(And What You Can Do About It)

There are bad smells.

And then there are hockey gloves.

If you’ve played hockey for any length of time, you know exactly what we’re talking about. You take your gloves off after a game and the smell doesn’t just stay in the equipment.

It’s on your hands.

Then comes the drive home.

The hockey bag is in the trunk, but somehow that unmistakable hockey smell is still sitting right beside you.

So, why do hockey gloves smell so bad?

Sweat is part of the problem. However, the real answer is a little grosser.

Why Do Hockey Gloves Stink?

Hockey gloves create almost perfect conditions for odour.

While you play, your hands sweat. That moisture, along with skin oils and other material from your hands, gets into the palms, liners and other materials inside your gloves.

Now add:

• Heat from your hands
• Sweat and moisture
• Skin oils
• Limited airflow
• Repeated use
• Gloves that don’t always get completely dry

Put all of that together and you’ve created an environment where odour can build up quickly.

Unlike a jersey or base layer that gets thrown into the wash regularly, hockey gloves can go weeks — or considerably longer — without being properly cleaned.

As a result, the smell builds game after game.

The Gross Truth: Bacteria Are a Big Part of the Smell

Here’s where it gets a little disgusting.

Sweat itself isn’t necessarily what creates that horrible hockey glove smell.

Instead, microorganisms living in that warm, damp environment can break down compounds found in sweat, skin oils and other material left behind by your hands. During that process, they produce volatile compounds that we perceive as odour.

In less scientific terms?

Bacteria eat the stuff you leave behind and produce smelly waste.

Or, as we prefer to explain it:

Your hockey gloves smell like bacteria poop.

Okay, that’s a bit of an oversimplification — but you get the idea.

Unfortunately, hockey gloves give odour-producing microbes a pretty fantastic place to hang out. They’re warm and damp, plus they’re full of sweat. After the game, they’re also often tossed into a dark hockey bag and zipped up before they’ve had a chance to dry.

Then you put your hands back into that environment at the next practice.

The cycle starts all over again.

No wonder they stink.

Why Does Hockey Glove Smell Get Worse Over Time?

One of the biggest problems is moisture.

You finish playing, throw your gloves into your hockey bag, zip it up and head home.

Maybe the bag gets opened when you get home.

Maybe it doesn’t.

We’ve all been there.

When damp hockey gloves sit inside a closed bag, they can’t dry properly. Then you put them back on for your next game or practice, add another round of sweat and repeat the process.

Over time, the odour gets stronger.

For the same reason, spraying something fragrant inside a pair of nasty hockey gloves isn’t really solving the problem.

You may temporarily change what they smell like.

However, hockey-glove stink mixed with fragrance is still hockey-glove stink.

Why Does Hockey Glove Smell Get on Your Hands?

Here’s the part that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.

Your hands spend an entire game inside those gloves.

During that time, they’re sweating and rubbing against material that may have absorbed countless hours of previous sweat and odour.

So when the gloves come off?

The smell comes with them.

Now it’s on your skin.

That’s why hockey glove smell can stick around on your hands even after you’ve left the dressing room.

Which brings us to one of hockey’s great mysteries.

That Smell in the Car Might Not Be the Hockey Bag

Every hockey parent knows the drive home.

The gear gets tossed into the trunk. Everyone gets into the car. A couple of minutes later, someone says:

“Oh my God. What is that smell?”

Naturally, everyone blames the hockey bag.

Except…

The hockey bag is in the trunk.

That smell sitting beside you may actually be coming from the player’s hands.

By this point, those hands are holding a phone, opening a snack, grabbing a drink or just sitting three feet away from everyone else in the car.

Sometimes the hockey smell following you home isn’t the bag.

It’s the hands.

How to Keep Hockey Gloves From Smelling So Bad

First, let’s establish something.

You’re probably never going to make a well-used pair of hockey gloves smell like roses.

They’re hockey gloves.

However, you can keep things from getting completely out of control.

1. Dry Your Gloves After Every Game

This is probably the easiest thing you can do.

When you get home, take your gloves out of your hockey bag.

Next, open them up and leave them somewhere with good airflow so they can dry completely before you use them again.

Most importantly, don’t leave wet gloves zipped inside your bag until your next game.

Moisture is your enemy.

2. Clean Your Hockey Gloves

Hockey gloves need cleaning too.

Always follow the manufacturer’s care instructions. However, periodically cleaning your gloves can help remove some of the sweat, oils and buildup that contribute to odour.

If your entire hockey bag has reached the point where opening it should require a hazmat suit, professional hockey equipment cleaning or sanitizing may also be worth considering.

3. Air Out the Entire Hockey Bag

Your gloves aren’t the only wet equipment going into the bag.

Elbow pads, shoulder pads, shin pads, skates and other equipment can all carry moisture.

Therefore, when you get home, empty the bag and let everything dry.

Your family will thank you.

Eventually.

4. Wash Your Hands After Playing

Once the gloves come off, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water when you can.

Don’t just give them a three-second rinse.

Instead, wash your palms, fingers, fingertips and between your fingers.

Even then, every hockey player knows there are times when you can still catch that familiar hockey-glove smell on your hands.

That’s the problem nobody was really talking about.

What If Your Hockey Gloves Still Smell?

They probably will.

Let’s be realistic.

You can dry your equipment, clean it and take great care of it. However, you’re still putting your hands inside heavily padded gloves and sweating in them while playing hockey.

Eventually, hockey gloves are going to smell like hockey gloves.

So the bigger question becomes:

What do you do about your hands afterward?

That’s Why We Made Clap Balm®

This is the problem that inspired Clap Balm®.

We weren’t trying to invent another product to spray into your hockey bag.

Instead, Clap Balm is for the part of the problem that follows you out of the dressing room:

Your hands.

Clap Balm is a post-game hand balm designed to help deal with that lingering hockey-glove smell on your skin.

After you play, take your gloves off and wash your hands when you can. Then rub a small amount of Clap Balm into your hands and get on with your night.

The ride home.

Food with the team.

A beer after the game.

A date.

Or simply sitting beside someone who would rather not smell your hockey gloves for the next 30 minutes.

Your equipment can stay in the bag.

The smell on your hands shouldn’t have to come with you.

Don’t Put Clap Balm in Your Hockey Gloves

This one’s important.

Clap Balm is for your hands, not your hockey gloves.

It’s not an equipment deodorizer and isn’t designed to be rubbed into the inside of your gloves.

Balms, creams and similar products can leave residue in hockey equipment.

Instead, use Clap Balm after you’re finished playing.

Finish the game.

Take off