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Cleaning Gloves

HiEverybody

Registered User
Aug 20, 2012
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I read somewhere online that you can clean your glove palms by dumping boiling water in them. I get the concept, heat = kills all the stinky bacteria, but could the high temperatures effect other parts of the glove? Will they become hard, and crusty, or is that only when soap is added?

I purchased high-end gloves for the first time last year, and the palms are in amazing condition. They just smell like ass! I'd like to keep using them, as they're still in amazing condition, and I play on average 5 days a week. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
cleaning them with boiling water won't do any damage at all

what i usually do is fill up the sink with boiling hot water and throw the gloves in there to sit for an hour or so. then throw in some soap and let it sit in there for another hour before rinsing them off one last time before putting them out to dry.

works every time and i do this same thing with my shin guards and elbow pads as well
 
I put mine in the regular clothes washer AND dryer along with my hockey clothes and some other pieces of gear (shoulder pads, elbow guards) and they come out perfect each and every time. Nothing wrong with them after years of doing this.
 
I leave my gloves out to dry after every skate and they smell/look brand new after year and a half-2 years
 
I Febreze before and after every hockey game and let them air dry and I never have an issue with odor-they wear out before they stink. I like my gloves to be a little wet when I take warmups so using Febreze before helps out in more than one way. Read about staph infections in hockey and then you'll start taking care of your gear, it's not funny to reek.
 
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I put my white ones in the washer (followed by air dry) to keep them from looking awful. No troubles there.
 
Tikkanen said:
I Febreze before and after every hockey game and let them air dry and I never have an issue with odor-they wear out before they stink. I like my gloves to be a little wet when I take warmups so using Febreze before helps out in more than one way. Read about staph infections in hockey and then you'll start taking care of your gear, it's not funny to reek.
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This is exactly why I'm looking into cleaning my gloves. Oddly enough, I wash my gear twice a month in the bathtub with warm/hot water, and laundry detergent. I also make it a point to hang my gear outside in the open air after every use, and leave it out in the sun at least 1 day (usually come home at night). Not to brag, but my gear smell immaculate! The problem is my gloves! I never washed them because I was told that soap + water could ruin the palms, and these were expensive gloves. All I did was let them air out after every use, but eventually they began to smell terrible! Thanks for all the input. Going to try the boiling water!
 
I also play goalie, so when it comes to smelly equipment, I know my stuff. Last night I was playing defense at a scrimmage and our goalie smelled like... hmm.. how do I put this without getting banned... man juice. Seriously. Like that. Worst smell I've ever endured on a hockey rink. No idea how someone gets to smelling like that, but it was disgusting.
 
intangible said:
I also play goalie, so when it comes to smelly equipment, I know my stuff. Last night I was playing defense at a scrimmage and our goalie smelled like... hmm.. how do I put this without getting banned... man juice. Seriously. Like that. Worst smell I've ever endured on a hockey rink. No idea how someone gets to smelling like that, but it was disgusting.
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Probably keeps the other team out of his crease though ;)
 
HiEverybody said:
This is exactly why I'm looking into cleaning my gloves. Oddly enough, I wash my gear twice a month in the bathtub with warm/hot water, and laundry detergent. I also make it a point to hang my gear outside in the open air after every use, and leave it out in the sun at least 1 day (usually come home at night). Not to brag, but my gear smell immaculate! The problem is my gloves! I never washed them because I was told that soap + water could ruin the palms, and these were expensive gloves. All I did was let them air out after every use, but eventually they began to smell terrible! Thanks for all the input. Going to try the boiling water!
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Brings up a good point, are the people who are washing and drying their gloves using high end gloves? I wash my pants, shin pads, elbow pads, shoulder pads, jock but I've never washed my gloves for fear of ruining the palms.
 
Tikkanen said:
Brings up a good point, are the people who are washing and drying their gloves using high end gloves? I wash my pants, shin pads, elbow pads, shoulder pads, jock but I've never washed my gloves for fear of ruining the palms.
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Mine are Bauer X60 Pros and washing them in a machine with Woolite didn't affect the palms at all. Some say you can dry them in the dryer, but I just air dry them. Not sure what models the people dry them use. Gear gets soaked when playing anyway, so air drying isn't a big deal. I just put them on a fan.
 
