5 ms·

Because gloves are too expensive? Never mind that though. Pedalling is a lot easier than washing clothes by hand. It's better for your back too.

jxf 13y ago
Gloves don't work. The chemicals impregnate the gloves and then the situation's even worse, since they're being pressed against your skin for long periods of time.
- FooBarWidget 13y ago
  What? Latex gloves are water proof. Where can I learn more about the chemicals impregnating the gloves?
  - jxf 13y ago
    Here's a test for you: dry your hands, then take a pair of dry latex gloves, then dunk your hands in a soapy sink for three seconds. Take off the gloves. Your hands will be at least a little damp and soapy. How did that happen, if latex is waterproof? It's because your hand doesn't make a perfect seal with the glove. Also, dish soap and other detergents are surfactants, which reduce the surface tension of water. That makes it easier for it to get into tight spaces, like the space between the glove's edge and your hand. Finally, latex is soluble in many kinds of oil/petroleum-containing product (many waxes, some heavy-duty cleaners, etc.), so if you're wearing latex gloves, you'll literally be dissolving latex onto your skin and degrading the gloves. Gross. If that's what a three-second test will do, imagine how it'd feel to wash clothes for thirty minutes. Not pleasant.
    - toomuchtodo 13y ago
      Perhaps there is a market for latex gloves that are snug and seal better at the wrist (similar to the male condom).
      - hnal943 13y ago
        or perhaps dish gloves (which already exist) are long so they do not become submerged in the water.
    - walshemj 13y ago
      No thats the sweat from your skin :-) Trust me years ago I worked on on project that was simulating a nuke reactor (the CFR breeder) and had to spend an afternoon wrapping a dummy fuel pin with insulation in full bunny suit, respirator and latex gloves on a very hot day when I took the gloves off there must have been 50 cc's of fluid in the gloves finger tips.
    - enraged_camel 13y ago
      >>Here's a test for you: dry your hands, then take a pair of dry latex gloves, then dunk your hands in a soapy sink for three seconds. Take off the gloves. Your hands will be at least a little damp and soapy. How did that happen, if latex is waterproof? It's because your hand doesn't make a perfect seal with the glove. No, it's because your hands generate sweat, which cannot evaporate due to being completely sealed in by the latex. Here's a test for you: fill a latex glove with water and see if it is leaking any. You will see that it is completely waterproof.
      - jxf 13y ago
        You'll get sweat too, but there'll be soap from the sink in there. Unless you have some very unique genes, that didn't come from your hands! The soap got in through the edge of the glove, not through the glove. Your test won't demonstrate anything other than that latex can hold water, which is not what I was trying to show. I wasn't kidding when I said to try it. :)
        FooBarWidget 13y ago
        So a little soap/chemical enters through the edge. A 99% reduction in exposure still beats 0% reduction in exposure.
      - aplusbi 13y ago
        Perhaps jxf should have written "dunk your hands up to the elbows". If you are washing clothes with gloves on, you can expect at least some water to make its way in through the top.
DanBC 13y ago
Safety equipment is valuable. Thus, it is stolen or sold to get money to buy food.
- gohrt 13y ago
  Washing machines are valuable. This, they are stolen or sold to get money to buy food.
- vinceguidry 13y ago
  It's not so much that they're valuable, it's that it's too easy for assholes to insist that the poor girls doing the washing don't need / deserve them.
  - DanBC 13y ago
    Well, yes, that would be a problem. There is a problem with risk assessment in general. BBC had a few useful programmes. One was about young peoe visiting developing nations to see how luxuries are produced. They visited the Accra toxic electronic equipment dump. People take wiring and burn the insulation off to get the copper. These cable bonfires release huge clouds of toxic smoke. Now one has any kind of mask. The programme showed a boy smashing capacitors off a PCB with a rock to sell them. I think, but do not know, that if je'd had a pair of snips (for the compnent leads) and some way to get the copper / gold off the PCB that he'd have had a more valuable resource to sell. It was a profoundly depressing, distressing, view. There was another programme called Welcome To India. This showed poor people reclaiming gold. They visited the jewelery district and swept the roads. They used acids and mercury and heat to turn this dust and grit into tiny gold grains. Part of the process was taking aciding grit in the palm of their hand and stirring it with their fingers. Again, no glasses or masks or gloves. Indian bloggers - are there any good blogs showing everyday life in India? Not just the poverty, but the life of a broad cross section of the population?
acqq 13y ago
Yes, gloves are too expensive and also don't work for people who wash today by hands. I see it's hard to imagine that to you, so try with this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_Poverty_Line_(India) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_Poverty_Line_(India) 400 INR monthly per head is less than 7 USD per head per month to survive.
- jetru 13y ago
  Thank you.
youWontLikeThis 13y ago
Gloves, now coming to every cornershop in your shantytown. Free loaf of bread for the 1st happy customer.
umsm 13y ago
I don't think you've ever washed anything by hand.

jxf 13y ago

Gloves don't work. The chemicals impregnate the gloves and then the situation's even worse, since they're being pressed against your skin for long periods of time.

