Tattoo Gloves

Tattoos are more common today than ever before, and behind every piece of ink you see is a tattoo artist—and a pair of tattoo artist gloves. As of 2021, there are nearly 40,000 tattoo shops in business across the United States, each of which employs at least one artist. That’s a lot of ink and a lot of need for protective gloves for tattooing.

Glove America has a wide selection of disposable tattoo gloves you can buy wholesale. Let’s talk about the tattooing business, those who keep it running, and the best tattoo gloves to buy to ensure that both artists and clients stay safe.

Tattoo Parlor Safety Guidelines

While tattoo shops are pretty different from medical exam rooms and clinics, they do have one thing in common, and that’s the importance of keeping everything clean and sanitary. The process of tattooing involves three things that make gloves necessary: sharp objects, open wounds, and blood. Since a tattoo artist does their work by piercing their client’s skin, they have to make sure that they don’t allow any contaminants to enter their client’s bloodstream, and they need to protect themselves as well.

Tattoo artists use single-use or sanitized needles, alcohol prep pads, and single-use ink containers to get their work done. They’re also required to organize their shops in a way that keeps the possibility of contamination low. This includes creating barriers between the clients and the tools, separating their waiting area from the tattooing area, and making sure each tattooing area has a sink with running hot and cold water.

Tattooing guidelines also prohibit the use of carpets or absorbent materials in the tattooing areas, and each studio must be set up in such a way that it’s easy to clean. These are rules that apply to all tattoo parlors, but some locations may have additional requirements, like using disposable gowns or face masks to further protect tattoo artists and their clients. However, none of these safety precautions would amount to much without a steady supply of tattoo artist gloves.

What Kinds of Gloves Do Tattoo Artists Use the Most?

Latex gloves are a common and affordable option for tattooing. Intended for use in the medical community, these gloves are thin enough to be comfortable and allow dexterity, but they still do a good job of protecting the wearer from contaminants. A downside is that they’re easy to puncture—which shouldn’t be a problem for most experienced tattoo artists but is still something to consider. The main drawback of latex is that it’s quite easy to develop an allergy to the material if it’s worn regularly. For that reason, most full-time tattooists stay away from these types of gloves.

Vinyl is another common type of material for disposable gloves. Because these gloves are mostly intended for cleaning, they’re thick enough to protect your hands from anything, chemicals and bodily fluids included. It’s that thickness, however, that makes them difficult for tattoo artists to use. A thick, bulky glove doesn’t provide the range of finger movement tattoo artists need to do their best work.

So, which gloves to buy for tattoo shops? The best tattoo gloves are, without a doubt, nitrile gloves. They’re thinner than vinyl but thicker and more protective than latex, and their synthetic rubber material is less likely to cause allergies after prolonged use.

Buy Tattoo Gloves From Glove America

If you’re looking for the most cost-effective way to buy a lot of gloves for tattooing at once, take a look around Glove America’s online store. We stock a variety of PPE, disposable gloves in particular—including the powder-free black nitrile gloves that tattoo studios depend on.