[epbrown]

I wear both a full face and an open face. Truth is, this is your chance to set your tolerance level. I know younger people who think any car without 10 airbags is a death trap, and when I started driving lap belts were state of the art. I always belt up, but I'll never have their anxiety level about missing safety tech like ABS or airbags because I went for decades without them.

Same with helmets. When I first started riding, my family made fun of me for wearing a helmet - they were for racers, not regular riding. Having ridden for 40 years with an open face, I'm not as nervous about not having full face. That said, the weird thing is nothing has ever hit cme in my open face(not even a bug), but I've had a few "whoa!" moments where something bounced off the shield of my full face (Scorpion).

No one had to talk me into Kevlar jeans and armored jackets, though.

I won't bother with helmet recs, as that totally depends on your head shape.