Help! My chili peppers have burned my tongue! or Help! My chili peppers have burned my skin! How do you stop the chili pepper burn?
How to Stop the Chili Pepper Burn
As a spicy food lover, it's bound to happen. You're chopping jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers for your meal and some of it gets on your skin and starts to burn, or you take a bite of your freshly prepared spicy dish and whoa, the spicy heat is just too much.
Honestly, this happens to the best of us. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to alleviate the jalapeno burn or chili pepper burn from your skin and from eating hot peppers.
Stop the Chili Pepper Burn on the Skin
The best way to avoid chili pepper burns on the skin is to wear gloves when handling them, nitrile gloves in particular. The reason hot peppers can burn your skin is because they contain an oily substance called "capsaicin" that sticks to your skin.
Capsaicin is the substance that makes chili peppers "hot" and spicy, so avoiding the oil is the ideal way to go. However, we often forget to wear gloves or just don't think of it, which can cause burning not only on the hands, but on other sensitive parts of the body that you touch with your hands, particularly your eyes.
Below are several ways you can combat the jalapeno heat or other hot pepper heat on your skin, or "hot pepper hands". Some are my own recommendations, but also some ideas are from spicy food readers who have shared their own personal experiences.
Be sure to read the comments below to learn other ways people have alleviated the heat for themselves.
Dish Soap and Water - Recommended
Dish soaps are meant to help clean oily plates, so they can be effective in washing away the chili oil from your burning skin. If you feel burning on your skin from handling hot peppers, wash them very thoroughly with water and dish soap several times to work the oils off of your skin.
Use Milk (or other Dairy) - Recommended
Dairy products like milk contain the chemical "casein" that combats the effects the capsaicin (the chemical that makes peppers hot) by stripping it from its receptor site on the skin.
To use milk to help stop the jalapeno burn, soak your hands in milk in a shallow bowl for several minutes, or until the heat subsides. If needed, wash your hands again thoroughly with dish soap and soak them again in milk.
Consider using milk, yogurt, sour cream or crema, or even ice cream to soak the burning skin.
Here are some other suggestions from spicy food lovers.
Rubbing Alcohol
The oil that makes chili peppers hot, capsaicin, is more soluble in alcohol, so a quick rub down with rubbing alcohol (or even a high proof booze) can help wipe it from your skin. Just be careful, as the initial application of rubbing alcohol can cause an initial burning or stinging sensation.
Oils
Oils can be effective in helping to dissolve the burning chili oils. Dab some olive oil or any other vegetable oil onto your burning skin with cotton balls or a napkin. Soak or wipe the skin to help dissipate the chili pepper burn.
Weak Bleach Solution
This is according to Alton Brown of "Good Eats". He says to douse your already burning hands in a mild solution of 5 to 1 water to bleach. The bleach helps wash away the capsaicin that hasn't yet absorbed into your skin.
Baking Soda or Corn Starch Paste
Starches can help draw out the oil from your burning skin so you can wash it away and possibly neutralize it. Use 1 tablespoon of baking soda or corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water to form a paste. Rub this into your skin and scrub to remove the oils causing the hot pepper burn.
Time
Please note that the chili pepper burning sensation on your skin will dissipate over time, so don't think it's going to last forever. For most people it lasts anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, so give it time. It's not actual "burning" or damaging, only the sensation of burning, so you don't need to worry.
Hopefully this helps you find some relief with your burning skin.
Stopping Chili Pepper Burning in the Eyes
If you've been handling hot peppers and then touched your eyes, they can starts to burn and sting, as your eyes are extremely sensitive. If this happens, the best thing to do is to soak a paper towel in milk, then hold it to your burning eye.
The milk contains a chemical called "casein" that counteracts the burning chemical, "capsaicin", which makes hot peppers hot.
Stop the Burn from Eating Hot Peppers (Burning Mouth or Tongue from Chili Peppers)
Many of us have experience the burn after taking a bite of something too spicy. Often it's a bit too much hot sauce or an unexpected bit of heat at a spicy food restaurant, or you've simply miscalculated the heat of a pepper from your garden.
If you are experiencing mouth burn or tongue burn from eating jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers, here is what to do.
Eat Dairy
Because of the innate hotness of all chili peppers, they can burn not only the inside of your mouth, but your skin as well. If you find that you simply can't bear the heat after eating a chile pepper, try to consume a dairy product, like milk, yogurt, or ice cream.
Dairy products contain a chemical called casein that combats the effects of capsaicin (the chemical that makes peppers hot) by stripping it from its receptor site on the skin.
