How to equip and hide a helmet in Starfield

You spend all that time in Starfield’s character creator, and for what? To have your face covered by a helmet? Even when you’re standing in the perfectly hospitable air of New Atlantis? An affront! Just know that you can hide your helmet in Starfield — welcome news if you’re the type who plays in third person and frets over your appearance. Here’s how to hide your helmet.

How to equip a helmet in Starfield

Before you can hide a helmet, you first need to wear a helmet. You’ll almost certainly loot some from defeated Spacers and pirates. (You’ll find several during “One Small Step,” the first campaign mission.) If you’re out of luck, you can loot helmets from display cases, or buy one from a gear vendor.

Once you have a helmet, go to your inventory, scroll to the helmets submenu, select the helmet you want to wear, then press A (on Xbox) to equip it.

How to hide a helmet in Starfield

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

To hide a helmet in Starfield, go back into the helmets submenu of your inventory. Press RB (on Xbox) to hide the helmet in breathable areas. It’ll automatically show back up when you’re in non-breathable atmosphere. (Note that you can only see your helmet in the first place if you’re also wearing a spacesuit.)

You can also hide your spacesuit in settlements, like New Atlantis or Neon, by following the same prompt in the spacesuits submenu of your inventory. Your spacesuit will automatically display when you’re on your ship or exploring a planet, whether or not the air is breathable. If you’ve toggled your helmet to hide, it won’t show up.

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

Hiding a helmet or a spacesuit only disables its visual appearance; you’ll still get all the stat benefits. Also, this setting applies to all of your spacesuits and helmets, so you don’t have to re-toggle it every time you put on a new helmet or spacesuit.