HN Holiday Gift Guide: No-knot hair net and exercise bandana

Megan Kaiser checks out two unique stocking stuffer ideas from Real Women Ride®.

From Megan:

A benefit of working from home is the ability to read The Chronicle of the Horse while waiting for conference calls to start. Last week while doing this I noticed an ad for Real Women Ride® and their no-knot hair net. I was intrigued as I do not enjoy the knot (nor the line a cross my forehead that remains after you remove your helmet).

My colleagues were still trapped on another call so as I waited I went to the Real Women Ride® site (eriquestrian.com) and watched a lady put on her hairnet and helmet in a matter of seconds and it looked great. I figured even it took me three times as long it still was an improvement. And you don’t use a hair tie–interesting.

From the website:

I was also interested in their exercise bandana.  It is like a tube-type scarf that can go under your helmet or around your neck–it is hard to explain but they have helpful pictures. Winters are cold here and I haven’t found anything that works under the helmet to keep my ears warm, not make my helmet fit funny, and isn’t a huge hassle. I’m also interested in trying it in summer as it “wicks away moisture” and I can wash it!

[RealWomenRide]

I ordered their fall special of two hairnets, a hairnet holder (with comb and mirror – now I can retire my Little Mermaid mirror), and one exercise bandana.

Several days later I was far too excited when my package came.  The fall special was wrapped in a cute little gift bag.  I first inspected the hairnet holder – nice sturdy with two places to put hairnets and it looks to be easy to clean.

Next came the hair nets; they come in a nice little organza bag so if you use it they aren’t getting mixed up with all the others preventing the hair net blob that currently resides in my hair kit.  Then I tried the hairnet: It took me about twice as long as the lady in the video but my hair looked good – and I’m picky about my hair. (Doing your hair is a detail thing: it shouldn’t be noticed and it won’t be if it is done neatly.  I had a trainer that wouldn’t teach you if your hair wasn’t back or up; she found it distracting and I have grown to appreciate this.)

I’m going to have to get used to not needing a hair tie but this eliminates the horse show day stress: I only have a teal hair tie – how much of it can they really see?  It isn’t that bright, right?

The bandana is nice, I like it. It is very thin. It says put while you ride, feels very smooth under your helmet, it isn’t bulky and my helmet fits just like I don’t have it on.  I’ll have to figure out exactly how to scrunch it up over my ears on really cold days but it’s better than what I try to rig up each winter.

We’ve come a long way from the horrible hairnets we used as a kid, when you needed many backups because there was a good chance they would rip when we removed them from the paper envelope they came in! I will not miss the knot or the line across my forehead one bit!