You do not need to use gloves, just don’t touch non-dried paint with fingers. I can recommend to clean your brushes using separate bottle with White spirit first. Before you finally clean them using soap and water.
Most of lead paint will precipitate on the bottom of this jar. Kitchen apron can protect your clothing perfectly.

Lead white is mostly toxic when ingested, therefore, don’t eat or smoke during painting session. Wash hands before eating. With care you can safely use it.

I always end up getting oil paint on my hands – even when I try my best not to. Gloves or no gloves. If anyone can do an oil painting without accidentally smearing paint around and making a mess, he or she is not using oil paint

Agree, Patrick. I always use fingers to paint flat areas, it seems to be better than brush. I don’t use lead, but I have many cobalts, cadmium and Strontium chromate paints. I wash hands twice after each paint sessions. But lead is more toxic. I think, it is better do not use it at home. Or you can try to use Lead white when necessary, to paint portrait e.t.c and ordinary Zinc-Titanium white to paint large areas like sky, water.
Drink more milk, milk is a good antidote.

Bluesmoosh, if you feel bothered by the toxicity of lead, I’d recommend against you using it. As people here said, using gloves and not eating while painting should reduce risks of lead poisoning a lot.

But that’s not the point. The point is, if you are really, really bothered to the point of paranoia that lead will poison you, painting will not be a pleasant experience, and the sheer paranoia could cost you your mental health.

As Gigalot said, Blue, what you can do is either to use zinc oxide (PW4,) which is still toxic, but much less dangerous, a blend of zinc and titanium (PW4 + PW6.)

If you want to emulate lead without its toxic properties, you can create your own transparent white. All you need is to use a “filler” (calcium sulphate, calcium carbonate, baryte, alumina, etc) and mix it with linseed oil (I suppose you’re using oils, right?) This will create a very pleasing lightening medium.

It might seem “cheap” that those inert fillers could replace lead, but there’s no harm in that at all. Velásquez used “putty” (calcium sulphate + calcium carbonate) in its paintings to achieve very transparent effects with his ochres, and it worked quite well.

Also, if you do want a transparent white that emulates lead, all you need is to add a dab of titanium white (or a little more, depending on your taste) to your filler + linseed mix, then add beeswax (to make the paint “stay”, like lead does,) and optionally add a tiny bit of yellow ochre to make titanium warmer. Voilá! Not a perfect substitute, but a really nice option to lead, perhaps even better than zinc oxide (PW4!)

And – best of all – non-toxic!

I always use fingers to paint flat areas, it seems to be better than brush.

Wow! I hope you wear gloves. I’ve been wanting to try using my fingers (nicer than brushes for thin paint applications) …but wearing gloves for protection. I use thin, transparent plastic, latex or latex-free gloves for painting…and by the end of my session, they are often worn away a bit/ holes on some of the fingertips. I’ll try slightly thicker ones, but worry if there will be a loss of finesse.

Having successfully used lead/flake/Cremnitz white for more than 30 years, and I’m now going to tell you the secret for surviving the use of this paint . . . a secret every mother tells her children:  DON’T EAT THE STUFF AND WASH YOUR HANDS.

Just for grins and giggles, take a look at all the other paints you shouldn’t be using . . . some use  derivatives  of cyanide;  some use mercury . . . and the list goes on.  If you’ll do exactly what you tell you children to do, you’ll be okay.

If you get off on dressing up like you’re going to Mars, fine.  But the way I see it, little idiosyncrasies like this detract from the job of making art.

It’s rather striking the subtle differences between Titanium White and Lead White when mixed with the same oil paint color.  Michael Harding has a short tutorial demonstrating  the differences.