Milk can take some time to quell an intense burn, but it works. You'll notice an initial dissipation of the heat, but extremely hot peppers and foods can persist, so continue with the milk or dairy. Rinse and then swallow if necessary.
Sugar
I've also tried sugar and that seems to work in a pinch. Sugar can help absorb some of the hot chili oil and can reduce the burn.
Time
The burning heat from eating spicy foods will eventually dissipate over time, so at least you know it won't last forever, even though it may feel that way at the moment.
I hope this helps. Again, please review the many reader comments below who've shared their own experiences and methods for combating burning skin, burning eyes, and burning tongues from eating hot peppers and other spicy foods.
Share Your Experience - Help Others
If you've found a solution that worked for you, please share your methods below to help others stop the chili pepper burn.
NOTE: This post was updated on 5/17/22 to include new information. It was originally published on 6/20/14.
Jess says
Thank you for this article! Today, after I was done working with Ghost Peppers, I rubbed my nose......Its been an hour and a half now. I was panicking a lot but finally able to look up tips. I already follow your site and in the moment of desperation I clicked on this article. I ended up just sticking my nose in milk for about half an hour.
I'm confused by the fact that I find Ghost Peppers delicious and fun but my skin finds them excruciating XD
Mike H. says
Thank you for your comment, Jess. You made me smile =) I am glad that I was able to help, and that you enjoy Ghost Peppers. I love them!!
Brian Sharpe says
My favorite "burn barrier" when being surprised by an intense pepper is full-fat chocolate ice cream. The combo of casein and cacao seems to act like a magic eraser, though time is still the healer.
Mike H. says
Good one!
Angel says
I have grown a variety of hot peppers for years. I rarely wear gloves anymore but found that to stop the burn on the hands and prevent it making my eyes burn if accidentally wiping my eyes later on is to , cup my hand and fill it with white vinegar and dash of dawn detergent rub together for few minute and then wash my hands. the vinegar and dawn somehow neutralizes the hot oils on my hands. works great.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing, Angel.
Michelle Johnson says
When My son, who was about 5 or 6, tasted the pepper flakes made for pizza and we were eating out, milk and applesauce did NOT help. However, eating an apple cut the heat right away.
Darlene in Nova Scotia says
I did know dairy is a great solution for eating hot peppers. However I didn't have any at my finger tips in Cancun.
Hubby and I were in Cancun at a buffet, gent sat 3 dishes of salsa on our table and left-1 large dish, 2 tiny. Yum I though, I grabbed a chip and dunked. OMGosh. I love hot spicy food, but this hot..My face turned scarlet, tears were streaming down my face, I couldn't breath, my breath was just gone. I grabbed my hubby's arm and squeezed. He was clearly scared. Was I making noises...oh my dignity...the entire restaurant was looking. The waiter came running over. Gasping for air I ran for the washroom. "Eventually" I recover. A scared waiter is at the table waiting with sour cream and apologizing for not telling us about the heat factor which he admits was suppose to tell everyone. Apparently the 2 dishes were for us to mix with the larger dish if we wanted to make our salsa hot. Yeah, that would have been good info to have before the chip got dunked.
Now I carry sour cream around with me...no I don't, I'm just kidding. Once recovered, the buffet was delicious!!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing this, Darlene!
Anthony Badessa says
I've noticed that restaurants that serve hot peppers orhot food always have doughnuts or cup cakes on the counter.
Tarn says
For mouth burn, I have found that good ol' Cherry Coke does a good job of reducing, and eventually, removing the burn.
I wouldn't try it in the eyes though.
Goose says
After not getting complete relief by repeated washings with milk, baking soda & dawn dish soap, an application of Lanacaine sunburn spray finally worked.
dave says
As someone who processes tubs full of super hots once they mature in fall, I learned to not make as many mistakes, but sometimes you think you're just barely going to touch them and it will be okay.
I put oil on my hands first - regular cooking oil and that reduces what soaks in, and when finished (also wearing nitrile gloves if dealing with more than a meal's worth of super hots) I wash my hands BUT find that it works best to rub strong dish detergent into them, then a cold water rinse, not hot water because it opens the pores in skin and the pepper oil gets in deeper.
After the cold water rinse, then repeat with rubbing more dish detergent in completely, then a hotter water rinse.
As far as eating too much heat, dairy indeed but also egg whites help, hard boiled, fried, raw, take your pick.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Dave.
Darlene in Nova Scotia says
That's interesting!
