Pepper Burns - How to get rid of them?
- Thread starter obeychase
- Start date
Milk or olive oil generally, followed by soap and water. Or you can be a MAN...
just kidding on that last part, shit burns like hell lol!
oh and don't use the bathroom until you've been decontaminated...
just kidding on that last part, shit burns like hell lol!
oh and don't use the bathroom until you've been decontaminated...
Not much you can do, once you spread it like poison ivy... lol. I know that feeling! I dried some habs a couple of years ago, then, like a drunk idiot, cruched them into flakes with my bare hands. I burned for a long time after that... couple of days. I also extracted seeds from yellow ghosts and choco scorps a month or so ago... again, bare handed. I guess I just don't learn.
I wash my hands with rubbing alcohol first, rinse and then wash with soap. It works every time for me. I have to be very careful because I wear contact lenses.
I read today that the capsaicinoid (sp?) family is soluble in alcohol, so perhaps some 100 proof or higher content whisky in small quantity can help remove it ? (and then you can drink some to help alleviate the pain further, but don't use Bourbon - that's crap compared to the Scottish malts 
Did I just declare war ?)
Also, supposedly paraffin or vegetable oil will help greatly.
Did I just declare war ?)Also, supposedly paraffin or vegetable oil will help greatly.
I know this is an older thread but I HAD to share this. After making some hot sauce out of scorpions and primos, I got some on my hands today. It was pretty awful. Anyway, after trying all sorts of stuff, I ended up finding a comment on a very old thread elsewhere from someone who recommended taking old coffee grounds and rubbing/washing your hands with them. Well, I had some sitting in my coffee pot from this morning and I had nothing to lose, so I grabbed a big old handful and rigorously rubbed them in my hands in three different sittings. Wow. It worked! It worked so well! Within 45 minutes, my hands no longer burn. Nothing else provided lasting relief, but this certainly did. Coffee grounds! Don't forget!
I tried that.....no luck. I swear the coffee grounds did it for me when literally everything else failed. You name it, I tried it.
I just use dish soap on one of those sponges that has a 3M scratchy pad on one side. As long as I wash soon after I handle peppers, it removes all the oil before it has a chance to soak in to my skin.
I don't think hand sanitizer would work. It will dissolve oil and just smear it around - probably allowing more capsaicin to work its way under your skin. Soap works because it emulsifies the oil and allows water to wash it away.
I don't think hand sanitizer would work. It will dissolve oil and just smear it around - probably allowing more capsaicin to work its way under your skin. Soap works because it emulsifies the oil and allows water to wash it away.
haha when I had the burn, it kicked in about 20 minutes after I had finished handling my peppers/sauce. Soap did nothing at that poing 
I agree though, hand sanitizer will not help out
I agree though, hand sanitizer will not help out
VirgilCane said:haha when I had the burn, it kicked in about 20 minutes after I had finished handling my peppers/sauce. Soap did nothing at that poing
You need to use a dish soap that is designed to cut through oil and grease like Dawn if you want any chance of it working, any old soap won't work. That is all I ever use, but sometimes I have to wash twice.
I swear by a good handful of an alcohol based hand sanitizer combo'd with dish soap. (prefer dawn) no water to rinse until you have scrubbed your hands well with the combo for at least 20 seconds. nail brush under the nails if they are longer. It works for me. I was stupid enough to be cutting up a moruga scorpion and a reaper barehanded a few weeks ago and it took care of that. I usually do the lick test after washing my hands btw. If I can't taste it then I just wash my hands again normally .
Jeff H said:
I did use Dawn. Then (in order of memory, not application), I used hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, oils, dirt, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, witch hazel, baking soda, cascade dishwasher powder, I tried sucking on my fingers, I did a sea salt rub, milk, I did a shot of whiskey and rubbed the residue on my fingers, man, I know it is supposed to work but it was concentrated evil on my hands. Reaper, BBG7, Primo, Sepia, Scorpion, whew! I normally don't handle things like this but i dropped the sauce soaked cheesecloth I was using to strain and all the goodness (or evil?) inside almost fell out and I caught it before it hit the counter. Didn't touch it for very long but it was too late. It didn't burn at first but kicked in later. Moral of the story? Get some rubber gloves! If you make a mistake and don't do it, I'll stand by the coffee grounds when all else fails. I never used to be sensitive to heat but the last year or so I haven't been able to physically handle even the jalapeno without it burning my hands....lame.
scarekrow said:
Maybe? Anyone willing to be a test subject?
It doesn't take stupid-hots to light up your hands!
I made a great vat of 5 pepper chili yesterday, chock full of chopped-up SW varieties, straight off the plant. Everything was warm to one degree on another, but nothing was more potent than Lumbre and (a lot of) Cayenne. Apart from a mild eye rub moment several hours later, I didn't think too much about it. After poking my eye, did wash my hands and soon went to bed.
Yikes! Around 2am, I awoke with my left hand all lit up. Tingling waves of heat roamed the thin skin on the back of my hand and fingers, concentrating in the cuticle area and places that were recently scraped or otherwise injured. Occasionally an entire finger would slowly warm up, feeling as if it was being immersed in very warm water. I won't call it outright painful, but it is somewhat uncomfortable. Multiple dish soap washes have helped the most, but there's still a bit of prickle left....
I lit up my forehead a few weeks ago, but it was a temporary, sorta-pleasant, experience. Somehow I never really realized that peppers could burn relatively thick skin. Glad to have learned this lesson with relatively mild varieties. I bet soaking your hands in moruga juice is an altogether different experience!
Edit:
24 hours later and I thought I was done with this little adventure. NOPE! A nice warm shower felt like fountaining lava when it hit my hand. The flamage lasted for an hour or so before slowly subsiding. My hand is still tingling a bit - letting me know that it's not yet forgiven my folly.
I made a great vat of 5 pepper chili yesterday, chock full of chopped-up SW varieties, straight off the plant. Everything was warm to one degree on another, but nothing was more potent than Lumbre and (a lot of) Cayenne. Apart from a mild eye rub moment several hours later, I didn't think too much about it. After poking my eye, did wash my hands and soon went to bed.
Yikes! Around 2am, I awoke with my left hand all lit up. Tingling waves of heat roamed the thin skin on the back of my hand and fingers, concentrating in the cuticle area and places that were recently scraped or otherwise injured. Occasionally an entire finger would slowly warm up, feeling as if it was being immersed in very warm water. I won't call it outright painful, but it is somewhat uncomfortable. Multiple dish soap washes have helped the most, but there's still a bit of prickle left....
I lit up my forehead a few weeks ago, but it was a temporary, sorta-pleasant, experience. Somehow I never really realized that peppers could burn relatively thick skin. Glad to have learned this lesson with relatively mild varieties. I bet soaking your hands in moruga juice is an altogether different experience!
Edit:
24 hours later and I thought I was done with this little adventure. NOPE! A nice warm shower felt like fountaining lava when it hit my hand. The flamage lasted for an hour or so before slowly subsiding. My hand is still tingling a bit - letting me know that it's not yet forgiven my folly.