There’s just about 2 weeks to the Chinese New Year and for those of us who haven’t been diligent about keeping house, this is the time we go into a little frenzy spring-cleaning. Out with the old, in with the new! Out goes the cobwebs and dust and disorder, in comes good fortune and prosperity and an orderly life. At least, that’s the idea 🙂
I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning and if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that we should wear gloves when doing the household chores.
Strange beauty tip you think? Not quite.
I thought about this because I noticed that my SIL doesn’t wear gloves when doing the washing up of dishes despite me nagging her at it and supplying her with gloves. I didn’t use to either, if I’m to be honest, but all that changed when I realised that my hands have the most sensitive skin ever, and a good friend who not only plys me with gifts of beauty, sent me some Hygiene Plus Silktouch vinyl, non latex gloves. Fan for life!
Do you wear gloves when doing household chores? Do you have a favourite pair or brand?
The thing about detergents and cleaning solutions is that no matter how mild they claim to be, they can be very drying and corrosive to our hands. Even if you think you have tough elephant skin for hands, if you’re working with dust, it can irritate skin too and cause lots of problems.
In my case, I’ve realised that my hands are very sensitive to detergents. So anything from laundry detergent to dishwashing liquid or sometimes, even shampoo (!!) can cause the skin of my hands to dry out and peel and this going on for WEEKS! No amount of hand cream helps if I’m careless. I seriously look like I’m molting. Not a pleasant sight!
The other thing is that if I work with dusty areas, my hands too start feeling itchy and develop rashes sometimes. So the best thing to do is slip on a pair of gloves and go at your chores. It protects your hands from detergents and dust and keeps them soft and smooth 🙂
My gloves of choice are the Silktouch gloves from Hygiene Plus that I get from Australia. I’ve never seen them locally, nor a similar version. These are non-latex vinyl gloves that are thin yet strong with reinforced finger tips, feel oh so comfortable to wear and best of all, do not leave that horrid rubber smell on fingers!
I’m not allergic to latex, but I hate the smell of rubber gloves so after being introduced to these, I don’t use any other. I found these at Woolworth’s at Westfield Doncaster for just a little over AU$1.xx and my friend tells me she sees it at some Safeway and Woolworth’s stores but not all. It can’t be found in Cole’s and we have no idea why. The other option of course, is disposable plastic or rubber gloves but I hate how those feel!
The Silktouch gloves in S come in pink and fit my small hands very well so it’s easy to work with. Don’t you just hate it when they make the fingers too long and there’s all this empty space at the tips? I can never work properly with those on. These are very long lasting too and unless I accidentally poke them with a kinfe (as I did my last pair) they don’t break down nor leak the way rubber gloves do, so 1 pair can last me a very long time with proper care. As I said, I’m a fan for life and these are all I ever really want whenever anyone returns from Australia 😀
Do you wear gloves when you do household chores? Do you have a favourite brand or have you seen any non-latex gloves available locally?
If anyone has seen similar types of gloves locally, please let me know. For now, I have them shipped in. I know, crazy but hey, I do my own housework and I still have soft, non calloused hands (ahem! ahem! 😉 ) so I must be doing something right eh? 😉
Paris B
Jennifer says
I am not a fan of housework and latex gloves. So that makes it double challenging. But you have managed to convince me that if I can lay my hands on these gloves, housework is essentially half the battle down already 😀 Thanks for sharing this tip though it is a little unconventional for a beauty blog, but as always, you never cease to amaze me and brings a smile to my face. It will be a long time more before I find myself in Australia, hopefully I will have friends who will be there soon.
Paris B says
Haha the upside is that these days it’s possible to hire part time cleaners so at least that’s part of the chores done! These gloves are awesome for me to do the washing up. I use the old pair for cleaning the bathroom. Less for mopping coz I have that spin dry mop thingy so I don’t have to wring it with my hands thus sparing my the calluses 😀 I guess you could say I’m not a regular beauty blogger eh? There’s elements of beauty in everything and I get tired of the same old same old 🙂 I’m glad you do enjoy my little excursions to the extraordinary
Emma says
I wear gloves every single time I wash dishes. The main reason, it’s winter time and the water is cold, my hands don’t like cold weather when they are already freezing. Also, detergents are probably bad for your skin anyway, and it leaves my hands feeling so dry, all the more reason for wearing gloves. But for household chores like sweeping the floor, things that don’t involve being in contact with water, I don’t wear gloves.
Paris B says
Good point about water temperature Emma! Here the water isn’t as much of an issue but I’ve done washing up in winter and it’s TORTURE without gloves or at least fleecelined rubber gloves 😀
Michelle Beh says
Hi Paris B! I did not use any hand gloves when I do house chores but I think I need to start practising using that as my hand is getting drier and drier.
Paris B says
Hi Michelle, yes it’s good practice to wear gloves for things like dusting or washing to protect your hands. Too much water isn’t good for skin either!
Sam Still Reading says
I never wore gloves until my workplace enforced hand hygiene very seriously and regularly audit on it. We have to wash our hands pretty much constantly with the alcohol sanitiser, which dries my hands out and makes them yucky and flaky. Since then, I’ve been forced to commit to a regular hand cream regime. Now I just wear gloves when cleaning at home because I don’t want my hands to feel yucky and dry there too.
I’m going to look for those gloves at Woolies this week, thanks for the heads up. (Been wearing yucky yellow ones).
Paris B says
Yes yes do look these gloves up. They’re really nice and not very expensive (to me at least) and can last a long long while if you don’t poke holes in them!
Honey says
Hi Paris!! I’ve gone missing for a while. Guess what?! I’ve just relocated to Australia, Sydney to be precise. Almost a month now and my wifi was just installed today.
Catching up on your blog and these gloves are just what I need. Gonna start hunting for them ASAP. Thanks for the heads up:)
Paris B says
Hi Honey! So lovely to hear from you again and congratulations on the relocation and importantly, on obtaining your wifi! 😀 I can’t believe we’ve been “hanging out” for so many years through so many changes in our lives. Thank you for the support and for reading and I hope you find these gloves in a Woolies near you – they’re really good stuff! 😀