Washing Weight Lifting Gloves

[mrboilwash]

Is anyone else here working out on a regular basis?
I do so and wearing weight lifting gloves during a work out is absolutely essential for me to have a secure grip and no blisters.
The problem is even if I let them dry immediately after each use they can get really nasty from the sweat after a while and I cannot bring myself to wash them with anything but themselves.

Washing them separately in the washer is very wasteful so I washed them by hand but couldn`t get them clean enough to get the stench out completely. A sanitizing rinse didn`t help much either, so I decided to give them a boil wash on the stove.

The care tag only allows for a cool 30° wash but I think this is just meant to limit the damage in case if someone uses a highly alkaline powder detergent.
With a mild liquid a short rolling boil doesn`t hurt the fabric at all even though they`re made of polyester, the palm is rubberized with polyurethane and there`s some spandex involved.
I`ve done this a couple times now and so far no damage apart from a little color loss which is still much better than throwing away and buying new and it seems to be the only way to keep them fresh for a longer time.

So, what is your best shot for stinky work out gloves?

 

[jamiel]

Very timely...I have some well-loved Schiek weightlifting gloves which are starting to get just a bit stinky as well as some Vibram Five-Fingers which I use at the gym. Tried a spot clean on the Five Fingers with some 3% hydrogen peroxide---foamed up and let them dry after blotting. Will probably do a soak in H2O2.

Next, I think I may enclose them in a laundry bag and do them in a synthetic load

 

[donprohel]

Ammonia?

Why not trying ammonia, mrboilwash / Stefan? It is good with grease and odours, and it does not harm anything

 

[qsd-dan]

I have work gloves I use around the yard that get really dirty/sweaty and just launder them in with the warm (120F/48C) pile. Everything comes out looking and smelling clean.

 

[mrboilwash]

Ammonia or "Salmiakgeist" sounds like an interesting chemical to me.
Unfortunately just like chlorine bleach which is at least still widely available it seems to be considered an obsolete cheap third world cleaning chemical here and is only carried in home improvement stores. And since it`s such a rare niche product in Germany these days a bottle of it would almost exceed a pair of new gloves.

But thanks for mentioning it, I`ve always been curious about its use for laundry purposes.

Isn`t ammonia a strong base? I`m not sure the polyurethane rubber and the spandex would like it.

 

[rpms]

When I first saw the post I thought it read how to wash boxing gloves?
That got me thinking they must get pretty smelly. How would you wash and dry a boxing glove?
There is a new business in town washing hockey gear. The first time I got a wiff of a smelly hockey bag I thought I was going to be sick.

 

[donprohel]

Ammonia again

Ammonia is actually alkaline, but not enough to be able to cause damage, I personally consider it very safe for everything from laundry, to shoes and floors, but of course it has to be diluted.

But with ammonia you must be aware of the concentration: 25% is really, really strong and irritating for breath and even eyes, while normal household concentration is about 8%.

This is 25%, must be handled with care but one litre will last a long time:
https://internet-apotheke-freiburg.de/shop/ammoniak-9484092

This instead is more or less "normal" ammonia at 9.5%:
https://www.amsashop.de/sortiment/r...glas-kunststoffreiniger/3470/salmiakgeist-9-5

 

[mrboilwash]

Hi Donprohel, right now I`m happy with my stove top hand washing routine but will consider to try out ammonia sometime.

The fact that it goes for five to ten times the price you`d pay for in Spain (I checked my Mercadona app) and having not much space for even more cleaning products still keeps me from going straight to an OBI to buy some. And I`m not too fond of the scent, it is a common ingredient in glass sprays and seems to linger for a long time.

How do you clean shoes with it, do you rub it straight on leather shoes or do you add some to wash your sneakers? I suppose you mean I should try it in the wash for my gloves, not just dab them with the stuff for a quick touch up.
What part of Munich are you?

 

[donprohel]

Ammonia and shoes

Sorry, mrboilwash / Stefan: I have been imprecise.

I use ammonia on the interior of the shoes to clean and deodorise, I just apply it with a sponge on the inside of the shoes and then let them dry.

 

[verizonbear]

Workout Gear

I train 5 days a week. I wash all of my workout clothes including my gloves and arm braces in warm water with a 50/50 ratio of Biz and liquid Tide stain release. I put them in the washer
(front loader) Let it tumble for about 2 minutes then press the pause button so the door unlocks and let it soak for 30 minutes come back start the cycle. I use an extra rinse and in the final rinse I use Odoban the citrus scent to disinfect and freshen. I pop everything in the dryer in 2 hours for a no heat tumble everything comes out fresh clean looking like new.

 

[jamiel]

TYVM for the ideas. A gallon of ammonia is quite cheap in the US (we like our cheap aqueous solutions, dontcha know...Chlorine bleach as well).

The really strong stuff (25% as mentioned above) is actually used (or was used) to develop blueprints. I inherited a partially used gallon of that from a housemate years ago....only the tiniest splash went into a tub of laundry but it worked well.

 

[polkanut]

Ammonia

We've used ammonia in our laundry for over 30 years with no damage to our clothing. It's very diluted in a normal wash cycle so it's very safe to use, and it's still very effective. 

 

[askolover]

When we have something colored that can't be bleached I use a disinfectant like Lysol in the wash water. Like my hospital uniforms...when I did bedside care of isolation patients or COVID positive patients I just add some Lysol and wash in a 140f cycle. Kills germs and odors and has never caused any issues with skin allergies or anything. Back when we still wore white nursing uniforms it was easy...just add Clorox.

 

[neptunebob]

I have poured Shout into snowboard gloves that I went into the mud with.  They are not totally waterproof so the water can go through them and they turned out totally clean.  But they may not smell as bad as weightlifting gloves.