MetaChat - Is there a way

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03 January 2010

Is there a way to get habenero ouchy juice off one's fingers? Washing thoroughly with hand soap does not seem to be doing it. Should I stick my hand in a lemon or something?

post by: occhiblu at: 21:51 | 13 comments

You got it, the hot oils in peppers are a base, using an acid will neutralize it.

posted by kodama 03 January | 21:56

ouchies indeed. Wash your hands with cold water (I have heard that hot water only makes it worse) and dish soap (or any other stronger grease remover). Rinse. Repeat.

In the meantime, don't touch any naughty bits (speaking from experience).
In the future, use gloves.

posted by special-k 03 January | 21:57

Yeah, already rubbed my eye, which is how I discovered my handwashing had not helped.

Going to go track down a lemon...

posted by occhiblu 03 January | 21:58

Aaaaaaaaaand in the process of rubbing lemon juice onto my hands, I managed to squirt some into my eye.

Sigh.

Maybe I should just stay out of the kitchen altogether this evening.

posted by occhiblu 03 January | 22:02

Milk or sour cream.

posted by mygothlaundry 03 January | 22:12

Seconding the milk.

posted by Miko 03 January | 22:22

Goggles.

posted by not_on_display 03 January | 22:35

The citrus seems to have helped, but I may bathe my hands in milk before going to bed.

And "Buy goggles" has been added to my To Do list.

posted by occhiblu 03 January | 22:45

I'd try rubbing in oil first, then washing it off with soap. Milk will neutralize the effects, but oil-soluble hot stuff (that's the scientific term) will come off best with fat/oil.

posted by Elsa 03 January | 22:45

Try alcohol (like, the kind you drink, only on your hands). It's worked for me in the past.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4589809_hot-pepper-sting-off-skin.html

Seconding Special-K - be very, very careful if you have to go to the bathroom...I made the mistake of not being careful, once, and trust me, I'd much rather have rubbed the pepper in my eye.

posted by Gorgik 03 January | 22:46

Milk. Alcohol. bread.

posted by The Whelk 04 January | 02:11

Yes, you must dilute with oil, then get friendly with the milk. n-thing everyone to not touch your undercarriage for a day.

posted by Specklet 04 January | 12:41

I thought the lemon worked, then I was biting my nails today (bad habit, I know) and my tongue started burning (which actually may not be a bad behavioral technique to make me stop biting my nails, hmm....). So I'm going to go rub some olive oil on my hands now and see if we have any milk in the house.

posted by occhiblu 04 January | 15:16

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