Gloves – should you wear disposable gloves for house cleaning?
Some housekeepers and maids don’t think they need to wear gloves because they don’t clean with toxic chemicals.
TheHouseCleaningGuru, AngelaBrown suggests there’s a better reason maids wear gloves.
In every house cleaner training or maid service training, you learn about PPE. Short for Personal Protective Equipment, and why gloves are always on the list.
Listen: Gloves for House Cleaning – What’s The Big Deal?
Watch: Gloves for House Cleaning – What’s The Big Deal?
Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.
Question: Gloves for House Cleaning – What’s The Big Deal?
Today’s question comes from a house cleaner who is curious to know “What is the big deal about wearing gloves when you clean houses?”
She says “I clean with non-toxic chemicals so the chemicals are not getting on my hands.”
And she says “When I touch the surfaces of things I can’t feel if they’re clean if I have gloves on so is it really important that I wear them?”
Answer: Gloves for House Cleaning – It’s a Good Idea
Well, the answer to that is yes, it is important. And it reminds me of the mortician who’s preparing a body and the assistant comes in and says “Oh my gosh, you’re not wearing gloves.”
And the guy that’s preparing the body says “Ah, don’t worry about it. He’s not going to catch anything, he’s already dead.”
It’s funny because were not concerned about the dead person, we’re more concerned about the living person.
So, as you’re cleaning someone’s home, there are germs everywhere. And other people’s germs are different from your germs.
Now, you live in your own house and so you have an immunity build up to the types of germs that you have in your house. You do not, however, have an immunity to the germs that other people have, and you don’t know where the germs are coming from.
You might go into a kitchen and the kitchen counter looks like it’s completely clean. But moments before a kid could have come in and put his soccer shoes or sweaty gym clothes, on the top of that countertop. You could be cleaning and come in contact with animal feces, pet urine or vomit.
So, you just have no idea. Do I recommend that you wear gloves? Yes, absolutely.
Where Do You Buy Inexpensive Disposable Gloves? 
They’re very inexpensive, you can buy them in bulk. They are available in most big discount stores like Walmart and Costco or Sams Club. But you can also buy them on Amazon and with Prime, you can have them shipped free of charge. A good price for disposable gloves, either latex or nitrile is between .05 to .10 cents each. So a box of 100 would be about $10 or less.
So for less than a quarter, you can protect your hands and keep the germs off of you while cleaning.
While You’re Cleaning You Pick Up Dusty Items, That Also Carry Germs and Pet Dander
And if you’re like me and you see something stuck to the floor while mopping, you’ll try to pry it up with your fingernail. Wearing gloves will prevent that gunk from going underneath your fingernail.
But My Hands Get Clammy and Prune Like When Wearing Gloves
Some house cleaners that say “when I wear disposable gloves they make my hands clammy.”
Okay, your hands are going to get clammy and that’s just part of wearing gloves. Your hands get clammy and then when you take them off, they air out and they repair themselves.
My Hands Get Dry and Chaffed
Now, my hands also get clammy and sometimes they get cracked and they dry.
And so at night when I go to bed I just get a regular tub of Vaseline.
And these are cheap gloves that you can buy at Walmart or the Dollar Store. Or you can opt for some lightweight cotton gloves for summertime use. They’re very inexpensive. I just coat my hands in Vaseline, and then I put the gloves on when I go to sleep at night.
And that heals all the cracked, peeling dry skin so that my hands are as good as new.
We only get one set of hands in this life – and if you are like me you use your hands for just about everything. Why not protect them?
Wearing Gloves When You Have Allergies
I have allergies.
And so, it would be easy if my eyes are itching or watering to scratch my eyes or rub my eyes, but I don’t do that when I have the gloves on. Because I don’t want the latex or the nitrile in my eyes.
So, wearing gloves while cleaning has trained me not to scratch my nose in my eyes or ears while I’m cleaning.
And that way I’m not transferring my customers household germs or pet dander to my face. I’m not transferring cleaning chemicals. And not transferring the latex or the nitrile to my eyes or my nose or any of the places where then I can pick up germs.
In the last 14 years, I haven’t called in sick at all. I credit that mostly to my apple cider vinegar/lemon juice that I drink every morning which is nasty, but it’s also wearing gloves.
You Only Get One Set of Hands – Why Not Protect Them?
Lots of the grocery stores and shopping centers like Costco and Walmart have handy wipes when you walk in the store.
They’re there for you to clean your hands and you can wipe down the shopping cart so that you don’t transfer other people’s germs as you shop.
I’m not suggesting you become a germaphobe. But we do transfer lots of germs by the things we touch.
Even in the door of my car, I carry hand sanitation and hand lotion. This is great for on the road times where you need to sanitize your hands.
Suppose you go through a drive-thru and you hand someone your credit card. Or you hand them cash. You’re dealing with your car, you’re dealing with money, you’re dealing with other people’s germs because they touched your credit card and money.
Now you can clean your hands before you eat your food so that you don’t transfer those germs into your body.
There’s a Reason OSHA Recommends Gloves as Part of Your PPE
Safety precautions are among the reasons OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) recommends disposable gloves as part of your PPE which stands for Personal Protective Equipment.
And as far as not being able to feel if a surface is clean, the disposable gloves are so thin you can feel just about everything even you wear them. They do not block your sense of touch.
If you’re running your hands along the insides of tubs and toilets and stuff like that oh, my goodness. More than anything you want to have gloves on. You don’t want that the gunk or bacteria absorbed into your skin. Because if it’s dirty and you can feel that it’s dirty wow that’s now on your skin and you can say “well yeah, I can wash my hands.” And I hope that you do.
Because whatever you’re touching is now on your skin. And yes, you can wash your hands, but between hand washings, you will touch and pick up so many dirty things while cleaning that washing isn’t enough.
If Wearing Gloves While Cleaning Could Prevent Sickness – Would You Wear Them? 
Just get in the habit of wearing gloves. It’s part of your company uniform. I’m really emphatic about this because I have seen people that don’t and then they get sick all the time.
And then they’re out for a week worth of work because they got sick and they have to stay at home. Remember in House Cleaning, you don’t get paid when you don’t work. Nobody pays you for staying home being sick.
So protect yourself and your business by taking necessary precautions and wearing gloves. It’s more than just a good idea.
Alrighty, so that’s my tip for today.
And until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.
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Resources From This Show
Nitrile Exam Gloves by Precision Disposables | Blue Medium 4 mil Thickness, Powder-Free, Non-Latex, Fingertip-Textured, Medical Grade, Food Safe Examination Gloves (Pack of 100) –
http://amzn.to/2tBKRsB
Wide Selection of Latex Gloves for house cleaners- http://amzn.to/2tCga6z
Paxcoo 20 Pairs Large White Cotton Gloves to Wear to Bed At Night with Vaseline – http://amzn.to/2s2dphK
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