Drying neoprene gloves to prevent growth of fungi

Question

I have SUP neoprene gloves, which are quite tight and curved, which makes them dry even longer than the scuba dive gloves.

I've washed them recently because of unpleasant smell from inside, and it took about 4 days before they were dry inside. I'm a bit worried that those are the perfect condition for fungi to grow.

How to correctly take care about such gloves to prevent fungi and other beast to feast on them?

Answer 1

How to dry a waterproof glove

The basic strategy is to start the drying by manually remove as much water as possible, then finish by air drying.

1. Grab the glove by the tips of the fingers, with the palm and cuff hanging down from your hand. Use your other hand to grab the glove just below your first hand, squeeze and draw your hand all the way down to the cuff. Your goal is to "milk" any trapped water out of the interior and fabric of the glove, so it drains out of the cuff. Do the same to the thumb. Repeat as many times as it seems like your effort is rewarded by removing a substantial amount of water from the fingers, but don't wear yourself out working on the palm and cuff. We'll get those in the next step.
2. Insert a rolled towel into the cuff and palm of the glove. A wash cloth, hand towel, or the corner or a larger towel works well. Wrap the outside of the glove in another dry towel. Try to get a fold of towel in between the fingers, and between the thumb and the palm. Roll up the towel. Stand on the rolled towel and rock back and forth, so that any water trapped in the glove fabric is squeezed out by the pressure, and absorbed by the towels. Remove the towels. If they are quite wet, repeat the process with dry towels.
3. Use clothespins to hang the glove from a clothesline with the fingers and thumb pointing up. Depending on the stiffness of the glove you may need one clothespin per finger, or you may be able to just pin it by the middle finger.
   • It's important not to let any finger flop over and hang tip down, because you can get a pool of water trapped in the tip of that finger, which will never dry.
   • Place the clothespins so they only pinch closed the tip of each finger - you don't want to pinch a finger closed in the middle, because that will make it hard for the inside of the finger tip to dry out.
4. Put a fan on the gloves if you're drying them indoors. If the weather is dry and breezy (but not so windy your gloves will blow away), skip the fan and hang them outdoors.

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Other methods:

• You can get glove attachments for an electric boot dryer. The glove attachment holds the gloves in a good position for drying - fingers pointed up and propped open. The boot dryer has a fan that blows air into the glove.

• Insert crumpled newspaper into the glove. I know people who swear by this method for drying out hiking boots. The idea is that the newspaper speeds drying by absorbing water and wicking it out to the opening where it can evaporate. I don't know how well it will work on a glove, but it's cheaper than a boot dryer, so it might be worth trying. You'll still want to remove as much water as possible before putting the newspaper in.

• Use a glove form to hold the glove open. This will make it easier to prop or hang the glove to dry. To buy one, search for "knitting" and "glove blocker" or "glove form" (they are used by knitters for blocking gloves). Or make one yourself; search "DIY glove blocker" or "DIY sock blocker" (sock blockers are much more common than glove blockers so there are more tutorials). Here's a pair made from wire coat hangers (but note that you don't want yours to hang upside-down the way these are designed to do):

  (image source)

Answer 2

If you have HVAC vents in your floor, you might try propping your gloves open on top of a vent. Use a wire hangar (cut/bend) to build a rack as necessary. This will help to circulate air through the glove (or boot, water bladder, etc) and works very well.

Otherwise, you can find small DC powered fans which are meant for cooling PCs. They typically run on a 5V supply. I have attached these to power supplies ("wall warts") and used them to dry equipment.

I will try to update this post with pics later today.

Answer 3

Wet suits from the kayak club were actively sloshed in warm water with some bleach in it, then thoroughly rinsed. The bleach will attack the neoprene.

I use the neoprene water boots for backpacking and by the end of the trip, they are pretty ripe. I run them through the washing machine normal cycle (warm wash, cool rise) but hit the 'extra rinse' button then tumble dry on low heat with my sleeping bag, or a load of towels.

I would expect that electric boot driers would work with them if you need to dry often.

I find that if I prop them toes highest they wont dry overnight on a trip, but they will be as dry as the socks I wear inside them. At home they dry within 24 hours -- about as fast as leather boots or leather gloves.

I don't think that fungus can actually eat the neoprene. Fungus are growing on the embedded bits of dried skin that we humans constantly slough off. Periodic washing helps, as does wearing a thin polypro liner to catch much of the skin.

I have had about 8 pairs of the boots. I wear them out -- put holes in the soles -- long before they decompose from fungi.