Of all the garden tools you have, which is the most critical of all? Your hands!

A good pair of garden gloves is a wise decision to take care of your hands, fingers and nails. But gloves can also help you stay cleaner and more comfortable while working outside, and they can even help you stay safer in some cases.

In this post, we’re taking a look at our 5 top choices for the best gardening gloves for women. We’ll be looking at things like material, key features and what each pair is especially suited for. After that, we’ll briefly cover what to keep in mind while shopping for gloves.

Let’s get going!

Best Gardening Gloves for Women

1. Cooljob Gardening Gloves for Women

**Best Women’s Work Gloves with Grip

• Primary material: Natural latex, knitted polyester
• Size options: Medium (one size fits most)
• Color options: Lavender Purple and Green Apple (shown), Bright Red and Mint Green

With the generous non-slip palms and secure fit, we award these Cooljob gloves the title of our favorite women’s work gloves with grip. And they come in a 2-pack, so you always have a spare!

Each palm has a thick layer of textured natural latex so you can get a firm grip on whatever you’re carrying or working with. That latex covers most of the finger surface too, providing excellent fingertip grip.

While the latex coating is certainly a fantastic non-slip surface, it also helps keep your hands cleaner and dryer by creating a waterproof barrier. And it’s easy to clean your gloves off with the hose or under a water spigot.

For the back of your hands, the stretchy polyester material fits snugly to keep your gloves firmly in place. And the thin knitted material is highly breathable, allowing for excellent airflow to keep you cooler while you’re busy.

One thing to be aware of is that these gloves don’t handle machine washing very well, primarily due to the latex palm coating. So if your gloves get really dirty, hand-washing in cold water and air-drying is your best bet.

2. Handlandy Leather Women’s Gardening Gloves

**Best Leather Gardening Gloves for Women

• Primary material: Pigskin leather, 3D mesh or Spandex
• Size options: Small, medium, large
• Color options: Pink (shown), green

Some garden jobs call for extra protection- pruning thorny bushes, cleaning up scraggly brush and working with potentially caustic products, just to name a few. These gloves from Handlandy come is as our top pick for the best leather gardening gloves for women- they provide the protection you need with the perks of flexibility and durability.

Pigskin is the leather of choice here, and it has several benefits to offer:

• Dense-grain leather that’s comparable to cowhide
• Resists punctures
• Smooth, supple finish
• Flexible and pliable
• Doesn’t get stiff after moisture exposure
• Durable material over the long term

The full palm, thumb and first finger are all made from leather, and each fingertip also has a leather cap. This construction gives high-stress points the strength and flexibility you need to get your garden tasks checked off.

The nylon backing is flexible for comfort, and there are two material options you can pick from:

• Standard 3D mesh: Lightweight, flexible and highly breathable.
• Upgraded (shown in the photo above): Lightweight, stretchy Spandex material for added comfort and movement.

One thing we wish was different is the wrist area. It’s a little on the short side, which is fine for regular gardening tasks but may present an issue if you have to reach into thorny branches.

3. Magid Professional Rose Pruning Gloves

**Best Long Gardening Gloves for Women

• Primary material: Synthetic leather, spandex
• Size options: Small, medium, large
• Color options: Brown/Purple

When working with thorny plants or clearing a patch of poison oak, your hands aren’t the only parts that need protection. These gloves from Magid Professional reach nearly to the elbow, so your forearms can stay free of scratches or irritation.

Magid uses a synthetic leather material with a dense grain pattern to produce a high puncture resistance. And if you’re vegan or vegetarian, this could be a great option for you since no animals were involved in the production process.

The synthetic leather runs all the way up to the edge of the gauntlet, keeping your forearms well protected. The palms and inner fingers are completely faux-leather, with an extra layer in the high-stress points for durability. On the back of the hand, a tough canvas material offers protection with flexibility.

For comfort, the gloves have a soft fabric lining, so there are no rough leather edges to rub against your skin. And a strong elastic band across the wrist keeps your gloves from slipping up or down while you work.

One drawback is that although these gloves are good at blocking larger thorns, they are not completely thorn-proof, especially for plants with fine thorns, like cacti. So while the tough material will keep you from suffering the majority of pokes and jabs, you’ll still need to use care when handling thorny plants.

4. Women’s Bionic Reliefgrip Gardening Gloves

**Best Women’s Garden Gloves for Arthritic Hands

• Primary material: Goatskin leather, Lycra
• Size options: Small, medium, large, extra-large
• Color options: White/black

Gardening can be tough on the hands, and if you suffer from hand stiffness, pain or swelling, that can make working in the garden even more of a challenge. And even if you don’t suffer from hand problems, these gloves pack in lots of smart features that make working in the garden more comfortable for anyone.

