Buy Your Dishwashing Gloves from H-Mart

The Korean market is home to the best dishwashing gloves

I never used to wear dishwashing gloves, despite the fact that I wash every dish, utensil, and pot by hand in steaming hot water. There are a couple reasons for this: I was blessed with skin that doesn’t tend to dry out or is sensitive to near-boiling temperatures. I also like being able to feel everything in the sink and identify when a pot is still a bit greasy through my fingertips. Lastly, I always hated the smell and powdery sensation of the dishwashing gloves I’ve tried in the past; to me, the tradeoff between protecting my hands and dealing with the sensorial nightmare of the gloves was not worth it.

But I recently became devoted to having cute manicures (look, we all need something frivolous and pretty to get us through dark times) and noticed that the constant dishwashing made my nails brittle and chipped away the cute charms and 3D embellishments that decorate them.

So I began researching dishwashing gloves. I didn’t want something thin and flimsy that would tear after a week, nor did I want something too large and floppy that would allow water to run down my forearms to my fingertips (an even bigger sensorial nightmare than the powdery feeling of cheap gloves). I looked at home improvement forums as well as a Reddit thread devoted to manicurists — my fellow nail people! — and one thing kept coming up: buy gloves at H-Mart.

At first, this confused me. What could the gloves at H-mart have that made them so special? Are Korean gloves truly superior? But the suggestion cropped up so many times that I decided to give them a shot.

The gloves I picked up are magenta pink and made of rubber material that feels thicker than a standard dishwashing glove. They fit my hands and forearms perfectly; a band at the top prevents them from rolling down but doesn’t feel suffocating, a nice change from the past gloves I was constantly pulling up, to no avail There are two twin flowers printed on each glove, and Hangul that reads “mommy son” according to my Google translate app (in reality, it’s Mamison, which is the name of the brand). When I tried using them, I could still feel the heat from the warm water, and a grid-like texture on the fingertips and palm helped me grip dirty dishes better. Most importantly, the gloves didn’t leave my hands feeling powdery or waxy, or impart any scent.

Upon further reflection, this all makes sense. These gloves are often used for preparing kimchi, and if they can protect your hands from salt, chiles, and the pungency of fermented shrimp, then a little bit of dishwashing is nothing by comparison.

It’s been months since my purchase and the gloves are still holding up strong. I use them daily and have noticed my hands are softer. And my nails are cuter than ever.