Big segments of skating wear helmets, vert and downhill. Both deal with high speeds, where even a small mistake can mean a broken skull.
And especially in downhill, where it’s more to prevent fatality than concussion, helmet wearing is the opposite, you get treated like a dick for NOT wearing one.
When I first started learning downhill with a crew, that was the first rule. Wear one or ride somewhere else. And they all ‘regular’ skates too, usually without helmets.
I learned it’s necessity, no one likes rushing to a pool of blood around someone’s head because he was too ‘cool’ to wear a bucket. I learned that the hard way when I held a downhill clinic and I wasn’t strict enough with the rules.
He came to, but was fucking sick to my stomach scared that this guy didn’t have someone to check on him and make sure he woke up in the morning. Lots can go wrong with skull injuries.
Bringing this back to street skating, I usually don’t wear one either when I skate ‘normally’, because I’m not going anywhere near as fast and you fall differently because of it.
Now, if I skated like a pro with the speed they are hitting stuff and variables of not locking into grinds and shit? That’s taking your life into your own hands.
Sure, we love to see bravissimo, recklessness, and cheating death, but are we at a point in the size tricks being pulled require us to acknowledge the risk?
Or are we happy to continue to celebrate daredevils?