How to Cool Burns from Capsaicin (re: pepper spray)

[eppur_se_muova]

Several people have posted advice for dealing with pepper spray. Bottom line: capsaicin, the active ingredient, is lipophilic, i.e. it dissolves in oils and fats. Detergent, shampoo, or soap will remove it, with lots of water. It should also be removable by fat-containing substances, including dairy products (milk is an emulsion of milkfat in water), or oils such as vegetable oil. Cold cream, yogurt, milk (whole fat best) should all help, with cold cream or yogurt being the most compact. Carry some in a screw-top plastic bottle. Others have pointed out that Milk of Magnesia is effective. MOM contains magnesium hydroxide in suspension. Mg(OH)2 (presumably!) reacts with the weakly acidic phenolic group of capsaicin to make a water-soluble magnesium salt. Zinc oxide might do the same, but should not be ingested. Other bases are too reactive to be safe.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has ever tried suspending MgO in whole milk, or combining MOM with cream or oil and a little baby shampoo, powdered milk, or egg yolk (all emulsifiers). That could be an optimum formula for external relief. MOM and milk/cream/oil can be used internally, but avoid soap or detergent; add a little egg yolk instead (remember that mayonnaise is just vinegar and oil with egg yolk -- maybe we can whip up some "MOMonnaise").

People shouldn't have to be thinking about things like this, but if the cops are going to spray everyone who speaks out, well, we just have to.

http://www.wikihow.com/Cool-Burns-from-Chili-Peppers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_hydroxide

[JDPriestly]

1. K&R to help spread this information.

I don't know enough about pepper spray to vouch for the effectiveness of this advice.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. I'm actually so used to eating extremely hot/spicy food, that I could probably eat pepper spray.

Police grade pepper spray is around 5,000,000 scovile units - commercial grade pepper spray is often a bit less. For reference a Jalapeno is about 5,000 and a Habanero is 100,000-300,000 scoville units.

A scoville unit is a subjective unit of measurement that indicates the amount of sugar water dilution required to no longer taste the heat of a pepper/sauce. For example, if you mix the extract of 1 jalapeno then around 5000 equivalent units of sugar water would be needed to elimate the heat. Yes, at some point in history a panel of people actually sat around and judged how hot peppers were. Nowadays, scientific HPLC analysis used to determine the density of capsaicinoid in a pepper/sauce... 16,000,000 is the maximum hottness that you can get (pure capsaicin crystals).

It's not to difficult to obtain hot sauces that rank up into the millions of scoville - I have a few myself. Over the years I've developed quite a tolerence for spicy food and frequently use hot sauces that rival pepper spray in heat on just about any food. One of these days I'll have to try some actual pepper spray as a condiment... although I'll bet it would taste horrendous. :puke:

Now, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable splashing those sauces in my eyes... :yoiks:
I've accidently got stuff as weak as habanero in my eye and even that was downright painful.

[SoDesuKa]

11. After-Dinner Breath Refresher

Just take a bottle of capsicum spray from your pocket or purse after dinner, turn away momentarily from your companions, open wide and give yourself a blast!

A spray a day! You'll never offend.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. A Maalox solution is also recommended:

Ah, the things we need to know to defend our freedom:

[eppur_se_muova]

5. NIce to see an actual medical study mentioned. Thanks for posting. nt

[marions ghost]

6. I guess protestors will have to use masks

and eye protection.

Maybe that will make it less fun for the cops.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. Also, I would be VERY careful using anything "liquid" to neutralize it.

The problem with water, oil, or alcohol is that if there is an EXCESS of pepper spray in your face or mouth (very likely if you were just SPRAYED) then all your going to do is spread it out before it dilutes to the point where you get relief.

The best initial thing to do for skin/eyes is use CLEAN absorbant towels to dap/wipe excess spray off affected areas. Once used, throw it away and use another new one to continue removing excess spray... the goal is to limit the spread of spray. For the mouth, personally, I would chew a mouthful of dry saltines and then spit them out to absorb and remove excess capsaicin in the mouth.

Only then would I try any homebrew solutions to relieve the burning. But to be honest, in all my years of loving the hottest foods I could find, the best relief I've ever found for mouth/nose/eyes is letting the eyes/mouth naturall water and then waiting.

[Sirveri]

7. Swimming goggles should work too.

Too bad they interfere with my glasses.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. There are prescription goggles

:-)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. A college classmate who was a missionary kid in India recommended

dairy products to cool off excessive peppers.

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. Cucumber yoghurt, "raita"...

[vidalarosa]

12. How to Cool Burns from Capsaicin (re: pepper spray)

basically place affected area under running water