I wear Sher-Wood T90's(the older 4-roll style).

Along with most of my gear, I wash them in hot water in my high-efficiency washing machine(which doesn't use an agitator like older machines). Done it three times, and no ill effects on my gloves.

Edited to add: Oh, and I air dry only on the equipment rack I have.
 
I have a pair of Bauer 4 roll elite's that smelt awful and made my hands almost nearly impossible to get the smell off of. The Febreeze just wasn't getting the job done. Probably didn't help that I mainly play late and my gear sits in my car until the following evening when I get home from work. I had read over on MSH about washing them in a front loader on delicate. Luckily I have a couple pair of older gloves so I gave it a test run on one of them before throwing my Bauer's in the machine. I was very impressed with the end result. Gloves smelt brand new and there was no damage to the structure/fabric.
 
I've put a few different pairs of gloves in the washing machine. The lower end ones were fine but a pair of Easton SE16's didn't do so well. They have some really soft leather as part of the palm and it hardened and then tore soon after. Front loading high efficiency on delicate cycle of course.

One thing you can do is to spray your gear with a 50/50 mix of rubbing alcohol and water before you let it air dry. If you do this every time you play from when it is new it makes a really big difference. It's not the bacteria that smells bad but the bacteria's waste so once it starts to smell disinfecting like this won't work.
 
Can you put shin guards, elbow pads, pants/girdle, etc in the washing machine as well? I just moved into a one-bedroom with my girl out in Cali and I have absolutely nowhere to air out my equipment so i need a way to sanitize. Is the washer really safe for everything or is there anything I SHOULDN'T put in the washer?
 
Fanned On It said:
Can you put shin guards, elbow pads, pants/girdle, etc in the washing machine as well? I just moved into a one-bedroom with my girl out in Cali and I have absolutely nowhere to air out my equipment so i need a way to sanitize. Is the washer really safe for everything or is there anything I SHOULDN'T put in the washer?
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I think the people who have HE machines with no agitator in the middle mostly will tell you they have washed their hockey gear and haven't had any issues. With an agitator stuff is gonna rub or get banged around a little but it's better than stinking up the apartment or getting a staph infection.
 
Update: I just washed these: http://www.ultimatehockeyonline.com...-Gloves.html?gclid=CKDAt6yu0LkCFUZyQgodD0UANA in the washing machine. It's a top loaded one with an agitator. Gloves float, so I basically had to stand there and hold them under water with the top open until the end of the cycle. I washed them on HOT/COLD (used dishwashing gloves as the water was hot), so when I took them out there were a bit flimsly (I'm assuming from the heat), but after I let them air dry everything was fine. They're almost like new! Palms were soft, and no stinky stinky! Used them 2 games over the weekend (lost 10-3, 10-2, go go unbalanced Bronze league), and I did notice a bit of leather fraying a bit on my top hand. I think it may have been there previous to the wash, but there was so much residue there, that I never noticed it.
 
Any time I've washed gloves, it's pretty much ruined the feel of the palms. The only way I've been able to keep them feeling soft is to dry them out ASAP after games. I also have two pairs of gloves that I rotate. I think a $40 boot dryer would be a great investment to dry the gloves after using them.
 
I wash all my hockey kit in the washing machine (except skates and helmet of course!).

I have a front loading machine and it has a special 'sports equipment' setting which reduces the agitation of the drum. I dry it all by hanging it in a hockey stall in my basement which I managed to salvage from my local rink when they re-fitted their locker rooms.
 
put your glove in a tub with oxyclean detergent and let it sit for a few hours.

the water will turn black but your gloves will be clean
 
man, they really can stink. i dont wash them in tub cause the one time i tried they got slimy from soap and didnt dry. I use this stuff called x5000 that i got online. its good for helmets too. what i like is that it doesnt cover the smell with fake scent. here's where i got it
http://x5000sports.com.
 
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