Nail tech gloves

What nail tech gloves need to do

Four jobs in one thin film

That is a hard brief for a glove that weighs about 3.5 grams. Gloves for nail techs have four jobs:

• Block the chemicals in removers, monomer, primer and disinfectant.
• Keep blood and skin contact between you and the client.
• Fit close enough for detail work at the fingertips.
• Cost little enough to change after every client.

The EPA's guide for nail salon workers covers the first two directly. It says nitrile gloves provide the best protection, that latex and vinyl are permeable to many nail product ingredients, and that you should use a new pair of disposable gloves for each customer.

Nitrile, Nitro-V or vinyl for nail work

Three materials, three jobs

Our nail salon line holds two powder free nitrile gloves, one nitrile and vinyl hybrid and one clear vinyl glove. All four are latex-free, and most cases hold 1,000 gloves. Some XL cases hold 900.

Nitrile is the everyday glove. OSHA says it protects against many chemicals in nail products. Our black Nitro-V blend mixes nitrile and vinyl into a softer, heavier glove, and its page says it is free from latex and accelerators. Clear vinyl is the quick-task glove, and OSHA names vinyl or latex as appropriate for handling acetone.

Thin vs thicker gloves for dexterity

Feel at the tip, strength in the film

OSHA's guide to personal protective equipment puts the tradeoff plainly: as a general rule, thicker glove material gives more chemical resistance, but thick gloves may impair grip and dexterity. Nail work sits right on that line.

Mil is film thickness in thousandths of an inch. Our two nail nitrile gloves are listed at 3.5 mil, thin enough to feel a cuticle edge or a brush stroke. For tool scrubbing or disinfectant work, a heavier glove makes sense. Our Black Heavy Duty Nitrile (Industrial) is listed at 5 mil for $79.95, and large is sold out today.

Glove sizing for small & large hands

Snug at the palm, no loose tips

Good glove sizing matters more for nail techs than for almost anyone. Extra film past the fingertip drags through wet polish and catches on a file. A glove that is too tight splits at the thumb.

OSHA's general PPE rule asks employers to select protective equipment that properly fits each affected employee, so one salon size rarely works. Our nitrile glove sizes in the nail line run XS to XL, which covers small and large hands. Each size ships as its own case.

Grip for files, drills & bottles

Texture where your fingers work

A smooth glove slides on a metal file and a wet bottle cap. Both of our nail nitrile gloves list a smooth finish with textured fingertips for better grip and precision, so the grip sits where you hold tools.

The Nitro-V blend and the clear vinyl list a smooth external finish instead. That suits quick tasks and tool cleanup better than fine detail.

You will also see diamond grip gloves at 7 and 8 mil in our shop. They are made for oily, wet industrial work, and at that thickness most nail techs lose too much feel.

How long gloves hold up to acetone

A splash barrier, not a soak glove

Acetone is a ketone and a strong solvent. Its encyclopedia entry on acetone solvent properties notes that it dissolves many plastics and is the main ingredient in many nail polish removers. OSHA's PPE guide says nitrile is generally not recommended for ketones, and its glove chart rates nitrile poor against acetone and latex very good.

So how long do nitrile gloves for acetone last? We cannot give you a safe number of minutes. It depends on the glove, its thickness and how much acetone it meets, and none of our gloves has acetone test data or a chemical rating. If you are shopping for acetone resistant gloves to soak in, you need a chemical-rated glove chosen from the remover's safety data sheet.

Black nitrile gloves vs blue for salons

Hide the mess or see it

Color changes what you and the client see. It does nothing for protection.

Black nitrile gloves hide polish, dust and color. Our black industrial nitrile page says the dark color keeps color and dirt hidden, and it names beauty salons and hair and nail studios. It is 3.5 mil at $62.95 a case.

Blue shows everything, which tells you when a pair is done. Our blue industrial nitrile is the same 3.5 mil weight at $64.95, and its page names beauticians among the people it suits.

• Pick black if clients watch you work and you want the station to look clean.
• Pick blue if you want to spot dust, product or a tear right away.
• Or run both: blue for acrylic and filing, black for polish and finishing.

Buying nail tech supplies by the case

What a glove really costs

Gloves are the nail tech supplies you run through fastest, so buy them in bulk. Our nail tech gloves by the case mostly ship as 10 boxes of 100. Divide the case price by 1,000 for the cost per glove.

How long does a case last? Here is an example, not an industry figure, so redo it with your own numbers: 2 techs x 10 clients a day x 2 pairs a client x 2 gloves x 6 days = 480 gloves a week. That is a case about every two weeks, before torn pairs. Some XL cases hold 900, so they run a little short of that.

Shipping is free on contiguous US orders for a limited time, and most orders are processed within 1 business day.