These Reliefgrip gloves from Bionic aim to ease that discomfort and get you back into the garden where you want to be. Designed by a specialist in hand orthopedics, these gloves use an inner layer of Lycra to provide gentle but effective compression that helps keep soreness and swelling at bay.

The outer shell of the gloves are goatskin, which gives you a soft surface that’s still tough. Each knuckle flex point is a stretchy panel instead of leather. This design allows you to move your hand naturally and comfortably with less constriction.

On the thumb and first three fingers, silicone fingertip pads add an extra measure of grip and durability in high-stress areas. They also give you additional protection from getting poked by thorns or other sharp objects. A double layer of goatskin on the palm provides reinforcement against tears and prevents jabs to your palm.

The wrist features a hook-and-eye closure for a custom fit, and a terrycloth lining helps keep hands dry while you’re working.

The Reliefgrip gloves provide quite a few awesome features. The only downside to point out is that there are no other color options to pick from besides white/black.

5. Skydeer Women’s Gardening Gloves

**Best Everyday Women’s Gardening Gloves

• Primary material: Deerskin leather, nylon
• Size options: One size fits all
• Color options: Green (shown), pink, purple

Thanks to the combination of leather and nylon, these womens gardening gloves from Skydeer provide a nice balance of flexibility and grip that should serve you well in various outdoor jobs.

The palm is made of deerskin, with a double layer over the high-impact zone, giving your hands protection and extra grip. The nylon back forms to your hands and gives you plenty of natural dexterity. And the floral pattern on the back is charming, and you have three pretty patterns to choose from.

The fingertips and thumb joint, which are notorious high-stress points, get some added durability and protection from reinforced leather sections. An elastic wrist area keeps dirt and debris from finding their way into your gloves without any uncomfortable constriction.

If you’re looking to keep your forearms free of scratches or pokes, these gloves are also available with elongated arm (gauntlet) protection.

One thing to be aware of: These gloves are one-size-fits-all, so there are no specific sizes to choose from.

How to Choose the Best Gardening Gloves for Women

There is no shortage of options out there for gardening gloves- and your unique needs and preferences are the key factors in helping you choose the right one for you. Here’s what to keep in mind while shopping:

Your Intended Use

This is the big one. What kind of jobs do you do most often around the garden? Or maybe you need a pair of gloves for a certain task. Choose gloves that are suited to the tasks at hand.

Thick leather and other heavy materials are ideal for working with thorny or scratchy plants. But they can retain a lot of heat and sometimes moisture. So while they’re wonderful for keeping your safe, they may not be you best choice for light everyday outdoor chores.

On the other hand, gloves made from thinner material are best suited for keeping your hands and nails free of dirt in your normal planting, weeding and harvesting. But they offer no or very little protection against those plants that just want to poke us and keep us away.

If you live in an area that gets a lot of rain, and therefore mud, gloves with a sturdy non-slip layer can make your work easier.

So it’s worth it to think about the tasks you have coming up and select the pair (or pairs!) of gloves that can be a real help to you.

Durability

Not all materials can stand up to abuse, and some gloves are designed for heavier use than others. If you’re an avid gardener or a beginner with big plans for this first growing season, investing in a heavy-duty pair of gloves is a wise move.

Leather is the most durable material you’ll find. Most gardening gloves are made from genuine or bonded leather, which isn’t as high-grade as you’ll find in designer handbags and cowboy boots. If you care for it properly, genuine and bonded leather should last at least 5 years. So when it comes to leather gloves that get pretty hard use, you’ll likely get a few gardening seasons out of them.

No surprise here: Gloves with fabric or thinner material are less durable than leather. You may be looking at replacing them every year or two, depending on the type of garden work you do.

Construction

How your gloves are constructed can make a difference in how long they’ll hold up, the level of protection they have to offer and how comfortable they’ll be.

A double layer of fabric on the palm area and reinforced seams are common features in most gardening gloves, with thin cotton ones being the exception. These construction features help prevent rips or tears during the normal course of use, and they also provide a thicker barrier between your hand and whatever you’re working with.

If you choose a pair of leather gloves, fabric panels on the back or knuckle areas help increase your flexibility and hand dexterity while working. This can be very handy since leather can tend to stiffen up over time. And panels that are also stretchy and breathable can help make you more comfortable during your work.

Final Thoughts

Gardening gloves may seem like they’re not worth thinking about too much- just pick a pair and move on with your life. But taking time to choose a pair that’s well-suited to your needs can save you from frustration and dirt-caked hands later on.

So invest some thought, and you’ll thank yourself later

We’d love to hear from you! Do you have any other questions about womens gardening gloves, or any other styles to suggest that we don’t have on our list? We learn best from one another, so please share your thoughts in the comments!