Simply not wearing a helmet would be no big handicap; that's what I did in Oblivion/Morrowind. But the real problem is the armor perks require you to wear one, making the penalty quite massive in this game. A simpler fix would probably be to just create a mod once the CK comes out that removes the helmet requirement from those perks.
A visibility toggle would pretty much have to be all Bethesda, at least for a very long while.

The thing is, you only need to be strong enough to take out the enemies. Being a single-player game (and one with difficulty options no less) there's no need to min/max the hell out of your character because your enemies aren't doing it, and the loss of a few armor points won't wreck you.

Thank goodness.

i know im a little late on this but.."those days"?? you do realize dragons and elves never existed in the past right? and that this game is entirely fictional?