For the casual user of disposable gloves, the common requirement for them is to find a thick glove that does not tear. But is that really the right approach and what should glove shoppers look out for.
First, the myth that thickness actually protects you better than thinner gloves. This is a fallacy. Assuming you pick a glove of the right size, glove dexterity (hand and finger movement) actually gets better with thinner gloves. So from a comfort perspective, its better to get a thinner glove than a thicker glove. Don't believe me, wear a 8 mil glove in one and a 4 mil glove on your other hand. Try it out and you will see.
So how about the protection? Thicker gloves must have better protection. Well, actually not. The whole reason behind wearing a glove is to ensure that whatever you are touching (chemicals, grease..etc) will not seep through onto your bare skin. And the way it would seep through is if the glove was compromised. A glove gets compromised when its torn or punctured, so the tensile strength of the glove is the most important to a well structured and protective glove.
To test out a tensile strength of a glove yourself, when you are wearing a glove, you can pull the opening of the glove towards your elbow until it breaks. The gloves that break easily are the ones with low tensile strength and are the ones that are most unsafe.
We did this recently with a glove from a LARGE wholesaler. It did not go well. Watch out for poor quality gloves being pushed to you.
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