Jens Stålnacke has worked underground at LKAB in Kiruna since May 2016. Within a few years, his hands were in bad enough shape that he had open wounds on shift. This is what eight years of glove use looked like — and what changed.
How it started
"I've worked in the mine pretty much my entire adult life," Jens says. "Not long after I started, I began having issues with my hands. Back then it wasn't open wounds — mostly just bright red skin."
The gloves were standard issue: heavy-duty rubber, waterproof, non-breathable. Worn for full shifts underground.
"A year or two later, the real problems started. Pain, open wounds, cracked skin. That was around 2017, maybe 2018."
He had tried cotton liners before that — different types, tried underneath his work gloves. "It got better for a while, then worse, then better again, then worse again."
Before
Before
The cycle that didn't break
Cotton liners absorb. That is their function and their limitation. In a sealed rubber glove worn underground, there is no airflow and no evaporation. Moisture that cotton absorbs has nowhere to go. Once the fiber saturates — which happens quickly under continuous hand movement — it holds warm, damp material against compromised skin for the rest of the shift.
For Jens, the result was a pattern: some improvement with treatment, then relapse. "Some creams did nothing at all. My hands just got worse."
The environment underground adds another variable. "Moisture, if anything, is a huge issue at my workplace — when we're washing equipment, and underground too. The moisture doesn't just disappear. It eventually goes away, but it takes time."
A liner that absorbs moisture into the fiber extends that time. The skin never fully dries between tasks. The same mechanism appears in automotive environments — different profession, identical physics.
What changed
Through LKAB's PSU group, Jens got access to DRYE liners. He began using them in July 2022.
"I now wear them on the inside. And I still moisturize — but just once a day. Sometimes I even forget."
"My hands are honestly normal now."
Jens Stålnacke — two years after starting"Without a doubt, those liners gave my hands a real chance, if you ask me."
Jens Stålnacke
After
After
After
On washing them underground
LKAB runs industrial laundry at 60°C. Jens throws the liners in with everything else.
"They hold up. They come back like new."
For an underground mine environment — heat, moisture, mechanical stress on clothing — durability under industrial wash conditions matters. Cotton liners, he notes, don't last. "They instantly get disgusting, worn out, filthy. And they do absolutely nothing."
What he would say to others
"Stop buying cotton gloves. They fall apart, stink, get filthy. They don't help — they're just a temporary barrier. Your liners actually make a difference. And I've got my own hands to prove it."
Jens StålnackeJens Stålnacke, LKAB mine worker, Kiruna, Sweden. Began using DRYE liners 5 July 2022. Interviewed 13 September 2024. Two images from before period, three from after.
