HELP......fingers are burning from cutting jalapenos. Remedies?
Hi!
I just chopped some jalapenos today and now my fingertips are burning quite badly.
Anybody know of any remedies? Looked online but found nothing. Maybe I'm not putting in the right search words.
I'm not sure where to post this message so put in in this board.
Cheers,
gtrekker2003
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LIME JUICE worked great for me! Thanks Jessica (May 3, 2012 entry) for the suggestion!! Yesterday was my second time cutting jalapenos. The first time there were no issues, but this time within a half-hour of touching the oil, my finger tips felt hot. The sensation gradually increased. Within 2-hours I couldn’t handle it any more: they felt like they were on fire and the fire was getting hotter. I panicked a little, but then thought someone else must have had this happen and will know what works. I googled ‘jalapeno juice on skin, ‘ and here I am. I read several entries and decided to go with the lime juice idea. At first I just squeezed the lime juice onto my fingers, but then slathered the remnants of the slice all over my finger tips to make sure I got all the exposed surfaces. After letting it dry there was still a bit of heat left. About 10-15 minutes later I repeated the process and after that…VOILA…HEAT GONE! Thank you so much for all your suggestions!
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I was cutting bell peppers and absently minded grabbed the jalapenos and began cutting them. After the 3rd one, my fingers began burning. I immediately stopped and scrubbed my hands with Softsoap Kitchen soap which is citrus based and rinsed with really hot water. 90% of the burning is gone. It still burns a little(2 out of 10) under my thumb nail. I'll definitely remember to be more mindful of what I'm chopping next time and put the gloves on!
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One time I cut jalapeños for a stuffed appetizer. I was not wearing gloves and didn't realize the juices and oils were still on my hands. About four hours later, after I had probably washed my hands 20 times, I took out my contacts-- it was horrible! I finally just used some eye makeup remover to try and get it off my eyes- worked like a charm. Then, I took not even a hot shower, just warm. My hands were burning like none other.
Rubbing alcohol does work for instant, temporary relief. Fatty dairy products work very well too. Just make sure that you try to keep away from warm water-- it's best if you do these things just after cutting jalapeños, for some preventative action. Or better yet, just remember gloves!!! Looking dorky may just save you a lot of pain in a few hours! -
I finally found a solution after an hour's plus ordeal with the chilli burn. Thanks to this website and others, I found many suggested remedies that I immediately tried out of desperation. Unfortunately, the ones that I tried didn't worked for me.
I started soaking my hands with milk, then alcohol, then white vinegar, then baking soda with water. I even tried soaking it in whisky but nothing. No Vaseline or sour cream at home either.
THEN I found a lemon in the fridge. Squeezed the juice by hand into a mug and took turns to soak each hand in it for about 15 mins. This seemed to have helped a little, but hands were still stinging.
I decided to try the baking soda again, this time pouring it straight onto each palm, then dipping it straight into the lemon juice such that it created some form of effervescence. Soak soak soak.It worked like a charm! I did it repeatedly just to make sure I got every tinge of burning, and I have to say I'm now 99% better.
Perhaps it was a combination of all of the above that I had tried or maybe it was just the last attempt (the effervescence) that worked. I'm just glad I'm rid of that horrible fire burning sensation and I hope this helps someone. ;)
I would think other than lemon, the combination of baking soda and vinegar or lime would work as well.
Good luck!
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Chopped a jalapeno today and OMG the burn! I tried everything each of y'all suggested except the urine. Ugh! I even tried zinc oxide for burns and prep-H. Lastly, I halved a tomato and got a bit of relief, but back the pain came. I decided to go for the urine when my hubby suggested katsup. MAGIC!!! Soaked my fingers about 15 minutes. Cured,after hours of agony. Now off to purchase rubber gloves.
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I had always used disposable gloves when handling peppers in the past, but I was in a hurry this time. Won't do that again. Ouch!! Alcohol worked for me but still had some burning hours later. I dug out the gloves after the fact to keep from contaminating other parts of my body (bathroom). I'm guessing a snug fitting disposable glove could be used when taking out contact lenses too. Anyone try that?
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My 12 yr old son grew Cayenne peppers as a science fair project-got an 'A'. We just went out to look at them, one was getting wrinkled/ old so he picked it, opened it, took out the seeds, put them back in the soil.
Needless to say, he starts yelling that his eyelids are on fire, as well as his nose and forehead. I googled this, found this post!
Thank you all for the posts. Tried vaseline, then sour cream, the Afterbite stick, then lemon juice. Not sure if it was the juice, or if by then all the above mentioned remedies had taken off some of the cayenne oil. I did have him put his head way back so the juice did not run into his eyes as the Afterbite liquid got in his eyes and really hurt he said. Now, He says, Thanks Mom!! He says it is completely gone, hooray!!
I did caution him not to go to the bathroom any time soon!
