Whether you’re coloring your own hair or someone else’s, it’s important to keep your hands protected from the harsh chemicals found in hair dye as well as the coloring agents. If your hands are exposed to dye, especially on a regular basis, your skin can easily become irritated and break out into a reaction. Your skin can break open from the irritation, and then you become prone to infection because of the broken skin.
Not Just a Health Risk
Health risks aside, if you are a professional in a hair salon, having broken skin may impede your ability and permissions to work with dyes, bleach, and other chemicals for hair.
On a less serious and more cosmetic note, hair dye may take weeks to come off your skin. It will only come off entirely once all the dyed skin cells slough off. Normal soap and water, or alcohol-based hand sanitizers will not remove the dye from your hands. Whether you’re a professional hair colorist or someone who colors hair at home, having hands that are dyed an abnormal color looks careless and unprofessional.
The Best Protection
Taking into consideration the reasons above, we at AIC GLOVES highly recommend wearing disposable gloves during all steps of the hair coloring process that involve working with or applying toner, bleach, or dye. Gloves should also be worn during the rinsing process.
Some at home hair coloring kits do come with disposable gloves. The gloves found inside box dyes are often inferior quality; they are thin and prone to tears and holes.
The best gloves for working with hair dye are nitrile disposable gloves. Nitrile material (a synthetic rubber) is the most resistant to the chemicals found in hair dye. Latex gloves are also acceptable if there are no latex allergies.
Vinyl gloves are not especially resistant to the chemicals in hair dye. They technically can be used but wearing them requires much more frequent glove changes. If you don’t like the feeling of nitrile, it is possible to use vinyl disposable gloves, if you don’t mind changing gloves more often.
Hybrid gloves, although great for a lot of tasks, are not suitable for coloring hair.
Powder-free vs Powdered
Deciding between powdered and powder-free gloves comes down to personal preference. There are no safety reasons powdered gloves shouldn’t be worn when working with hair dye. Powdered gloves are easier to put on and take off, and the powder helps absorb moisture if your hands get sweaty. Some people don’t like the feeling of powdery residue on their hands and prefer powder-free gloves.
Latex-free nitrile disposable gloves are the most universally safe option for working with hair dye. Both at home and professional colorists alike benefit from the protection disposable gloves provide when working with harsh chemicals. Prevent skin irritation and inflammation and leave your hands mess free by wearing disposable nitrile gloves.
