"Gloves are essential because you can bet that the weed you reach for has prickles that are going to stay in your skin to punish you for a few days. Yes, weeds are analogous to your bad habits: they leave a residue that is often difficult to detect and remove. Best to remove weeds and bad habits as soon as possible to avoid the accumulation of prickles that can haunt your garden in ways you might never have thought of."
From my "The Garden: Perennial Reflections on Beginnings and Ends Chapter 5 Weeds