There’s a saying “charity begins at home”. Well, ‘safety’ begins at home too! Hand gloves find their maximum use in safety purposes. That said, the domestic use of hand gloves is found to be the widest use of these products. Since it's domestically used all of us are more or less familiar with them and wear them according to our needs.

Some prefer to simply protect their delicate hands while carrying out household chores. while others, mostly use it during the cooking sessions. Be it inside the microwave oven or over your propane tank for grilling purposes – your hands remain protected with the right pair of gloves on.

So, which pair is right? When you visit a store or an online marketplace, how do you choose from the wide variety of hand gloves that are available there?

Here’s an insight into the different types and their probable uses…

The simplest type is obviously made of cotton. Plain cotton gloves or you may refer to them as light fabric ones to keep the hands covered and lightly protected. You may escape small scrapes, cuts, and splinters if you've put these on. 

Coated gloves are the next level which is often used for industrial purposes too. They are also used for 'cooking' purpose as mentioned above and are popularly coated with any one of these few materials – PVC, Nitrile, and polyurethane. They can protect against minor burns, punctures, and cuts, but the actual purpose depends upon the job the wearer is performing.

The third type is leather gloves. Their best utility lies in the fact that they provide a good grip and insulation too. Their enhanced thickness (compared to the common fabrics) provide better protection, however, leather gloves lag in some attributes. They tend to crack or dry when exposed to considerably higher temperatures. They might shrivel as well. They are, therefore, not burn-protective either.

Let’s amalgamate the fourth category under a single term like – professional gloves. By saying professional gloves, we are hinting at the latex gloves, rubber-made ones, and the plastic gloves. They are commonly used across a variety of jobs. The medical professionals (where you might have noticed the widest use of gloves), chemical industries, jobs that deal with biohazards, and other harmful substances use these gloves. They bear a certain amount of elasticity and are firm-fitting to allow professionals to work smoothly. However, this flexibility and thinness do not make them puncture-proof or heat resistant.

Other types…

A more detailed categorization of gloves would hunt down a few more types (that are probably not commonly known). This include:

Butyl Rubber Gloves – the rubberized material aids in working with chemicals, which, ensure the least absorption! Acids, bases, alcohols, nitro-compounds, ozone corrosion, oxidation, etc. are all resisted effectively. They can even withstand hot and cold temperatures up to a certain extent.

Aluminized gloves - These are specifically high-heat resistant gloves commonly used in welding industries and scientific laboratories, as they can resist temperatures up to 2000-degree Fahrenheit!

This list is indeed a long one.  Only the purpose and the safety challenges that a particular job entails can determine the right type of hand gloves for you. So you cannot just handpick them from the shelves of the store or by scrolling up and down while shopping online! Identify the hazards of your work and only then move on to choose the right pair.