I also advised him to tell anyone he gives his peppers to, to WEAR gloves!! Thanks again, you are a lifesaver!!›1 Reply-
re: MargaretMi
You have to love Chowhound. Just pickled some jalepenos. I was wearing gloves but they were thin. I tried the sour cream, then put on a pair of gloves and poured half and half into the gloves and let my hands soak. This helped a bit. I then tried the hot water - no better - then the lime juice - no better. Finally, I tried ammonia (1 part ammonia, 4 parts water. This seems to have done the trick. It is 80% better. Thanks everyone!
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I had a major case of Hunan hand last year. I cut up jalapenos, serranos, habaneros, etc. all the time, never wear gloves, and never have a problem unless I touch my eyes. I just make sure to wash my hands well and avoid touching my eyes for a couple hours, but my hands don't ever burn. But last year I had about 60 bhut jolokias and probably another 60 or so of various habanero or hotter peppers to process (cut off stem, deseed, and cut in half to dry in the dehydrator). My first thought was that I should definitely put on some gloves for that kind of volume, but I looked and didn't have any. I really didn't feel like driving to the store, so I decided to just try to avoid touching the inside of the peppers, not touch my face, and then wash my hands well.
I processed them all, washed my hands, and sat down to watch some TV. At this point there was a slight burning sensation but nothing major. And then it started to build, and build, and build over about 30 minutes. At this point it became excruciating, like my hand was literally in a fire. I tried everything...washing, vinegar, bleach, lime juice, sugar, honey, milk, even crushing up benadryl and aspirin and rubbing them all over my hands, nothing helped for very long. Finally, I got a bowl of ice water and submerged my hand in it. I would pull it out for about 5 seconds before the pain came completely back, then put it back in. The pain would also return if I just left my hand in the water, I had to pull it out and re submerge it over and over and add ice every 45 minutes or so This went on for about 8 hours and now it was time for bed, but there's no way I could fall asleep with my hand throbbing like this and having to pull my hand out of the water and put it back in every 30 seconds. So I took some sleeping pills and some benadryl. Finally, I somehow managed to fall asleep, and when I woke up the next day my hand was back to normal.
Moral of the story is...wear gloves. :o
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Hi! I cored and deseeded jalapeños last night without gloves and tried every remedy I could find online. The milk soothed as long as my hands were soaking and the alcohol worked as long as it was still wet and drying on my hands. My mother_in_law suggested rubbing Mylanta onto them. It worked like a charm! I just washed them in warm water, dried them and rubbed the antacid in like it was lotion and let it dry. I felt I should share after such an unbelieveably painful experience in the hopes that it might be helpful to the next person searching for relief. Hope it helps.
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I keep telling everyone I know that the quickest way to stop the burning is to use one of the many bug bite sticks that have ammonia in them are the best. I used one called AfterBite, and just rubbed it up and down each finger and the rest of my hand. Within seconds it stopped burning.
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Sugar worked really well for me. I mixed sugar and vegetable oil in a bowl, until it was like a sugar scrub. Then I spend like 15-20 minutes just rubbing my hand through that. I don't know if it was the sugar, the oil, or the exfoliation that worked, but it worked perfectly. Beforehand my hand was burning so badly that I couldn't stop shaking it, and that completely took it away. I even worked a bunch of sugar under my nails, and that stopped the burning there. My fingers were also super smooth afterwards, as a plus.
All of the liquid solutions didn't work on me. It is like 100 degrees in my apartment right now, and I feel like that have made a difference - all the liquids in my house were pretty warm/hot.
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Had this happen to me for the first time today. Three jalapeño peppers and my fingers/hands were burning for six hours (starting about an hour after I finished mincing). I usually wear disposable gloves but didn't have any in the house. After a lot of reading online, I saw a post regarding Vaseline having given fairly instant relief ... I tried Aquaphor and it worked great! In less than ten minutes the burning sensation diminished significantly and it continued to abate further after that.
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LIME JUICE!!!!! I cut 6 jalapenos (first time cutting hot peppers) in half and made poppers, two fingers on one hand started burning like hot oil, I figured that was what it was and did butter and ice it gave some relief but not much. Then under my fingernail started to burn and I realized it was the peppers, I tried oil, cold water, milk, cream, sour cream,fresh lemon, and even the hot water thing, and scrubbed with soap a million times. Nothing worked. Finally i found a bottle of lime juice and BAM instant relief and had to put a little more on one spot about a half hour later. Thank you everyone! I will use gloves next time!
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I've only cut up jalapeno peppers once before. My fingers burned slightly for a short time, it was mostly annoying. This evening is a whole different story! The burn started slow and consistently increased. At one point I thought I may have to go to hospital. My husband and I jumped on our computers and found this sight. Lots of good (and tried) remedies. But what worked for me was the most unlikely. My husband was on his way to pharmacy to pick up some recommended medicine when I found a few honorable mentions about TOMATOES. I was game. I put a sliced tomato in a bowl and started massaging my hand with them. Instant, I mean instant, relief. I was dumbfounded. HOME REMEDIES ARE THE BEST. It has been 2 hours since I first started this. There is still a little burn and I've gone through 1 1/2 tomatoes but nothing else helped. Everything else increased the pain. Everyone is different so if you find yourself in this same situation (and if you are reading this then you have) try everything until you find the one that fits you!
