I am trying out little wet paper towel squares over freshly sowed seeds, so i can water without displacing the soil until they come up. 
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I used to mist or use my finger or syringe to leave a single drop on it’s head
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I have a little bottle, maybe 1 by 2 inches, that I lined with a piece of sandpaper. Drop your seeds in there and give it a shake. I have fairly rough sandpaper in mine and shake it for maybe 30s or so. You should see the edges of the seeds being slightly scuffed. When or if the seedlings helmet, they crack open much easier. I can remove most of them with my fingers by just trying to gently split the seed open.
You might want to try some bagseed to check how long you need to shake for. Then as everyone has suggested plant them a little deeper.
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What everyone says…and @cannabissequoia
I always bottom water seedlings. Put your pots in a tray of water up over the weep holes and leave em for five minutes
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I hope I didn’t damage her tap root… I sort of panicked when she popped out of the coco and put her in it pretty quick.
She seems to be doing OK somehow, despite becoming completely unearthed:
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I’m down with bottom watering 
… 
but in this case I started auto seeds in their final pots so it’d take a lot of water to saturate the pots.
After years of growing I can say I finally understand over watering 
but I also just moved from an arid climate to a humid one & LITFA is hard to find out here. 
If this works I’ll sell special 420 bamboo paper towel squares for a ridiculous markup. Fully slave-labor-made & everything. Martha Stewart, hook me up.
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I have no idea wtf is going on here…
I planted this one down as deep as the first knuckle on my pinky, which is almost exactly an inch and it still came up with helmet head
I even shook this seed in a 240 grit sand paper tube before germinating it.
Here is my process, maybe this will help narrow down the issue:
- Shake seed in sand paper tube 240 grit for about 30 seconds (This is first time doing this step)
- Place seed in paper towel with RO water, spray seed 3 times with Hydrogen Peroxide
- Put seed in light proof container in grow tent for warmth
- The seed cracks, maybe has tiny root (so far 100% with this method in less than 18 hours)
- Sow the seed in coco .5 - 1 inch down. Make sure the tap root is pointed downward.
And the sprout comes up with a helmet 4/5 times 
This time the one in the picture is a Pink Panama, but I’ve had it happen legit on every seed I can think of in the last 10 seeds I’ve sown.
@MumenRyder
Don’t point the tail down
The tail needs to.point up.or to the side so.it can leverage the seed up and scrape the helmet off.
The root.will make a u turn and then whip the seed upwards.
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I.have popped 12 seeds in the past month and I use a similar procedure with only that small difference…and no helmet heads
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That’s genius!
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Prevention is the key to avoiding helmet head. Scarification be it manual or chemical will help the seedling to escape the shell. Soaking your seeds for 24 hrs in a solution of water and hydrogen peroxide is another step to help because the hydrogen peroxide chemically scarifies the shell. Lastly but certainly not least is proper depth of planting the seed. Cannabis seeds should be planted no shallower than 1/2 inch and up to 1 1/2 inches deep.
Using all of the above steps should limit the amount of helmet heads you get.
And when you do get a helmet head, leave it alone the seed will shed it by itself if you are just patient and let it do its thing. Using mechanical means to pry off the shell can lead to ripping or destroying the cotyledons of the young plant.
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I little tip , if cotyledons are curled down like Mac Donald’s m , then you soil is waterlogged
One should be straight , the other slightly curved : )
Bottom feed for the win : )
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This. It helped me immensely. I leave a clear cup upside down over the seedling until it sheds the shell.
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@MumenRyder I feel for ya and had similar issues until I did this step-by-step:
Prior to any seed popping I make sure to toss them into the fridge for at least 24 hours to stratify them so the following is a proper:
1: Scuff the seeds for at least 15-30seconds in a box lined with 100grit sandpaper.
2: Soak the seeds in a shot-glass of distilled water + a splash of H202, this is kept at 25c.
3: After the tap-root shows in the shot-glass, I place in my growing medium (usually in a bed of earthworm castings) and cover it with a 4" pot.
