Boxing Gloves are an essential part of Protective Boxing gear and protect a fighter’s hands and opponent’s face from injuries as the pair of gloves withstand a fight in the ring or a typical training session against a heavy bag. Cleaning and maintaining your gloves won’t just keep them clean, bacteria-free, and odor-free, and one of the best ways for the longevity of your gloves. It is essential to get your money’s worth and not let it deteriorate too quickly. Cleaning Gloves are most important but so is everything else, so learn to clean all the protective boxing equipment, including head guards and chin guards.
Why should you clean your Boxing Gloves?
Cleaning your pair of gloves will increase your lifespan and affect your longevity. Maintenance of the gloves will prevent skin and nail infections, save your money and keep you punching harder.
Your gloves need maintenance and care with most martial art equipment, so always focus on cleaning and deodorizing them correctly. We will guide you with some inexpensive tips to demonstrate how to clean the gloves and ensure your investment is not to waste. However, taking care of your gloves is a tedious task but necessary and ensures their durability, hygiene, and longevity.
-
Air them Out
The most crucial step for cleaning boxing gloves and other boxing equipment is letting them breathe. So, it would be best to take your boxing gloves out of your gym bag after every training session. If you keep your gloves in a training bag overnight, it will bring nothing but harm to your gloves. This action can build up plenty of bacteria that creates a horrible sweat smell over time. Moreover, this Bacteria will start damaging the padding from the inside that can hurt your hand if you are not careful.
Gym bags usually lack proper airflow, are enclosed, and serve as a breeding ground for bacteria growth. So, you use a gym bag to transport and get them out as soon as possible. Always take your gloves out of your gym bag, stretch them out in the air, try to hang them under the sun or near an open window.
-
Wipe your Boxing Equipment
After taking the gloves out of your gym bag, make sure to clean with a cloth, paper towel, or wipe to absorb the excess moisture after an intense gym session. Typically, leaving your gloves wet can start to deteriorate them, and sweat can damage the leather/vinyl leather and sometimes leak into the padding underneath over time.
Try to wrap your hand in the towel and stick it into its glove and move your hand to sop up the sweat. Do not forget to apply the same step to the other glove. This tip can help you minimize the damage even for all the protective boxing gear.
-
Buy some glove deodorizer to Disinfect.
We must suggest that it is not enough to wipe your gloves down. It would be best if you kept them in excellent condition. Typically, boxing gloves have to face a lot of sweat, dirt, blood, so we need an antibacterial solution to remove that.
Make a vinegar and water solution, transfer it to a spray bottle, and pour several spritzes inside your gloves. You can add five to 10 drops of tea tree oil to that solution for antifungal action. The best way is to invest in some deodorizers that will help to absorb sweat and make your gloves smell nice and fresh. But avoid harsh cleaning sprays on your gloves as they can damage the gloves and cause various reactions to your skin.
-
Stuff the inside of Gloves
The way to keep your gloves safe and moisture-free, a simple and easy option is to stuff the inside of your glove with a paper towel. Another way to dry your gloves faster is by stuffing them with newspaper to absorb excess moisture and allow air in.
Nonetheless, this option is not a long-term or most practical option but immediately absorbs most of the glove’s sweat. This step can help to reduce the smell, although the sweat can still stick onto the glove, so it is a temporary option.
Crinkle up a few sheets of paper towel into two loose balls and stuff one in each glove, and leave them for a couple of hours. When saturated with moisture, replace it with fresh paper balls.
-
Upkeep and Condition
Many of the Boxing gear is made up of using leather and conditioned regularly to increase the lifespan of the equipment. One can purchase numerous leather conditioners on the market for the cleaning process. If you are interested in using standard leather conditioners for lemon essential oils, use a lint-free cloth.
Moreover, use an antibacterial and anti-odor spray made for cleaning sports equipment. Such sprays systematically break down the sweat accumulated and keep the foul odors away due to their antimicrobial properties. Some essential oils remove the foul smells due to disinfectant properties. Along with this, there are various disinfect wipes to clean the surface and outer layers of the boxing gear.
A Concluded Note:
The tips and cleaning methodologies mentioned above are detailed to clean all types of boxing training gear. We can use all of these tips on your shin guards, head guard, abdomen guard, focus guard, and all other equipment you possess that is made up of leather or synthetic leather. To ensure that your boxing gear lasts for a long time, wipe them down after every session, deodorize them, and condition them correctly.