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The helmet question 23-Nov-2010 At 5:14:17 PM joycepg

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(just moved this from another thread)
for the record, i do wear a helmet when climbing (or riding, or kayaking). once when i was telling my son about all the risky stuff my generation used to do when we were growing up (because we didn't know any better and no-one told us we were being stupid) he added gloomily "and we're the safety generation". well, err, yes we are, because we've learnt from previous mistakes, and we try not to repeat them. we've instituted seat belts, air bags, random breath testing, cycling helmets, quit campaigns and more. we've grounded space shuttles and a380's while we work out how to make them safer. so i was a little surprised when (on another thread) someone recently posted "oh - don't start that helmet debate again". i didn't know there was a helmet debate. what exactly is the helmet debate? i've read this thread through, and i can find plenty of reasons for wearing them (like people getting seriously hit in the head), but i can't find any reasons against wearing them. messing up hair and not looking cool don't really count in my book... so what is the debate about? is it just that people want the choice - well, you have it. and i don't think climbers are the sort that go around telling other non-helmet-wearing ones they should be wearing a helmet. or are we worried about the media always dutifully reporting whether a climber who had an accident was wearing a helmet or not? they probably should anyway
so am i uninformed? are there any genuine reasons for not wearing helmet while climbing?