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Is there any reason to wear protective gloves while doing the dishes? Will it make any difference on how the skin looks like and most importantly, how it ages? Thank you.
The good news is that detergents are good at removing dirt and oil from dishes. The bad news is that they can also remove oils from your skin which can cause it to become drier. Detergents can also interact with skin proteins and cause irritation. So if you do a lot of dishes and you want to avoid dry, cracked, reddened skin, then wearing gloves is a good idea.
Is it so different from soap or shampoo? If I apply hand cream after doing the dishes, does it counteract the drying effect? Is it enough?
I don’t think dryness will age your skin. Dryness makes the age related damage you already have more visible (e.g., leathery skin and wrinkles), and moisturizing makes sun damage less visible–but moisturizing doesn’t prevent sun damage. Only sunscreen can prevent it. So not to worry unless you’re bothered by dry skin from washing. Just use sunscreen when you’re going to be out, even if it’s cloudy.
And in response to your question–I’m not a chemist but my impression is that dish soap is stronger than hand/body soap or shampoo. So it may be more drying.
Dish soaps typically use surfactants which are stronger cleansers, and therefore more drying, than shampoos, hand soaps, or body washes. Moisturizing your skin afterwards will certainly help.
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