experience has taught the military that various kinds of protective gear saves lives.. helmets flak Vests body armor ear plugs steel tor shoes flash gear and flash cream real protective mask ( not the $20 dollar collector specials that don't actually work [we can talk about that in detail if anybody wants] since they don't actually work or protect you from anything they seem to be highly popular.. go figure... because half of an NCO's life consists of making sure people are using safety gear that they absolutely hate wearing.
even this
https://armour-wear.com/shop/all/bulletproof-underwear/ save a lot of folks from IED's should have seen the originals.. looked like you were wearing 5 pairs of depends.. I mean loose combat style uniforms like BDU's can only hide so many faults..
You guys and gals are civilians.. you get to choose for yourself what or what not safety gear to wear..
It's always a trade off .. just like a tank that only has one size engine ( I humanpower, but great mileage) speed or mobility or protection or fire power improve one got to take away from the other 3 it's the old wildcat x zero story.. ( Wildcats and FM4's had a 7.1 to 1 kill ratio .. very respectable.. but the Zero got the press) Hoplites or light infantry...
Professionally.. as far as helmets go I would seriously look at the local risk of volcanoes and earthquakes under tall buildings type threats and look at some of the construction or even bike helmets or foot ball helmets something designed to mitigate the local credible threat.. and they are much lighter... I say this because one of the against arguments for wearing helmets was how much artillery airburst or head shot sniping snipers do you expect to encounter.. if you actually do see head wounds from gunshot or artillery as a problem then get military level gear and hope the bad guys don't have RPG's
Gas masks.. I have a whole library of links and tech info on that subject.. long story short version no country has ever sold effective gas masks s surplus .. the rubber gets age crcks the elastic goes limp and filters expire starting at date of manufacture NOT date the can is opened .. they dope the activated charcoal with various chemicals to make it more effective against specific war gasses and they have to use several type of chemicals in that doping to handle a variety of war gasses .. and they interact and break down in the sealed can over time.. the containers are marked as to shelf life after that.. it's not so much that they are ineffective as that they may be toxic all on their own.. and many older filters use asbestos .. filters great.. they even used to use it in cigarette filters .. some specific examples
http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/defective-masks.htm
Since I am more concerned about riot agents at peaceful protests .. I carry a readi-msk
http://www.shepherdsurvival.com/readi-mask-adult/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYTF5guxqFc pepper spray in the face
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcjCCXBna18 how to use and don
they come in kids sizes and fit in a pocket.. I use them as part of my EDC also good to have stuff
https://www.amazon.com/ea-Fox-Labs-Sude ... B0094BFFQ0 recommend both the wipes and the binary decon bottled stuff .especially if you have hair on you head or face.. wipes don't do well on hair.
Safety/ protective gear is not where you want to save money// although good stuff is not expensive
https://www.uline.com/Grp_259/Hard-Hats base model starts at $10 and as you might have noticed Readi masks $7 or $6 with the volume discount ( 2 or more) one time use
actually cheaper to do it right and buy gear that works