FooBarWidget 13y ago
What? Latex gloves are water proof. Where can I learn more about the chemicals impregnating the gloves?
- jxf 13y ago
  Here's a test for you: dry your hands, then take a pair of dry latex gloves, then dunk your hands in a soapy sink for three seconds. Take off the gloves. Your hands will be at least a little damp and soapy. How did that happen, if latex is waterproof? It's because your hand doesn't make a perfect seal with the glove. Also, dish soap and other detergents are surfactants, which reduce the surface tension of water. That makes it easier for it to get into tight spaces, like the space between the glove's edge and your hand. Finally, latex is soluble in many kinds of oil/petroleum-containing product (many waxes, some heavy-duty cleaners, etc.), so if you're wearing latex gloves, you'll literally be dissolving latex onto your skin and degrading the gloves. Gross. If that's what a three-second test will do, imagine how it'd feel to wash clothes for thirty minutes. Not pleasant.
  - toomuchtodo 13y ago
    Perhaps there is a market for latex gloves that are snug and seal better at the wrist (similar to the male condom).
    - hnal943 13y ago
      or perhaps dish gloves (which already exist) are long so they do not become submerged in the water.
  - walshemj 13y ago
    No thats the sweat from your skin :-) Trust me years ago I worked on on project that was simulating a nuke reactor (the CFR breeder) and had to spend an afternoon wrapping a dummy fuel pin with insulation in full bunny suit, respirator and latex gloves on a very hot day when I took the gloves off there must have been 50 cc's of fluid in the gloves finger tips.
  - enraged_camel 13y ago
    >>Here's a test for you: dry your hands, then take a pair of dry latex gloves, then dunk your hands in a soapy sink for three seconds. Take off the gloves. Your hands will be at least a little damp and soapy. How did that happen, if latex is waterproof? It's because your hand doesn't make a perfect seal with the glove. No, it's because your hands generate sweat, which cannot evaporate due to being completely sealed in by the latex. Here's a test for you: fill a latex glove with water and see if it is leaking any. You will see that it is completely waterproof.
    - jxf 13y ago
      You'll get sweat too, but there'll be soap from the sink in there. Unless you have some very unique genes, that didn't come from your hands! The soap got in through the edge of the glove, not through the glove. Your test won't demonstrate anything other than that latex can hold water, which is not what I was trying to show. I wasn't kidding when I said to try it. :)
      - FooBarWidget 13y ago
        So a little soap/chemical enters through the edge. A 99% reduction in exposure still beats 0% reduction in exposure.
    - aplusbi 13y ago
      Perhaps jxf should have written "dunk your hands up to the elbows". If you are washing clothes with gloves on, you can expect at least some water to make its way in through the top.

DanBC 13y ago

Safety equipment is valuable. Thus, it is stolen or sold to get money to buy food.

gohrt 13y ago
Washing machines are valuable. This, they are stolen or sold to get money to buy food.
vinceguidry 13y ago
It's not so much that they're valuable, it's that it's too easy for assholes to insist that the poor girls doing the washing don't need / deserve them.
- DanBC 13y ago
  Well, yes, that would be a problem. There is a problem with risk assessment in general. BBC had a few useful programmes. One was about young peoe visiting developing nations to see how luxuries are produced. They visited the Accra toxic electronic equipment dump. People take wiring and burn the insulation off to get the copper. These cable bonfires release huge clouds of toxic smoke. Now one has any kind of mask. The programme showed a boy smashing capacitors off a PCB with a rock to sell them. I think, but do not know, that if je'd had a pair of snips (for the compnent leads) and some way to get the copper / gold off the PCB that he'd have had a more valuable resource to sell. It was a profoundly depressing, distressing, view. There was another programme called Welcome To India. This showed poor people reclaiming gold. They visited the jewelery district and swept the roads. They used acids and mercury and heat to turn this dust and grit into tiny gold grains. Part of the process was taking aciding grit in the palm of their hand and stirring it with their fingers. Again, no glasses or masks or gloves. Indian bloggers - are there any good blogs showing everyday life in India? Not just the poverty, but the life of a broad cross section of the population?

acqq 13y ago

Yes, gloves are too expensive and also don't work for people who wash today by hands. I see it's hard to imagine that to you, so try with this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_Poverty_Line_(India) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_Poverty_Line_(India) 400 INR monthly per head is less than 7 USD per head per month to survive.

jetru 13y ago
Thank you.

youWontLikeThis 13y ago

Gloves, now coming to every cornershop in your shantytown. Free loaf of bread for the 1st happy customer.

umsm 13y ago

I don't think you've ever washed anything by hand.