When detailing we handle many different chemicals and it is important to protect our skin no matter if you are working with a shampoo, degreaser, or a coating. Adenna offers some of the best gloves on the market and they have options that range in material makeup, thickness, texture, etc.
Two of the most popular glove materials are latex and nitrile. Latex gloves are made of natural rubber and this material is flexible for a comfortable fit and will protect from viruses and bacteria. With nitrile gloves, these are made of a synthetic rubber material that resists punctures and harsh cleaning chemicals. Nitrile however is not as flexible as latex, so it impedes range of motion.
Adenna offers four different glove types and these are branded with different names (i.e. Phantom, Night Angel, Shadow, Catch). Each option has completely different box art and color schemes, which makes reaching for the right glove extremely easy. However, do you know exactly what the difference between each option is?
Phantom
Night Angel
Shadow
Catch
Catch (Light)
I took my time to try on each of these gloves and use them during a few details and I find that each could have a place in your detailing closet, some maybe more than others.
First, I love the flexibility of the Phantom, but I personally do not love the smell of latex and it can linger on your hands after use. These gloves however work great if you simply want to protect your hands when cleaning a dashboard, windows, or even vacuuming or cleaning trash out of a vehicle. They also do not feature texture on the surface of the glove, so they are perfect for handling microfiber and tools that do not need extra grip.
The Night Angel, Shadow, and Catch are all made of nitrile, with some differentiating factors (i.e. thickness and grip texture). Moving from Night Angel (4 mil) to Shadow (6 mil) and then to Catch (9 mil), you can feel the difference in thickness. This makes me comfortable to perform heavier cleaning steps with heavy chemicals or heavy machinery where you want a little extra protection. What I really like though is the different grips. The Night Angel has a slight texture grip just on the fingertips, Shadow has this same texture but across the entire glove face, while the Catch features a pyramid grip and comes in two mil offerings (6 & 9). The Night Angel and Shadow are great if you want a little extra texture, but if you want extreme grip there is nothing like the little 3D pyramids on the Catch gloves. This grip type makes a huge difference, so I cannot recommend the Catch gloves enough if you find your hands being wet and you needing something to help you avoid dropping chemical bottles.
Overall, if you are looking for chemical protection and flexibility, reach for latex (Phantom). If latex is not your thing, you are wearing gloves during the wash process, want extra grip, or if you want higher durability due to bumps, scrapes, and punctures, reach for nitrile (Night Angel, Shadow, Catch).