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mucho gordo
Dec 25, 2011 10:58 AM
I'm nmot sure of a remedy but DON'T; I repeat, DON"T attempt to urinate until the problem is solved.
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Ive tried everything every one has said i mean everything and nothing has helped. And right now im about to seriously just cry of how bad the pain is. I feel like my hand is fire!!!! I was making a pico de gallo with serrano peppers like 7my hrs ago and the pain had gone away but it came back and now i dont know what to do.
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OMG thank you for all the responses. I have peeled many a green chili, but I did some jalapenos today.... I tried so many of the suggestions, what worked is running hot water over my hands till I was crying, then poured amonia on my hands. I now think I might be able to go to bed and sleep.... I still have some slight burning in between my fingers, but I think I will be able to survive! My first mistake on this and it will never happen again! I signed up on this web site just to thank everyone for their ideas and suggestions. I am not sure what I would have done without all the help. Happy cooking!
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I cut about 20 jalapenos and scraped all the seeds to save. I stuffed them with cheese and wrapped bacon around them. Within minute the tops of my fingers were on fire. I put beer, Then orange juice then milk and Aloe and hydrocortisone and then resorted to my hands in a bowl with ice. Finally I peed on my hands. Instant relief..
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TRY PEPPERMINT EXTRACT. I just made the same mistake and am glad to find this post. I tried some of the advised remedies such as rubbing alcohol and bleach. They helped to a certain degree but my fingers began to burn again so I had to put aloe vera on every few minutes. Fortunately, I remembered accidentally getting peppermint extract on my hands and how it felt extremely cool and soothing. So I put about a tbsp of peppermint on my fingers and hands and rubbed it all around before it evaporated. (this also has alcohol in it which may help)
After doing this, some parts of my hands like in-between my fingers and my nails were still burning so I added a little more. Now my hands are not burning at all. I cannot believe it. Anyway, I'm not sure if Peppermint would have worked this well had I not done the alcohol and bleach. I think that may have cut down the burning, but the peppermint has completely eliminated it. Hope this helps for anyone else looking for a solution to this very painful problem. I'll be using gloves next time :) -
Cinnabon
Jun 5, 2011 11:40 PM
Wow so many replies, interesting suggestions milk, sour cream, lime, rubbing alcohol and hmm urine. What still works best for me after slicing chiles is cutting a tomato and rubbing the tomato on my hands and fingers. It's worked for me as I've need my fingers to remove my contact lens, no more burning etc.
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Get one of those sticks that you use for insect bites. It smells like it has ammonia in it. The one I have is called AFTER BITE. Apply it to all fingers really good. Burning will stop instantly. I did this once and was actually in tears from the burning. I was trying everything and finally tried this. Couldn't believe how quickly it worked. Good Luck.
I just read the post about the woman who peed on her hands and got relief. Urine also has ammonia in it, so I guess it would be safe to say that ammonia is the key. -
Oh my god! I thought I was crazy before I read this but I'm obviously not the only one. I'm glad I found this. Of course on Cinco de Mayo I decided to cook stuffed jalapeno peppers around 9pm. To deseed them I just used a knife to cut out the seeds. I held the jalapeno in my left hand and the knife in my right. A few times while I cut out the out the center, I sliced through the jalapeno and the juice of the pepper dripped on my hand. I had chopped jalapenos before, so I didn't even think they were that hot, much less did I stop to think to wash my hands. I cooked the peppers then took them out. I had intended on eating 2 stuffed jalapenos but I could only suffer through 1. I was shocked at how hot these were. After I drank some water to soothe my mouth, I fell asleep around 11pm. And around midnight I woke up in bed feeling this burning, tingling in my hand. I thought I slept on it and it fell asleep so I just started to open and close my hand to wake it up and I waited for the burning sensation to transform into the pins and needles feeling that happens when your limb is waking up. NOTHING. After the burning didn't go away I started to panic, thinking, "my hand is on FIRE and there is no actual fire!" I thought, "is my hand burning from eating a jalapeno?" then I thought "no! it's from cutting the jalapeno!" I reached for my phone and google searched this exact post. As soon as I read "lime juice", I thought, "That's it!" I jumped up and ran to the kitchen, flew open the refrigerator and whipped out my bag of limes. I dumped the limes out of the bag on to the counter, ripped out a knife and sliced one of the limes in half. I immediately started to scrub half the lime on my hand. I got so scared, I scrubbed harder and harder, then I squeezed really hard on the lemon and poured the juice on my hand. The burning was gone like a miracle! So then I turned the water on so that I could "wash off" all of the pepper residue, stupidly washing off the lime juice. I strutted back to bed, like "well, that could have been bad", I pulled the covers over me and finally started to slip back into a coma. Not even 30 seconds later, I popped open my eyes and grabbed my phone again to read this thread. My hand was on fire 10x more than before I did the lime. Thank God there are 91 replies to this, because by the time I had finished reading everything looking for relief, the pain had gone away. So needless to say, if nothing else works, just read all of these replies! 12 hours later there is still a tiny burning sensation in my palm but it is no where near as bad as last night. I hope this capsaicin chemical didn't do any damage to my poor little hand :(
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I JUST did this but I had washed my hands, no problems, then touched my nose thinking i was in the clear. WRONG. My nose hurts soooo bad right now. I keep on putting on cream and yogurt (it's the closest I have to sour cream!) and it helps a little but not for long. I am going to try lime next. The fact that it's on my nose makes the whole bleach thing a little more complicated.....
