, also had obvious foam damage, but it was not as pronounced as the creams were.
- The helmets dosed with chain grease did not show any apparent foam degradation. The chain grease was based on synthetic oil.
- The other substances did not appear to have caused foam damage, including the two hair sprays, the gels, the shampoos and the non-DEET insect repellant.
- The Lice Shield helmet would be unusable for anyone with a normal sense of smell. Lice Shield is one of the nastiest-smelling substances you can find in a drug store, with an intense but sickly floral aroma.
- We did not see any obvious opening of cracks between the liner sections, and did not detect any visible differences in the way substances attacked the two densities of liner foam.
Note that the above are simply visual observations. We don't know yet if any of the observed foam degradation will actually cause the protection of the helmet to be degraded.
Next Steps
When the lab's test results are back, we will compare them with those of the original calibration helmets. That will demonstrate what products really affected the helmets’ ability to provide impact protection.
This page was last revised on: January 19, 2011.
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