4: This all stays under a dome for at least 48 hours near 80-99% RH until the seed casing comes off then it’s off with the 4" and I start to vent the dome.
1 = creates micro abrasions all on the seed casing allowing for better moisture penetration + casing removal in the long run.
2 = softens the casing, the h202 address any “surprise pathogens” on the casing and additionally floats the seeds on the surface on a “raft of bubbles” that generate on the casing due to the micro-scratching from the scuffing. The heat wakes up the seed.
3 = I’m too hyper to deal with long tap roots. Putting them immediately into EWC gives them extra food and micro nutrients and moisture. Covering them with the 4" pot creates a subdued light micro climate.
4 = prevents everything from drying out, keeps things stable, it’s often all variations of “the usual” tbh from here on-wards.
BEST OF SUCCESS!
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I direct sow and planting depth is important for this.
I’ve done a few helmet surgeries and it no big deal if you’re careful. Give it a spritz, leave it alone for a bit, fix it up, but do it carefully. It requires a steady hand.
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I personally think this “just happens” and gets more prevalent as more & more strains continue to get polyhybridized.
I just let a couple go untouched and after a full week above soil (or, coco) one shed itself and the other was trapped in that inner membrane.
I like using a clean toothpick to just lightly flick at the seed husk, and to also help peel off the membrane if needed
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Plant it deeper
Let’s talk dirty, sorry dirt.
This phenomenon is directly linked with the regime of the plants producing these seeds, simply. To prevent it, i just germinate my own seeds ^^ I know it’s a shitty answer. But it’s important to know that you can even lower as fck the viability of seeds (short term and long term) just in feeding “badly” the mothers. They have to be well fed during the process (without burning them or to create blueish K patch either), the level is not so the problem, it’s more about what is in the soup. The simpler and the more NPK-balanced the better. And no it’s not because you’re in organic or supersoil that you necessary prevent it.
It’s too risky to throw a generic rule in considering the big difference from one nutrient’s line to another etc … but i’ll try to give a secure lead :
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better to use a cheap base ratio of 1:2:1 (even granulates for the garden, no joke) that stacking complete interactions engineered for flower’s production. And better to “strenght up” this simple base, that topping with additional stuff. Light deficiencies of near all kind are not a problem, the plant is build for it and it make one of the most efficient plant on earth to de-pollute soil.
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all kind of boosters used to “top” the base are a no-no.
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the only complex nute you can give without any swing in your seeds averages is a pure amino-acid complement, and only during the week after the pollination ^^ It give an idea how much it’s more hot that it look.
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hormons : in general i dodge all lines containing phytohormons (my choice), but to feed the mothers it’s a critical no-no.
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Cal-mag and water : it’s when i’m gonna be burned in public place maybe : if you use one gallon of cal-mag per round (yeah it’s caricatural) or if your water is so filled with “limestone” that it let marks in your pot/tanks/watering tube/water pump/air pump … you can expect worries at the end of the chain and feedback that trash your rep ^^
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an healthy seeded mother is not necessary a photogenic plant. Anyway you have to reach the senescence in general, when the plants start to look like shit and sick ^^ Normal, they sent the signal to just die.
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watering : just water enough to maintain a good sap pressure that maintain a positive phototropism (don’t judge on leaves only, they can be heavy on some strains), look at the fan leaves stems and leaves set of secondaries. One little bit of water per day is a pain in the ass, but a sweet spot.
Limiting the hardiness of the shell on commercial release :
- just soak a day the seeds in humic acid (just after the water/peroxyde bath), and eventually if you master the dosages, equally dosed with fulvic acid. Don’t use this last if you know that the line is prone to herm, except if you want faster screening of course ^^
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Ive always been pretty brave and gently relentless with my thumbnail and don’t remember killing any ive been considerate about.
I recall humidity, and its presence in the environment, helped soften up 'helmets’and made it easier for a seedling to shake it off on its own.(your help being in ensuring humidity is present during those vital hours when the seed is awakened and risen ) 
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