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Hi,
This question of yours really helped. I not only burnt my fingers but later went went to toilet and peed...now my private part was burning. i dont drink alcohol and so there was some wine that was gifted which i opened and poured it over my fingers and my private parts ...
so much relief...thanks
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Parigi
Sep 4, 2010 06:40 AM
1. Wash your hands thoroughly. You may want to rub them on a large piece of lemon, whcih is very effective in detaching food remnants.
2. Dry hands thoroughly.
3. Pour medicated powder all over hands and rub. Medicated powder is the most instantly effective product against itch and irritation that i know of. -
my hands were both completely on fire. I tried every type of handwashing imaginable, from soap and water, to rinsing in bleach, to coating with yogurt, etc., nothing helped. Finally, realizing that the oils were already too deep in the skin to be washed off, I tried Benadryl. I took 3 capsules, kept my hands in cool water as I waited for the medicine to take affect. and witin the hour, it was finally gone. The Benadryl helped me sleep and I have been burn free for the past 48 hours. You can still see the red streaks of burn inside my palms, but the pain is gone!! whew!!
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I had THE WORST burns ever! I had blisters on my fingers from canning habeneros and cherry peppers. Yes, I did use gloves, but they were paper thin. I tryed milk, yogurt, sour cream, vegetable oil, lime juice, rubbing alcohol, caladryl, baking soda and vinegar. Vegetable oil worked for maybe a half hour......but the only thing that saved me was baking soda and caladryl ( the stuff you use for poison Ivy) I remember that my mother used baking soda for bee stings, mix baking soda with a little bit of water and make into a paste, place on the burn and let it harden. Then pour caladryl over it, wraped with gauze. (It is messy) I left it on over night. It worked within minutes! If you don't have caladryl just use the baking soda thing...you should have some relief, for a few hours anyway.
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SOUR CREAM! Worked like a charm! I didn't have vegetable oil handy so I tried sour cream--- it felt so good and relieved the pain! I had stemmed and seeded 3 different kinds of peppers, including jalapenos, then rubbed my nose... it was on FIRE. Imagine your face with sour cream on your nose... but I didn't care!
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I've never had an issue with this until tonight and what started it was the fact the chilies were hot from being blanched. Two hours after handling them I though my finger were going to start shooting flames. I washed right after handling them but the hot temp of the chilies had opened my pours and let in the capsicum. My boyfriend suggested soaking them in milk but that just relieved the pain while my hand was in it. So I went to the internet and found this site. I tried vinegar first since I use vinegar for so many other things around the house (I use it to mop my floors even). Very mild relief that lasted maybe ten minutes. Next up sour cream it worked as long as it was cold from the fridge as soon as it warmed up the relief was gone. Now that wouldn't be so bad except I am eight months pregnant with twins and run a 102 degree temp right now. I heated the sour cream up in about two minutes. Out of sheer desperation at this point, especially since my boyfriend was ready to run me to the E.R., I tried the most uncomfortable sounding remedy on this list. WASHING IN HOT HOT HOT WATER. I also used Neutrogena no residue shampoo for the soap. This was no a 100% no more pain but over all my hand feels pretty OK now. Yes, it hurt like hell during the washing and I thought I might have scalded myself but the pain is almost gone. I plan on buying a pair of rubber gloves this next shopping trip and labeling them from just work with spicy food from now on. The really funny thing is that the peppers were not even the littlest spicy when we at them.
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re: carollins83
Hi just read all the posts after seeding jalapeno's for the first time I tried all the remedies clorox
milk, soap, alcohol .The two things that worked sour cream and the HOT HOT WATER!!! Wanted to post this I dwelt with the burning for a few hours I never knew it would stay with you so long I thought it would wash right off PLEASE TRY THE SOUR CREAM AND HOT WATER COMBO FIRST the Hot water hurts but is temporary
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I was cutting a jalepeno last night and noticed it was unusually juicy. It actually sprayed a little while I was cutting it. Within 10 mins my fingers were on fire. I tried washing them with dishsoap, but that only made it worse. I soaked them in white vinegar, but the relief was temporary. I then tried milk, baking soda, bleach, and rubbing alchohol. All of which only provided relief for about a minute. Company arrived then so I got thru the night by soaking my fingers in a ice water bath. It felt good while my fingers were in it, but definitely made the pain worse once I took my hand out. A guest suggested aloe, but that didn't work, another said honey, which, you guessed it, didn't work. By midnight everyone had gone home and I was getting desperate to get some relief so I could go to sleep. Sadly sleep is difficult to come by when your hand is ON FIRE.
