Latex, Nitrile, and Vinyl Gloves: What are the differences?
Latex Gloves
The most popular glove material, latex is a biodegradable material made of material originating from the latex ducts of rubber trees and despite the development of synthetic materials, is still the most elastic, resilient and form fitting material for gloves. This gives the wearer a great deal of dexterity, tactility, and comfort making these gloves perfect for medical, auto repair and food service applications.
Of the most common glove materials, latex offers the most effective protection against bacteria, viruses, and body fluids. Latex gloves can come in a variety of thicknesses for durability from punctures and tears. They come in powered, lightly powdered and powder-free. The powder inside latex gloves is cornstarch based and used for easily slipping the gloves on your hands.
The drawback to latex is that is an allergen, creating reactions ranging from dry itchy irritated areas on the skin to a severe allergic reaction similar to what some people have to bee stings. Latex allergies can also develop with the use of latex gloves. (See: Are Latex Powdered Gloves Safe?)
Nitrile Gloves
Nitrile gloves are made from nitrile butadiene rubber, another synthetic material, making them an alternative for people with latex allergies and has a longer shelf life than latex gloves. Nitrile is three times more resistant to punctures than latex, however, once the glove is punctured it will tear completely. However, creating a noticeable tear ensures that the wearer replaces the gloves and their hands remain protected.
Nitrile (compare prices) is close to latex in fit, feel, dexterity, and durability, but is more resistant to oils, fats, solvents, and chemicals, making them ideal for the chemical industry, laboratories, photochemical industry, agricultural or pesticides applications, meat processing, and medical applications. Another benefit of nitrile gloves is that they are the most effective in breaking up electrostatic charges and contribute fewer particles to contaminate the work environment for use in cleanrooms. They can also tolerate higher temperatures than latex which is a benefit for automotive applications.
Nitrile gloves come in a variety of thicknesses, powdered, lightly powdered and powder- free like latex and vinyl. The only drawback to these gloves is the cost. Nitrile is the most expensive of the three types of gloves.
Vinyl Gloves
Vinyl is a synthetic, non-bio-degradable, protein-free material made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and plasticizers. Since vinyl gloves are synthetic and non-biodegradable, they have a longer shelf life than latex gloves, which often start to break down over time. It is very cheap to make, making the gloves very inexpensive to purchase. Like latex, vinyl gloves come in several thicknesses with the options of powdered or non-powdered.
The drawbacks of vinyl are it offers little protection from chemicals and micro-organisms, but makes these gloves perfect for handling non-hazardous materials and chemicals. Vinyl is also not very form fitting compared to latex or nitrile, giving the wearer limited dexterity and a higher chance that the glove with catch and tear. These are best used for food service and other applications where product protection is necessary that but doesn’t require much dexterity or tactile precision.