Playing with a female hero I mostly now prefer to wear NO helmet at all, because her beautiful hair is then covered !
Also:
most leggings are not that great to look at (for ME!), so I'm always happy to find a nice looking piece of gear, even when it's stats are not that great, it look lovely = I love it to see my hero wearing it ! For example I like the Rivellon Guards Leggings a lot more that many other leggings I can find/buy .
In the past, playing rpg's I didn't care about this, but now I care about it and simply sell all stuff I do not like to see my hero is wearing. I try all I find to see how it suits my hero (or not) ... The same with weapons !
The shields I find most ugly, so from now on I only use 1 handed weapons (one, or two of the same type) or two-handed weapons (swords & bows I like most).
Then it's lovely to simply look at your hero when walking or running throught the gameworld .