I tried a rubbing sour cream on my hand which did work well until it dried on my hand and then the relief was over. I finally in desperation tried the thing I had been avoiding all night. I peed on my hand. That's right folks, I PEED on my hand. The relief was instant. I let the urine sit on my hand for about a minute and then I washed my hands really, really well. I was afraid after I washed them that the pain would come back but it never did. I slept fine all night and woke up this morning with no pain at all. -
I just thought the rules of common sense didn't apply to me, tonight, when I was chopping jalapenos for ceviche. I KNOW I'm supposed to wear gloves, but I didn't have any...besides..I washed my hands before I scratched my EYE!!!
.....yeah, uh huh.....
I instinctively grabbed the milk jug, doused a towel and threw it on my eye. While I screamed and swore, my husband "googled' a remedy and found this site!!
Within a couple of minutes, the worst of the burn was gone!! The milk REALLY worked!!! Thanks for the affirmation.
...and I WILL have gloves, next time!! -
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meatn3
Nov 25, 2009 05:21 PM
I've never had my hands burn after handling peppers until tonight. I chopped one very, very mild jalapeno. Two hours later, after cooking, eating and hand washing the dishes the palm side of my fingers and cuticles started burning and throbbing. A short soak in yogurt has diminished it a bit.
I'm glad I remembered seeing this thread!
It seems like the dish washing opened the pores and let the oil work into my skin. My fingers had been fine until then...
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vorpal
Sep 20, 2009 11:43 AM
Interesting post! I generally consider myself to have extremely sensitive skin (if I rub myself even lightly, my skin is red for quite some time afterwards), but I don't have much problems with chillies. I regularly chop Thai chillies with my bare hands and while there is some burning, I never found it particularly distressing, and not enough to bother wearing gloves during the process. Now, the one time I chopped chillies and some time later tried to take out contact lenses was horrific! That's a lesson that only took once to learn.
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re: Cinnabon
buttertart
Nov 4, 2009 09:37 AM
I found recently that a slice of cucumber held to my eye took away the sting immediately (was making a Chinese salad that called for both, fortunately).
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I chopped some peppers today and then took the edge of the knife to scrape the seeds off of my fingers. Big Mistake!!!!!!!!! About an hour later my left hand was on fire. I had to sit with it wrap in a freezer pack. Then my friend called to ask me something, and I in turn asked her if she knew of anything to get rid of this burning. She said to use ammonia. Did not have any of course, but did have one of those insect bite sticks which has ammonia in it. Rubbed it all over fingers and in between. What a difference. Burning is totally gone. Had to do it twice, but it did the trick. I'm telling you I was almost in tears.
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re: sprybird
mr jig
Sep 18, 2009 12:38 PM
I have no reason to dispute anyone's reported experience but i have the skin of a baby, not having done anything manual since leaving the USMC 50+ years ago and have never had a burn from an edible pepper.
Rub eyes =pain.
Touch genitals = pain
Skin of hands =no pain.
I am truly aghast and curious.I seek clarification...
dick-
re: mr jig
buttertart
Nov 4, 2009 09:40 AM
I'm with you on this, I don't remember my hands burning particularly except if I've cut a million chilis at a time (I use a Kyocera slicer if slicing them thinly). Eyes, etc., ouch.
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Cinnabon
Jun 7, 2009 06:20 PM
tomatoes, slice up a tomato and rub your fingers and hands with this.
I wear contact lens and found out the hard way I still had habanero, jalapeno and ortega chili stuff embed in my fingers. I remember a friend telling me about this and it worked. In a pinch I've also used canned whole tomatoes
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This is from Wikipedia:
Treatment after exposure
The primary treatment is removal from exposure. Contaminated clothing should be removed and placed in airtight bags to prevent secondary exposure. Capsaicin could be washed off the skin using soap, shampoo, or other detergents, or rubbed off with oily compounds such as vegetable oil, paraffin oil, petroleum jelly (Vaseline), creams, or polyethylene glycol. Plain water, as well as home remedies such as vinegar, bleach, sodium metabisulfite, or topical antacid suspensions are ineffective in removing capsaicin.Burning and pain symptoms can be effectively relieved by cooling, e.g., from ice, cold water, cold bottles, cold surfaces, or a flow of air from wind or a fan. In severe cases, eye burn might be treated symptomatically with topical ophthalmic anesthetics; mucous membrane burn with lidocaine gel. Capsaicin-induced asthma might be treated with nebulized bronchodilators or oral antihistamines or corticosteroids.[24]
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I have the answer for you all. I tried all of your suggestions, but was still in agony. I found another site where someone had called poison control for this problem. The answer was running your hands under as warm/hot water as you could stand. This will open up your pores and cause them to expel the jalapeno oil.
