Oh the burn!

[Starlight]

What is the best way to get hot pepper juice off the hands? The other day I had a huge tray full of hot peppers. About 30 each of Chocolate habanero, Poblano and Mammoth Jalapenos I was de-seeding for the swap and to save.

I had gloves on and they were juicy peppers, the skins. Then the phone rang and went to answer it and started removing one glove with the other and didn't realize that some of the pepper oil from the one glove got down inside on my hand until later when the burn came on.

Wrist, palm and thumb burned so bad, I cried and they blistered. Now I tried washing hand multiple times with antibiotic dish soap, soaked hand in ice cold milk and tried to wash hand with it, soaked in plain ice water and even tried using some shampoo and cream rinse herbal to try and get hand to stop hurting.

Took over a day of pain and misery before I tried old remedy from when we was kids and got bee stings and that was baking soda paste. It finally killed the pain and finally the blisters have healed though still have a couple of tender spots.

So what do you use if you get hot pepper juice on hands to stop the burn? Is there a method that works fast to stop the pain?

What really topped the cake is after all that by the time I got to phone it was a junk call. grrrr

[Labradors2]

I had a similar problem when saving seeds from a "sweet" pepper that turned out to be a "hot" pepper. My hands still hurt the following morning, and that was after multiple hand washings.

I read that dish-washing liquid can help, as well as milk, and I thought that milky kefir did help when I applied some. However, it sounds as if my pepper was a lot milder than yours.

Linda

[imp]

Maybe something formulated for poisen ivy, since that is also caused by the oil? Calamine?

[AlittleSalt]

The baking soda paste works some. You have already mentioned some that I have tried. Maybe mineral oil? - I haven't tried it yet. For some reason, and old commercial popped up in my had - Palmolive dish soap "Your hands are soaking in it" is the phrase I remember most.

I can give advice on what not to do. When hot pepper juice gets under your fingernails - using an old toothbrush only irritates it more.

[Salsacharley]

I've found that frequently handling the hot peppers helps condition your skin so they don't burn. I get to that state deep into the harvest time but getting there is painful. I use ice. Be sure not to rub your nose or eyes when you have gloves on or not. Talk about agony! (not to mention other delicate body parts).

[pondgardener]

You can scroll through some of the postings on the link below...maybe one might work.

http://www.chowhound.com/post/rid-st...-613320?page=2

George

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

I had a similar problem when saving seeds from a "sweet" pepper that turned out to be a "hot" pepper. My hands still hurt the following morning, and that was after multiple hand washings.

I read that dish-washing liquid can help, as well as milk, and I thought that milky kefir did help when I applied some. However, it sounds as if my pepper was a lot milder than yours.

Linda

Those are the sneaky peppers. The ones you think are sweet and turn out to be hot. I just gave away a mini yellow that was supposed to have been sweet, but the seed I got must have been crossed. While the peppers looked so cute they had some heat.

Usually even with sweets, I will cut and touch a tiny part to my tongue to make sure it is sweet before popping the whole thing into my mouth. That way it easy usually with just some milk or coffee to stop the sting.

What is milky kefir? Never heard of it before.

Originally Posted by imp

Maybe something formulated for poisen ivy, since that is also caused by the oil? Calamine?

I didn't think of the Calamine lotion and I do have some. Got a huge patch of poison ivy that I thought I had removed over the winter, but guess I missed some cuz it's back and spreading.

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

The baking soda paste works some. You have already mentioned some that I have tried. Maybe mineral oil? - I haven't tried it yet. For some reason, and old commercial popped up in my had - Palmolive dish soap "Your hands are soaking in it" is the phrase I remember most.

I can give advice on what not to do. When hot pepper juice gets under your fingernails - using an old toothbrush only irritates it more.

That sounds painful. Thankfully it didn't get under my nails. I would have really climbed the walls then.

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

I've found that frequently handling the hot peppers helps condition your skin so they don't burn. I get to that state deep into the harvest time but getting there is painful. I use ice. Be sure not to rub your nose or eyes when you have gloves on or not. Talk about agony! (not to mention other delicate body parts).

You would think that as much as the hands are in the dirt and everything else that they would get tough, but I guess some of them peppers burn no matter what.

Originally Posted by pondgardener

You can scroll through some of the postings on the link below...maybe one might work.

http://www.chowhound.com/post/rid-st...-613320?page=2

George

Guess I'm not the only one to get "burned." Thanks for the link. Lots of suggestions on that site.
Everything from Yogurt, bleach( think that would burn worse), rubbing withoil and salt, to peanut butter and acne medicine. Seen several comments about using mayo/miracle whip. Think I may smear my hand with some mayo now and see if it gets rid of the red tender spots I still have.


Think I'll use double gloves next time and change gloves more often instead of doing big batches at once. That way I can take the ones with pepper oil off first and hopefully not have problems again.

The entire time my hand was burning all I could think about and wonder is how those of you that eat the hot peppers ( I just grow them) could have a stomach and innards left. No wonder you see folks with foreheads sweating like crazy and turning red.

[Worth1]

I rarely ever get burned messing with peppers.
The one time I did was when I used my thumbnail to scrape out the veins and seeds on some.
It feels like but not the same as getting Nitric acid under your mails which I have.

Worth

[kchd..]

I've had good luck rubbing my hands with olive oil, then lathering up with dish soap (no water). Make a really good lather with the oil+soap mix, then rinse with water.

I'll also suggest nitrile gloves rather than latex gloves. You shouldn't have any oil get thru nitrile.

[dmforcier]

Yeah. Katie got to you first. She's right. Capsaicin is a dense, almost waxy substance like whatever they put in poison ivy, and extremely hard to get off - or out of - skin. Try the oil/soap mix, and scrub with a brush. Rinse, repeat. Again.

When seeding really hot peppers, I have had good luck not using gloves (which inevitably develop knife-shaped holes), but instead dipping my "holding" fingers in oil - usually olive oil. Seems to prevent the capsaicin penetrating the skin.

For research, try googling "hunan hands".

[MarianneW]

I spray the area of my hand with avocado oil from my aerosol sprayer and rub it in good and then rub on dish soap real good, then rinse. You may need to do it a few times but it does work.

[Labradors2]

Starlight,

Those sneaky peppers were probably the result of a cross! I never suspected that it would be hot!

Kefir is a probiotic drink, rather like buttermilk. I figured that if yoghurt works, kefir should work too.....

Linda

[KarenO]

Olive oil then dish soap.
the real lesson though is caution. these peppers are actually capable of causing serious harm if the oil gets in contact with delicate areas, eyes for example. Gloves, I use 2 pair of medical gloves personally and that is just for my mild by comparison paprika, wax and cayenne peppers. I do not grow the superhots as I consider them inedible to my taste.
KarenO

[AlittleSalt]

(Slightly off-topic) To avoid this I use vinyl gloves * but first I put on a thick layer of baby powder on my hands up past my wrists. I'm not sure if the baby powder helps keep the pepper juices off my skin or not? What I use it for is so I can get the vinyl gloves on without tearing them.

* I use vinyl gloves because I'm allergic to latex. They're just as cheap - we buy them at Dollar Tree.

[Worth1]

Welding gloves and hood.

Worth