Disposable gloves can be a bear to put on. Ditto for some of the non-disposable chemical-resistant gloves.
I don’t have too many problems — most are “one size” and my hands aren’t too big. For Dave, however, putting on gloves is another story. It has taken him as long as 15 minutes to put on a pair when it’s hot and humid out and his hands are sweaty.
Quick tip: almost any type of powder will make them much, much easier to put on. With powder, it takes Dave about 20 seconds. Depending on what’s available, you can use:
- Baby powder
- Gold Bond powder
- Dusting powder
- Any after-shower powder
- Corn starch
Dave’s preference is baby powder, but sometimes he runs out and it doesn’t get on the shopping list. Hence the list of other things he’s used.
Dave finds that it works better to shake a bit of powder into the gloves than to try to powder his hands.
Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
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Frances Liz Fernandez says
We use these gloves for cleaning the yucky a/c filter, pumping out, filling up oil, all the icky jobs. But I must remember the powder idea!
Dave Skolnick says
You can buy pre-powdered gloves in latex and nitrile. Good stuff and usually the same price.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Unfortunately we can only find them less than 50% of the time.
Liz says
My favorite glove trick is to put on multiple layers of disposable gloves when I’m doing potentially goopy chores like working with caulk, varnish, or paint. This helps keep goopy finger prints from getting everywhere.
As soon as the outermost gloves get goopy, peel them off inside out, trapping the goop inside. If you have an iky paper towel you need to sequester so that it doesn’t spread goop everywhere, hold it in your hand as you peel the glove off and it will end up neatly contained inside the inside-out glove.
Set the bundle aside knowing it won’t get anything goopy, and you already have a brand-new pristinely clean pair of gloves to continue your job with. The whole process takes about 5 seconds, much faster and tidier than going back inside to get another pair of gloves, or than using goopy gloves and getting goop-finger-prints all over everything.
Sprinkling powder helps with the first glove, but the second and third layers aren’t as hard to put on because they’re not against your skin so not sticking to your sweaty palms.
Carolyn Shearlock says
I love this idea! Makes total sense — why didn’t I think of it??
Barbara Lowell says
LOVE THIS!!! My hairdresser taught me to blow into the gloves before putting them on, or after taking them off and you want to put them on again. love the multiple gloves idea, aren’t we smarties?
Marie Raney says
My CPR instructor taught me to blow in the gloves, as if they were little balloons, before putting them on. Works great!
Sharon says
As an old (er) nurse we use these gloves tricks too. One more tip is to sprinkle a little powder into the glove, blow air in, twist the wrist end and shake the glove. This distributes the powder more evenly throughout the glove instead of it landing in the fingers.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Oooh. That’s the advanced technique! I’ll be sure to tell Dave.
Lori Graham says
I go the other way because I have very dry skin. I slather my hands with coconut oil (my favorite moisturizer) and it’s like getting a spa treatment for my hands, nails and cuticles.