I tried a million things tonight, and this one finally worked. It was VERY uncomfortable to use the remedy...but it beats burning skin all night long!
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re: rjhjbaca
thank y'all SO much! My hands were burning for HOURS and if I took them out of cold water it was instantly hurting again, I tried yogurt, milk, baking soda, Almond and olive oil, Ice water, Lime juice, and rubbing alcohol, they only gave me relief for a little while, I was in horrible pain, almost in tears at points, But I tried the hot water thing, I slowly got it hotter and hotter from the tap, I got it as hot as I could and by the time I finished and dried my hands the pain had stopped and now about 10 minutes later they're barley stinging!! I'll be able to sleep for a busy day tomorrow :) Thank Y'all SOOOO much!! :D
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I usually can slice jalapenos without using gloves. I am careful not to touch my eyes after I do so. Not today. I just sliced 6 jalapenos that set my hands on fire. I used cold water and ice cold milk with no relief. I had just purchased some sour cream yesterday so after reading some of the posts here I figured that was the least chemically invasive way to stop the burn. I slathered the sour cream like cold creme, well actually it even looked that way. It was immediate relief. Just don't stick your hands back in water for awhile or they will start to burn again, I had to retreat again because I did. .I put some plastic gloves I had on top of that for a little while. Next time I will use the gloves I already had. Thanks for the tip for pain relief. I was making Campechana and used the fresh jalapenos in the recipe for flavor. Wow, were they hot!
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re: alaskanellie
mr jig
Jan 1, 2009 11:48 AM
This thread is amazing.
Eyes yes, mouth somewhat, genitals yes, inside of nose yes, but hands never.
Not only have i never had a reaction on hand skin but not to any skin save those areas mentioned.
All my friends cook and none bother with latex gloves ,though we all avoid handling
our "sensitive areas" before a good wash.I had no idea prior to this thread that the comparatively mild jalapeno could irritate
hands.
Live and learn.
dick-
re: mr jig
Das Ubergeek
Jan 3, 2009 07:04 AM
Gabachos who don't ever cut up chile peppers can be burned even by poblanos (the kind of fresh mild chile used for chiles rellenos and chiles en nogada).
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re: alaskanellie
KaimukiMan
May 3, 2009 07:40 AM
when i lived in seoul a friend's mom came to make winter kimchee for us (fall harvest kim-chee). she was so happy that we let her use rubber gloves because when she made it at home her husband would not let her wear gloves, he said he could taste the rubber in the kim chee. the poor woman's hands would be red and irritated for days afterwards.
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Beach Chick
Sep 20, 2008 10:18 PM
I use the Aloe Vera Gel with Aloe Vera and Lidocaine..mainly for sunburns.
I am such a jalapeno/serrano freak and for me..it works wonders!›1 Reply -
wow, i did the same thing yesterday and found all these replies, but I think I have found the ultimate savior! It's called "Bactine"...it's a burn spray. You may need to reapply for a couple of hours, but it was INSTANT relief. It was the best thing ever...hope this helps! Happy hot peppering!
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The best bet is to get the disposable latex/or rubber gloves that they use in medical offices since they aren't as awkward as the cleaning type. I learned the hard way. I didn't really feel the burn on my hands, but later on when I took out my contact lenses I was in pain...
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re: MrsT
revsharkie
Nov 6, 2007 08:34 PM
They sell those latex gloves at the variety store here something like ten for a buck. But I found that if I was doing a lot of peppers, the gloves only protected up to a point. After awhile my fingers still burned a little bit. Soaking in milk works.
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re: revsharkie
RShea78
May 3, 2009 01:10 AM
>>They sell those latex gloves at the variety store here something like ten for a buck.<<
One can also check the first aid section of drug stores for latex or latex free gloves.
>>But I found that if I was doing a lot of peppers, the gloves only protected up to a point.<<
Light duty latex gloves may allow for permeation of the juices found in hot peppers. Not for sure if those latex free gloves would be any better(?).
Likely one would need a thicker glove, but a chemical resistant glove may be overkill.
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re: RShea78
Some types of the thicker gloves do work. There's a Americanized Mexican chain here who has a food challenge of trying a drop of what they call the world's hottest hot sauce, and the person who handles the bottle wears says that the thick gloves do help keep any splashes from the sauce from hitting her skin.
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Pollo
Oct 30, 2007 09:37 PM
Put your fingers in yogurt....and by all means do not touch any other parts of your body....and if you go to the bathroom be especially careful.....
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re: Pollo
mucho gordo
Sep 22, 2010 03:14 PM
been there; done that. How do you dunk your,,,,,,,,,,in some of these remedies? Sheer agony for a while.
