I am wondering if there are people that have had their helmet for a long period of time and got away safe from crashing with it. if so how long have you had this helmet for. Including the time it was produced some helmets are in shops for years before sold.
I had one for about a year and a half before crashing hard enough to destroy it.
Didn’t know they had an expiration date.
It is not binary - safe / not safe. It depends on materials used in the helmet and their exposure to UV and age.
IMO:
If it is older than 2 years and you care about your brain - replace it.
If it was cheap and you skate more than once a month - get abetter one.
Also note: helemets are usually tested only for sturdyness but not for protection against concussions. You might want to consider a helmet with some advanced protection mechanisms such as MIPS, WaveCell or similar.
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If it ain’t a big whack I’ll keep it around. If it is; time to replace. Hopefully you’re not cracking your head on pavement every half year hard enough to worry about it.
[Insert “you should always replace a helmet in a crash” text here]
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No, I use helmets that last longer than more than my life…Fiber composite do not age…I have 7 helmets for diferent uses, they are hanging there,better than my hair… Buy quality, enjoy life…
I’ve had my helmet probably 14 years. Never thought about replacing it, but its also never really touched pavement.
All the adhesives and stuff are still holding up, and I’ve got to imagine those degrade a lot faster than the shell and liner.
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I’ve read that the polystyrene expiring, delaminating and/or compressing is the bigger concern. Also, generally I don’t buy helmets without MIPS, but I may make an exception for a full face like New Olders or TSG Pass.
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FWIW you do get the Bell 3R MIPS, but a face shield would be nice.
I wear a full race motorcycle helmet to esk8 and for biz, industry standard is to replace your helmet every 3-5 years without it having any accidents or significant impact… I generally replace helmets every other year and my liners and padding 1-2 times a year but I wear my helmets A LOT…
and I replace it every single time fcuking it touches the ground… superstition I don’t like my helmets to ever get accustomed to touching the ground…
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One time I had my helmet clipped to my belt and as I was getting inside it bumped the door of my car.
In your line of thinking thats probably about the worst thing that could happen.
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no… actually the worst would be some douche nozzle putting it on their greasy, sweaty little head, and then having it end up on the ground… that helmet would be dead to me, and I’d kick it to the trash can…
like I said… superstition… I have friends that scratch their brand new helmets or race cars out of superstition…
mine NEVER touch the ground
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@kook tell me what happens when someone puts one of your guest helmets down upside down, kind of on the visor, in the dirt.
Do they walk home?
I married one of those then trained her right 
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When the foam gets stinky from sweat, I wash it in the kitchen sink with laundry detergent.
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if its a rental helmet I ask them WTF… and tell them I have their credit card number on file…
I’m sponsored by Vemar, aint nobody got time for washing that stinky ass shit… but in my impoverished days I did the same and put my pads and liners in my Mom’s unladen dishwasher…
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Riding in the winter mostly sucks asshole, but one awesome bonus is that helmets stay pristine until it gets hot again.
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your describing both my TSG Pass and Vive headset cleaning steps 
EDIT: and only when its too stinky and or causing a rash lol
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