Agloves
We’re often asked for recommendations and information about gloves that are lightweight and flexible enough to wear while working, typing, or other everyday tasks. Agloves are a great solution for Raynaud’s sufferers for two reasons:
First, they are lightweight, stretchy gloves knitted with silver nylon. Silver helps to reflect body heat and regulate temperature. This means that the gloves “want” your hands to have an even temperature. So while the gloves don’t create external heat, they do help to keep heat in and to even out the temperature across the palm and fingers.
This benefit alone would be a plus for us Frosties. But wait, there’s more: In addition, silver has the highest conductivity of any metal on the periodic table of elements. For those of us who can’t remember their high school chemistry, that means these gloves are great for using touch screen devices, like smartphones, iPads, iPods and other mobile devices – without taking your gloves off and feeling the cold – amen!
How do they work? Contrary to popular belief, touch screens are not affected by the heat in your fingers. Instead, the touch screen reacts to the natural bioelectricity in your skin. Tiny amounts of moisture, salts, and oils on your skin create conductivity allowing electrons to flow between you and your device. Folks with Raynaud’s know that their cold white/blue fingers have trouble operating a touchscreen device. But if touchscreens are capacitive, not heat sensitive, why would cold fingers be less effective on a touchscreen? It’s because when the body senses a decrease in temperature it naturally sucks out the moisture in your skin with hopes of keeping your body temperature more normal. The lack of moisture translates to decreased bio-electricity potential, and in turn, decreased responsiveness on a touch screen. This impact could cause difficulty in operating touch screens so it becomes hard to text or email. We’ve all experienced this problem, right?
Given these features, the manufacturer of Agloves came to us with a specific interest in how the product would benefit people with Raynaud’s. Their hypothesis was that If the product has silver knit throughout the glove, Agloves might maximize surface area in the skin enough to trump the decreased moisture problem of cold fingers and hands to help people with Raynaud’s. They’d already received positive feedback from one of their own physicians who has the condition, and had a hunch other sufferers would love them as well.
So we assisted Agloves in testing the product with volunteers we recruited and confirmed that over two-thirds of testers felt that their hand temperature was more even. Feedback included:
“I love how they make my hands feel. My fingers are not as white as they usually are.”
“When I put them on, I noticed a difference right away… I normally wear mittens because that was the only thing that kept my hands warm because my fingers were close together, so this was the first time I have put on gloves in a very long time. I was actually impressed. I put them on and my fingers were actually warm even though they were separated.”
“Agloves are great! I will actually be able to use my phone without having to remove my gloves! It is impossible with conventional gloves/mittens to try to use a touch screen. I have to unbundle my hands just to talk or text and risk having a Raynaud’s attack, now I can leave them on and still have the ability to stay connected.”
“Agloves feel warmer in general than a regular glove of the same thickness.”
Special Offer for Raynaud’s Members
Offer Code: Warm&Connected
Agloves come in three styles: Classic styling with a looser cuff, a thicker sport model with a snug wind-resistant cuff, and the new summer weight version knit with both bamboo and silver.
Depending on the style, Agloves come in a variety of sizes (S/M, M/L, XL) for $17.99 to $23.99. As a proud sponsor of the Raynaud’s Association, Agloves is offering our members a 15% discount on all styles. To qualify, simply enter the coupon code Warm&Connected during checkout.
The product offers a comfortable glove that’s light and flexible, helps to maintain natural body heat, and protects hands when texting, emailing, or browsing the web on mobile devices in cold temperatures – a great solution for Raynaud’s sufferers.
If you do try the gloves, I hope you’ll share your feedback with us!
Agloves
1035 Pearl Street, Suite 400
Boulder, CO 80302
