they take your backpack off you (and put in the hold) unless you pay and they allow you a shoe box sized bag.
Has anyone tried also wearing their helmet. I wouldn't like mine to go in the hold.
shoe box sized bag.
That's just not true.
unless you shoes normally look like this:

You mean your hat? Yes, why not? I've done the same on easy jet and BA in the past.
Just say you have a condition where you can black and and need it t protect your head. Not a nice thing to pretend to have but then RyanAir is not about nice things.
I’ve done the same on easy jet and BA in the past.
Yeah, never had an issue with a proper airline but this is Ryanair isn't it I used to carry mine all the time bit it now packs nicely into my hard case so it goes in there to save the hassle most of the time
I suspect if you tried that there'd be all manner of complaints from passengers worried that you were making air travel look unsafe (oh the irony!) and/or security guys assuming you were smuggling some sort of weird weapons or drugs on board.