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I am SOOOOOOOO thankful I found this tonight! I was cutting up jalipenos tonight to go with dinner and just pulling them out of the jar bare handed(i've done this part before) and an hour later my fingures where burning like crazy!!! I've never had that happen before....I made a comment to my hubby about soaking them in milk and he thought I was crazy! The sour cream works better than I would imagine the milk would have......a little messy and hard to type one handed but NO MORE PAIN!!!!!! Thanks to everyone who posted on here
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Will Owen
Feb 27, 2007 08:07 PM
I cannot believe that nobody has offered the one best suggestion: RUBBER GLOVES. They are cheap, they are easy to use, they turn your hands into invulnerable, invincible Power Talons. With rubber gloves on, you can peel a freshly boiled potato, scrape the skin off of a beet freshly out of the oven, hold down chiles while cutting them into tiny slivers. Something under four bucks will get you a two-pack of yellow Playtex gloves with a cotton lining, not so thick as to be clumsy, but thick enough and comfortable enough to keep your fingers up out of the truly rough stuff.
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re: Will Owen
spabettie
Jan 12, 2012 07:30 AM
ha - Power Talons.
next time I work with a large amount of chile arbol I will definitely wear gloves. I spent an hour YESTERDAY working with them and this morning my hands STILL hurt. oof. they were dried - I had no idea it would be that bad.
usually I can handle fresh peppers fine, jalapenos, etcetera... this was probably the quantity, though!
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HillJ
Feb 26, 2007 04:24 PM
This might sound crazy but the only remedy that worked for me was MUD.
My husband brought in a pail of dirt and added cold water to create a paste.
He covered my entire hand in the MUD, which was cool and helped the hot sting.
I kept the mud pack on for an hour, rinsed it off and was able to tolerate the remaining but much less intense burning feeling. By the following day it was gone.›2 Replies-
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re: rworange
HillJ
Apr 29, 2009 10:56 AM
I still have no idea why it works. My Dad, rest his soul, was always healing with things from the earth. Truth be told, I'm more my Mother's daughter, in that today-I would grab a handy container of greek yogurt for a burn before I would think to grab some dirt and make mud. But, memories are what count!
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Thanks to everyone for the info. I've been handling chiles for years and thought I was immune. NOT! Burned my hands to the max last night and though the pain had diminished somewhat overnight, it flared back up with a vengeance while wearing rubber gloves today at work. Have been soaking my hands in whole milk on and off for an hour or so now and it really seems to be helping! I will never again be so foolish as to not wear gloves. Totally preventable suffering! Why would this happen how when I've been doing it for years without consequence?
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re: kburson
Gio
Feb 26, 2007 04:37 PM
I'm going to venture to say that these chiles were a different variety than what you have been used to. Perhaps they were even grown in a different soil than previous peppers.
By the same token organic onions cause far more reaction than non-organic ones.
I sympathize with your pain - lesson learned, unfortunately, the hard way.
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I keep a bottle of hand sanitizer, which is mostly alcohol, next to the sink and apply it liberally to my hands, especially my finger tips, immediately after chopping jalapenos. Then I wash my hands with soap and water. This works well for me. But note this is to prevent a burn, but is not appropriate to cure a burn.
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RShea78
Jan 12, 2007 08:26 PM
Stay away from bleach or alcohol. Your dealing with chemical burn and playing with other chemicals isn't wise. Wood alcohol also can be absorbed through already inflamed skin leading to all kinds of toxic possibilites. One of which one is blindness.
Perhaps without commenting any further you should consult a doctor and maybe you require a script for some burn cream.
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Not sure if this was pointed out already, but by the time you're in pain and it's hours later, the damage is done: your skin has a chemical burn just like if you burned it on a stove, so all you can do now is help it heal (assuming you've washed thoroughly so the burning agent is no longer on your skin).
As everyone mentioned, be sure to protect your hands next time.
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Found out long ago that water does no good at putting out the fire in mouth from hot chiles. But also found that milk (or sour cream, ice cream, yogurt), sugar or honey took care of it pretty dang quick.
I guess if I burned my hands preparing chiles, I'd soak them in milk, at least 2% if not whole.
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hotoynoodle
Jan 9, 2007 03:09 PM
restaurant around here does "hotte than hell night", every few months, and the dishes are just saturated with everything from jalapenos to habaneros. if somebody cries uncle, the antidote is a creamsicle.
something fatty and cold, like sour cream already mentioned above, will do the trick.
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adroit_minx
Jan 9, 2007 05:57 AM
Something similar happened to me once... my fingers are generally immune to oils from hot peppers (from years of heat abuse), so I'm usually not too careful or overly concerned when handling chiles. One time I was chopping a bunch of fresh serrano chiles and cilantro to throw into a pot of soup because I had a cold. After chopping, I absently wiped my nose, which was raw from all the tissue abrasion over the past days. Oh. My. God. It was the worst pain I'd endured in a long time. I tried to run/splash water over the area but that wasn't helping at all and I was inhaling more than I really wanted to. The only other thing I could think of was to load a Kleenex with Yogurt and shove that up my nose. Well, at least that worked after a minute of agony, but I've got to admit I've never looked (nor felt) so stupid in my life.
