What’s that awful smell?! Oh, it’s just my hands after I got done playing hockey. Hockey glove smell is the worst and you are probably wondering how to get rid of it.
A popular “hack” to get that hockey glove smell off of your hands is to use shaving cream to wash your hands instead of soap. But, the best way to get that hockey glove smell off of your hands is to make sure that your gloves are clean and free of bacteria. Wash your gloves regularly and be sure to air your gloves out as quickly as you can after each skate. Using an odor eliminator made for hockey gear called Captodor on your gloves and all of your equipment after every game will help.
Continue reading to find out the best way to wash your hockey gloves and keep your hands smelling fresh. There might be a magic spray to help keep that hand funk away.
Why Do My Gloves Make My Hands Smell?
The smell forms on your hands because of bacterial growth. For this reason, you might notice that regular soap and water won’t do the trick. Anti-bacterial soap will help a little bit but it’s not the best way to stop your hands from smelling.
If you do not wash your gloves or air them out as quickly as you can after hockey games you will probably have some stank hands after you put your gloves on.
Sweat builds up and gets trapped inside the fabric of your gloves. This is a perfect place for weird things to grow and make your hand smell ripe!
Some gloves claim to have anti-stink technology in them, from what I have noticed and heard form other players, it does not work.
How Do I Make My Hands Smell Better?
We will talk about how to stop your hand from smelling after wearing your hockey gloves in the next section, but if it’s too late and your hands already stink how do you make them smell better?
My partner tells me all the time that my hands smell like sh*t after our games. I have tried washing them up to 5 times with soap and water. This doesn’t seem to do the trick. It does dull the smell but it doesn’t take that scent away completely.
Lots of players on Reddit have found some good luck with using that old-school shaving cream. Why does that work? No clue but it seems to do the trick.
Since the smell is coming from a build-up of old sweat and bacteria another solution is to simply use hand sanitizer.
Copious amounts of it.
How Do You Keep Hockey Gloves From Smelling?
The absolute best way to make sure your hockey gloves do not stink and pass that smell on to your hands is to make sure you air them out as quickly as you can. If you don’t have a drying rack and you are just laying your gloves on the ground, be sure that you lay them down with the palms facing up. This will allow for better airflow and moisture-wicking.
This really applies to all of your gear. The quicker you can get it out of your bag and into some fresh air to dry, the better.
However, if the stench has already set in you can totally throw your gloves into the washing machine.
There are a few key things that you want to make sure you do when machine washing your gloves.
- Wash on a cold water cycle
- Never use bleach
- Use an antibacterial soap if available
- Use a fabric softener to keep their palms soft
Your gloves are built tough, but they don’t really like super hot water. Hot water will cause warping of your gloves. For this reason, it’s best to wash your gloves in cold water.
Bleach will destroy your gloves. Just don’t use it.
Lysol makes a special antibacterial laundry additive. You can add it to the wash with whatever detergent you have at the house. This will definitely help keep the hockey glove smell in check.
The last optional piece is to add fabric softener. It will help keep the palms of your gloves nice and soft.
After your gloves have been washed it’s time to dry them.
Again, we want to avoid heat so do not put your gloves in the dryer. This will most definitely warp them and cause the palms to get brittle.
The easiest way to dry them is to lay your gloves down, palms up, in front of a fan. You don’t want your gloves to stay wet for too long because this is a perfect chance for that bacteria to grow again.
Some players go as far as to say that they wash them every time they wash their jerseys. To me, that seems a bit extreme. Wash them whenever you start to get a hint of that smell popping up on your hands after the game or practice.
Can I Make My Own Hockey Glove Deodorizer?
I have seen other players also make a spray to deodorize their hands. They use isopropyl alcohol, water, and a mixture of essential oils, you could be tea tree, mint, lemon, or really any oil that you think smells decent.
Combine all that into a little spray bottle and you have yourself a homemade hockey glove hand deodorizer.
If you want to be really “on brand” you can make your sanitizing spray using high alcohol vodka.
Really what we are making is a spray sanitizer. In order to effectively kill bacteria your need to have at least 60% alcohol content. There are a number of high strength vodkas that meet this requirement;
Devil Springs Vodka(80%), Good ol’ Sailor Vodka (85%), or Balkan 176 (88%).
If you want to maximize the antibacterial effects, mix your alcohol of choice, whether it is rubbing alcohol or vodka, it doesn’t matter, but mix it with aloe vera gel and tea tree oil. Both of these ingredients also have antibacterial properties.
Can You Use Fabreeze On Hockey Equipment?
Nope. Avoid using Fabreeze on your hockey gear. Fabreeze only masks the issue. It doesn’t actually clean your gear at all. The bacteria and built-up sweat are still there.
On top of not actually fixing the issue, Fabreeze can irritate the skin and eyes. Nobody wants itchy hands or eyes that are burning to hell in the middle of a skate.
Getting Rid Of Hockey Glove Smell From Your Hands
That rank smell that sticks to your hands and won’t come off after wearing your hockey gloves is caused by old sweat and a build-up of bacteria.
To clean this off of your hands some players have found that shaving cream works well to remove the smell. Others have made their own hand sanitizing spray with isopropyl alcohol and essential oils. Both methods help remove the bacteria that linger on your hands after the game.
The best way to ensure your hands are always smelling fresh is to make sure your gloves are cleaned regularly. Your gloves can totally be put into the washing machine. Make sure you wash them with cold water and add an anti-bacterial soap or additive to your cycle. Never use the dryer to dry your gloves. Lay them palms up in front of a table fan to dry instead.
And lastly, after every skate, make sure you get your gloves out of your bag and airing out as soon as possible.