Nitrile glove thickness

What a mil rating means

One thousandth of an inch

A mil is a unit of length, not a grade or a quality score. One mil is 0.001 inch, which works out to 0.0254 mm. If you want the history of the unit, Wikipedia has a good page on what a thousandth inch means.

Nitrile glove thickness describes the wall between your skin and whatever you touch. A 5 mil glove has a wall about 0.13 mm thick. Tiny, yet you feel the gap between 3 and 8 mil the moment you pull one on.

Where glove thickness is measured

The fingertip is not the palm

A glove wall is rarely the same thickness everywhere. The US specification for nitrile exam gloves, ASTM D6319, sets a minimum thickness at two spots, the palm and the finger, and both minimums are 0.05 mm. That is about 2 mil.

Real gloves land above that floor, and not evenly. One FDA 510(k) summary for a blue nitrile exam glove reports 0.06 mm at the palm and 0.09 to 0.10 mm at the finger. On the same glove, that is roughly 2.4 mil in the palm and 3.5 to 3.9 mil at the fingertip. A single mil figure on a box is a summary. FDA's medical glove guidance asks glove makers to state measured thickness rather than vague labels like "extra thick."

Weight is the other common spec. It covers the whole glove, cuff and texture included, so it does not convert straight to mil. Two of our black heavy duty gloves both weigh about 6 grams. One is listed at 5 mil and the other at 5.5 mil.

Thin exam gloves for fine work

3 to 4 mil for feel & speed

Thin gloves are for work where your fingertips do the thinking: exams, lab benches, tattoo lines, nail work and quick food tasks you change out of often.

Our only 3 mil nitrile gloves are the Blue Nitrile Gloves (Medical), the lightest glove we sell at $59.95 a case. They are exam grade with textured fingertips and a beaded cuff.

One step up, our 3.5 mil blue exam gloves cost $61.95 and weigh about 3.5 grams. The same 3.5 mil weight comes in two industrial gloves, Black Nitrile Gloves (Industrial) at $62.95 and Blue Nitrile Gloves (Industrial) at $64.95. Both industrial pages state they comply with 21 CFR 177.2600, the FDA rule for rubber articles that touch food.

Our 4 mil nitrile gloves are the Black Nitrile Gloves (Medical), $69.95 a case, listed as FDA medical/exam grade.

The trade-off is wear. A thin glove has less material to give up before it tears, so plan to change it often. Every one of these gloves is single use, and our pages say a fresh pair between tasks keeps people and work areas cleaner.

Mid weight gloves for shop & salon work

5 to 5.5 mil for long shifts

Mid weight suits shop and salon jobs that run long. Oil changes, detailing, painting, long hair color sessions and station cleanup all mean more wear and messier contact than an exam.

We sell two 5 mil nitrile gloves. Heavy Duty Blue Nitrile Gloves (Medical) are exam grade, $72.95 a case, in XS to XL. Black Heavy Duty Nitrile Gloves (Industrial) are listed at 5 mil and about 6 grams, $79.95 a case, and the black hides dirt between changes. Their page also states compliance with 21 CFR 177.2600.

At 5.5 mil and about 6 grams, the Black Heavy Duty Nitrile Gloves are our heaviest glove with a medical claim. The page says they meet US FDA requirements for medical examination gloves. They cost $84.95 a case, in S to XXL. You will find them with our other auto shop gloves.

Heavy duty nitrile gloves for grease & chemicals

7 to 8 mil with diamond grip

Heavy duty nitrile gloves earn their weight on greasy engines, wet parts and jobs where a tear means starting over. Ours add a raised diamond texture that the product pages describe as suited to oily or wet environments.

Our 7 mil nitrile gloves are the Black Diamond Grip Heavy Duty Nitrile Gloves (Industrial), about 7 grams and $92.95 a case, in M to XL.

Our 8 mil nitrile gloves are the orange diamond grip nitrile gloves, 8.6 grams each and $99.95 a case. They are the thickest glove we sell, in M to XXL, and the XL and XXL cases hold 900.

If you want black without the texture, our heavy duty black nitrile gloves are listed at 5 mil. They sit one step below the diamond grips and cost $79.95.

On chemicals, OSHA's guide to protective equipment gives the general rule: the thicker the glove material, the greater the chemical resistance. The same guide says nitrile handles oils, greases, acids, caustics and alcohols, and is generally not recommended for strong oxidizing agents, aromatic solvents, ketones and acetates.

When thick nitrile gloves cost you dexterity

More wall, less feel

The same OSHA guide is blunt about the downside: thick gloves may impair grip and dexterity, "having a negative impact on safety." A glove you keep pulling off to finish a fiddly step protects nothing.

Thick nitrile gloves are the right call for long, dirty jobs. They are the wrong call when the work is small. Watch for these signs that you went too heavy:

• You take a glove off to pick up a screw, a clip or a needle cap.
• You cannot feel the edge of tape or a label to peel it.
• Your hand is tired well before the job is done.

Fit matters as much as mil. A thick glove a size too big bunches at the fingertips.

Matching thickness to the job

A quick pick by task

OSHA's hand protection rule asks employers to choose gloves based on the tasks, the conditions, how long the gloves are worn and the hazards involved. Thickness is one part of that choice.

The classic 4 mil vs 6 mil gloves question comes down to two things: how long the glove stays on and what it touches. A 4 mil glove suits short tasks you change out of often. A heavier glove suits one long, dirty job.

Cost moves with weight too. Our 4 mil Black Nitrile Gloves (Medical) work out to about 7 cents a glove. The 5.5 mil Black Heavy Duty Nitrile Gloves come to about 8.5 cents. If one heavy pair outlasts two thin pairs on a job, the heavy glove is the cheaper one.