I admit it. I have soft, supple, nimble "city hands" and sensitive finger tips. I like them this way, and I believe my world has been much enriched by it. I don't mind getting my hands dirty, roughing them up or putting them to hard blister-forming use, but I always just wondered, why?? when there is a simple alternative. Gloves. Gloves that will serve as a barrier between me and dirty, greasy, or contaminated substances, gloves that will protect my hand from abrasions, cuts, slivers, and callouses, and gloves that will improve my grip and/or improve my performance at certain tasks even. I have chronically dry skin on my hands, and gloves seem to help me keep?them moistened and moisturized. They even provide sun-protection for my hands, serve as a handy sweat mop, and obviates the need for messy hand camofluage.
The choice to wear hand protection just seems a no brainer. So when I'm out in the field, when I'm doing manual labor, construction, gardening, or picking up or cleaning anything "yucky", you will always see a pair of gloves of some kind on me. In the Army, it became almost a "style" thing, my trademark, as I was the guy that always wore gloves in the field, summer or winter, day or night, short sleeve or long.
My preferred gloves have long been the gauntlet-length Nomex flight gloves (sage/grey, or black). They were designed for pilots who required manual dexterity and flame resistance to operate their aircraft with gloves on. They fit close and are slightly elastic, giving me good manual dexterity for operating tactical gear, making hand/arm signals, operating electronic equipment (buttons, switches, keyboards). My primary pair are also woven with Kevlar and are slash resistant. These are the pair that I airline travel with, just in case I need to regulate on a knife-wielding terrorist.
The Kevlar/Nomex combo was not cheap as I recall but well worth it for the extra reassurance of having "slash proof" hands.
Probably by force of habit now, I prefer the extra coverage of the gauntlet length, both for warmth/protection and more practically as a handy sweat mop. When I don't need the extra length, I simply fold it back or roll it up. My Kevlar gauntlets are made by Hatch, a well known company in police gloves (with high dexterity and sensitivity for searches), and I believe I originally purchased them from Gall's (but possibly U.S. Cavalry) by mail order. Through repeated use and washings through the years, they've faded from black to almost grey but they are still in excellent condition despite lots of rough use.
For my motorcycle, I possess a pair of the top of the line "ultimate" CHP winter gauntlet that my dear parents bought for me way back in the day. I used to suffer when riding in the winter, with cold, freezing hands, but these over-engineered gauntlets keep me toasty warm up to my forearms. During warm weather though, I tend to prefer unlined "shorty" leather gloves which I own maybe 10 pair of.
I also have a pair of nice custom-made soft deerskin gauntlets that I had made ostensibly for riding, but perfect for various historical costumes. It's great how versatile and passably authentic the timeless gauntlet style is for a lot of time periods and even sci-fi. I use them for archery now (serving as both an archery glove and arm guard).
For other specific activities, I have several specialty gloves. Like a pair of Reactor II padded-knuckle, suede-palm rappelling gloves that I use at the range and for rappelling, and Goretex and Polartec insulated gauntlets for snowblading, and neoprene diving gloves.
Perhaps ironically, about the only place that I don't like to wear gloves is at the ice rink. Gloves tend to make me overheat.
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