How To Use A Disposable Glove To Prevent A Paintbrush From Drying Out

Painting can take a long time, which means there are usually breaks involved before the project wraps. Whether you're taking 30 minutes for lunch or are clocking out for the day, you need to keep your paintbrushes from drying out. Rather than taking the laborious route and washing them in the sink each time you step away from your work site, you can simply wrap your brushes to keep them moist. And the best way to do so is with a disposable glove.

Many people like to wear disposable gloves while painting to protect their hands from stains and blisters. If you're one of these people, you can repurpose your gloves for your paintbrushes. When you're ready to step away, simply dip your brush into the paint, ensuring it's well-saturated, then grab your paintbrush with your gloved hand and pull it inside out over the bristles. Lock the glove in place with a rubber band or tape, and that should be enough to keep your brush moist until you're ready to reconvene.

If you don't paint while wearing disposable gloves and don't have a box of them handy at home, all is not lost. You can still use this paint hack; you just need an alternative. A great substitute can be any type of plastic bag. This can be a produce bag, leftover shopping bag, or plastic packaging from an item you recently ordered. Not only will this work in a pinch, but it'll allow you to give these plastic items a second use before scrapping them. To use the bag, simply wrap your paintbrush up like a sandwich, and then secure the bag at the bottom to create an airtight seal.

If you don't have any of these items handy at the moment, you can also use aluminum foil or plastic wrap. But this is best as a short-term solution. If you want to step away from your paint job for more than 24 hours, put the aluminum-wrapped brush into an airtight bag and squeeze the air out. This should help it stay fresher for longer.

While this hack may sound like black magic, it's just science. Saturating the brush with a thick glob of paint ensures the bristles stay moist. The hack wouldn't work as well with a small dab of leftover paint on the bristles, so saturation is key. And since the whole point is to keep the brush wet, you need to cut off airflow from drying out the bristles. That's where the plastic comes in.

Something like a disposable glove, sandwich bag, or aluminum foil isn't porous, which means it's difficult for the moisture from latex paint or the solvents from oil-based paint to escape. This keeps the paint wet rather than dry. This is why it's also important to take extra precautions to seal the plastic properly at the bottom of the handle. The less air that gets in, the more successful the results will be. This is great news for anyone who doesn't necessarily enjoy washing and drying paintbrushes after each use!