So try yogurt next time, I guess that's what I'm saying. :) And avoid the nose area!
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re: JasmineG
adroit_minx
Jan 9, 2007 06:23 AM
You have no idea how much better you just made me feel. :) THANK YOU!
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The same thing happened to me after deseeding some poblanos yesterday evening sans gloves. I didn't think these were particularly hot peppers, but my hands have been burning for more than 24 hours now. I thought the sensation/pain was gone, but after taking a hot shower, the irritation was back with a fury. I did not have rubbing alcohol or bleach on hand, but found swabbing with acetone nail polish remover helped quite a bit.
wowsa, lesson learned. Capsaicin is no joke.
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re: Hungry Celeste
OMG....thank you ...you wonderful mexican chef.......6 hours ago I chopped 4 jalepenos out of my garden for fresh salsa....I know better....I know better....I tried soaking them in dove dish water....worse.....water.....worse.......100% aloe vera gel....relief while is was wet and soaking in it....then burning is back....I tried sour cream....relief from scale of 20 to 10....for a while then burning again .......worse when you rinse the sour cream off with water...just starts the burning all over again....so I read on and found this one....by luck I had a lime in the fridge.....I just decided to take to the extreme and sliced it in half....squeezed and dove my finger tips into the juice and pulp........hallelujah.....relief....instant relief....and so far so good the pain is now only a 5 ....I am able to type this to thank you....and I did not have to wash off the lime as it is quite refreshing to smell on the hands. Again thanks for the time you all spend to comment...it has saved my night off from be a burning hell to being a nice nite.
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JasmineG
Sep 27, 2006 11:48 PM
For future reference: sour cream was my savior a few weeks ago when I was stemming dried chiles without gloves on (I know, stupid), and then touched my face. Nothing worked well except dabbing sour cream on, and that was almost immediate relief.
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Thanks everybody for the suggestions. This is good to know for future reference. I never had these reactions to jalapeno chillis in the past, not sure why now.
Anyways, I ended up dunking my fingers in vegetable oil and also apple cider vinegar (didn't have white) and there was some relief. Enough so that I could sleep. Woke up a few hours later and the burning was gone.
Learned my lesson!
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rworange
Sep 24, 2006 06:33 AM
Interesting, but this site also says use bleach ... but VERY briefly, don't soak in it.
http://www.soupsong.com/fpepper.html
"diluted 5 parts water to 1 part bleach, and so long as you dip your fingers in from time to time you've got the problem licked. Why? Capsaicin compound is not soluble in water, but chlorine or ammonia turns it into a salt, which IS soluble in water. Please be advised, though, you should never soak your hands in this solution"
In the paragraph above that information, when asked what to do if your mouth is burning, they suggest garling in vodka (don't swallow) as capsaisin is soluable in alcocol. Don't see why that wouldn't work for fingers. Also hydrogen peroxide was mentioned. I wonder if rubbing alcohol would work?
I had a problem with getting hot stuff in my eye and was told to rub salt in it. It worked, but I could never figure out why. Maybe it has to do with the salt absorbing the capsaicin or some sort of chemical reaction like with the bleach where it transforms the capsaicin into something else.
Interesting stuff on peppers as a bonus on the above link.
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No remedy, but next time get some cheap, diposable latex gloves--a box of 50 is around $5 at any drugstore. I'm very sensitive to capsaicin, I was uncomfortable for 24 hours after slicing and de-seeding just two jalapeños, so I sympathize.
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re: IndyGirl
Megiac
Nov 7, 2007 09:30 AM
Even less fun when you forgot about cutting the peppers with your bare hands a few hours earlier and go to take out your contacts.
I now always use gloves, or if I am out of those I will stick my left hand in a grocery store produce bag and handle the pepper with that.
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junglekitte
Sep 24, 2006 05:57 AM
i wish i could help...
during culinary school that happened to me and they were burning for hours and hours with terrible pain! i kept putting my hands in cold cream but i would have to keep replacing the cream with fresh every few minutes. an awful experience i'll never forget.
i hope you found a good solution. -
Capsaicin is alcohol and oil soluble, I think. Haven't tried it, but soaking your fingers in rubbing alcohol or vegetable oil might provide some relief.
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re: gtrekker2003
I love jalepenos but apparently my fingers don't. First time washing & chopping Jalepenos yesterday, after an hour or so my fingers started burning. I tried sour cream and lemon juice (not fresh lemon) as suggested in this site but didn't help. Then I thought of trying Vaseline and surpringly it worked. I rubbed it all over my fingers and the burning was gone almost instantly.
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