Fantasy Mail Coifs are Stupid, and This is Why...

Good old flimsy butted "chainmail" worn directly on the scalp... what could go wrong? Well...

Let's go a little less silly and find out how well riveted mail over a padded cap protects against sword strikes. Would it just rattle your noggin a little or cause some less... tolerable results?

For battles your character wants to partake in, be it historically inspired fiction or realistic fantasy, theymight want to invest in a helmet, even if it's just a Cervelliere (simple, low-profile skull cap). Just sayin'. :)

Special thanks to bladesmith Rick Marchand for building the stand and letting me wreck stuff at his place. Check out his awesome work:

The coif that I'm testing in this video:

The anatomical head analog I got for the test:

The swords (Kingston Arms arming sword and Landsknecht Emporium kriegsmesser):

*** Music credits ***

The Witches Waltz by Hitctrl
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0)

The Enchanted Forest of Min by Hitctrl
CC BY 3.0

“Imminent Threat” by Matthew Pablo
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)

"Little People At Work" by Horrorpen
CC BY 3.0

Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
Used with artist's permission

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*** Social media ***

[Zetact_]

The real reason why fantasy mail coifs are stupid is because obviously if you don't wear any head protection then it means you're a main character so you're more likely to survive.

[hdoddema]

My takeaway from this is that it's a good idea to avoid being in situations where people swing swords directly at your head.

[SergeantPsycho]

I feel like this the medieval equivalent of kevlar stopping a bullet but not preventing blunt force trauma.

[edgarburlyman]

Sucks when your armor just turns a sword into an ultra thin mace.

[tarille]

This perfectly illustrates the concept of blunt force damage.

Even a weapon designed to cut things, will still provide a hefty amount of blunt force damage even when it is prevented from cutting.

Also, this is why practice weapons tend to have more flexibility so as to help prevent this force from going into your sparring partner.

[pandacrafty]

The thing that bothered me the most of the example photos of people wearing it incorrectly is that most of those shots are during winter. who wants to wear metal with direct skin contact in winter.

[fromadhdtodndtomtg]

I always couldn't figure out why anyone would wear mail against their scalp... I'm bald and I'm sure it would still pull hair.

[GreatWightSpark]

That slo-mo slap was hilariously real.

[dimaspenggalih]

That thing is definitely protecting you from the sharpness of the sword. The sword wouldn't cut you. But, since your dummy stuck on that pole and can't even move, it will take all the sword's swing thurst, thats why maybee you should try to make your dummy movement more natural. Humans would have a motion reaction when they were hit, not stand still like that. (Sorry about my messy English).

[Daddy]

Mental note,
Do NOT get hit in the head with a sword.👍🏻
Thumbs up for Skallgrim keeping his pimp hand strong!✋🏻

[ashfield]

There's a reason why one of the most common upgrades for a low born soldier is an actual helmet. There's simply nothing that comes close to protecting that part of the body.

[JaxontheOkay]

worst part of the fantasy coifs to me is that they often would have long hair and imagining that getting tangled in chainmail makes me HOPE the sword blow will just kill me

[GuitarGuy]

Also, can we talk about the sheer amount of hair ripping that would occur with a chain mail hoodie with nothing under it?

[Scarlet_Soul]

You know, I've never seen a skull visibly say "oh hell no" to a slap in slow motion

[ANGJKWENRUGK]

its kinda crazy that in the movies mail coifs are usually worn without the padding, like can you imagine how incredibly uncomfortable that would be if you have any hair on your head, not to mention that it would have the complete opposite effect, instead of protecting the head it would serve as another layer of metal that would help crush your skull

[azerjinn]

The great thing about the real human skull is that it is segmneted and porus so the force is better delt with
It's ment to minimize damage
But anyone takeing a sword strike will be damaged
Fun video thanks

[DRH-yhwm]

I always thought of mail coifs as intended to prevent cuts to the major vessels in the neck rather than head protection… always thought the lack of actual helmets was weird.

[prestonwarren]

I been wearing one of these everyday for the past couple of months. I instantly get respect. Ppl move aside when they see me coming. At work my boss is so impressed he won't even talk to me anymore.

[rianfelis]

I would like to see a comparison of what a glancing blow does with and without armor. I feel like this is much more what chain is able to deal with: turning a blow that was only partly parried into something more survivable.

[griffinkelley]

I thought the title read "mail coifs are stupid" and I was about to comment "did skallagrim get hit in the head while not wearing a padded coif under his chainmail coif?" But than I realized he put FANTASTY in the title