Diane Rodriguez says
I tried several of the remedies including Voltaren Gel after waking with burning hands at 2:00 am after seeding and skinning roasted hot Hatch chiles. So far Benedryl cream has worked the best. But it takes about 15 minutes to stop the pain and after showering, I needed to re-apply it. I have roasted similar chiles for years and this was the first time I’ve had a problem.
Jenny says
My hands were burning from making jalapeno poppers. I tried the cornstarch paste and it worked like a charm! I had already washed my hands with a soap and salt paste- which usually works. Thank you for the help!
Frances Silva says
Ouch! Why are so many tasty good things also sometimes painful? Chili peppers anyone? Love your website! Just signed up last night. I'm a mild/sweet/tasty/medium pepper person, but I'll give any new food a try. Ouch again! My spouse like you LOVES hot stuff especially peppers such as the Hawaiian and Piri Piri Peppers. I've learned a few tricks such as above when after handling peppers, we "got the skin burn". I found that using white flour worked great. Rub some in your hands to remove the oil and then, wash hands thoroughly with soap and cold water. Not hot. Hot will open the pores to your skin. Ouch again! The hotter the pepper the more flour and handwashing but it'll work. Thanks again for such an informative amusing and "hot" site!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Frances!
Bernie says
The best I have found to kill the heat is to take milk and baking soda and make a slightly liquid paste. I then clean the area that is burning. Rinse off and redo until heat is gone or it is at a tolerable level.
Max says
Heyoo, I just experienced pepper burn for the first time! I absolutely love cooking varieties of dishes using peppers (such as habanero, serrano, and jalepeño.) I am no stranger to spice! after preparing chicken fajita tacos with pico de gallo and a salsa I made from scratch (serrano peppers were used) for my family, I felt a warm tingly sensation in my finger crotch... I didn't think much of it, for maybe I touched the pan while flipping the tortillas with my hand!
Little did I know, I was in for a trip... about 10 minutes after the initial sensation, it spread across ALL OVER THE BACK SIDES OF MY HANDS. I felt like Ricky Bobby on fire, I washed my hands thoroughly with dawn dish soap and cold water, and I only got temporary relief. I doused my hands in olive oil it felt nice until i realized i now can't do anything with my hands until i wash the oil off. Once again, i washed with dish soap and cold water still just getting temporary relief. About 5 minutes pass then a new sensation arises, a BURNING SENSATION COMING FROM UNDERNEATH MY F*€!ing FINGERNAILS. While contemplating ripping off my nails, i kept reading comments and laughing at people going through something similar to what i was and before i knew it the burning reduced to a more tolerable pain...
My advice to you, wear nitrile gloves while preparing peppers and superhots to avoid this from happening ever again, but if you do find yourself in this situation, wash your hands with dish soap then wipe them down with rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Or if you can tolerate not doing anything with your hand/s for the next hour douse them booger hooks in olive oil. I promise, like your buzz from "beverages" with time the burn will go away.
Cloee says
Cloee,I know it’s hard to just leave it alone but it works. After reading most of the comments and article it was completely better and didn’t hurt again.
Shane says
I find citrus cuts it perfectly. Ever wonder why the thai restaurants serve an orange slice with a meal? There ya go.
Sharon says
In pain for around 5 hours and tried: yoghurt; soap; shampoo; honey; bicarbonate of soda (dissolved in a bowl of water and applied as a thick paste); WD40 (and prayer). Nothing worked - the bicarbonate paste actually made it a lot worse. However, eye make-up remover eased the pain within minutes. Thank you to everyone on this site for the advice - without it I don’t know what I would have done!
Ken Lichtsinn says
I have used baking soda effectively to cool burning from hot peppers. Many Years ago, I saw for the first time, some habanero peppers in a grocery store. Oddly enough, they had a really huge bin of them and I had no idea how hot they are. The amount that the grocer had would have been enough to make an incandescent hot chili con carne for half of California. I took a bite into one and, suddenly I was heading for the door, got into my car with the window down spitting as fast as the fire built up in my mouth on my way home. I put a couple of tablespoonfulls of baking soda in a half glass of water, slashed it around in my mouth and decided that I really didn't need to go to ER after all. Boy those babies are HOT! About 10 minutes later, I returned to the grocery store, found my cart with groceries in it, payed for my groceries and went home now knowing what an habanero is.
Traci Vilez says
I love hot food, but unfortunately, it doesn't like me anymore. So what peppers do you recommend cooking with that are medium spice? Also is it true that the heat in a pepper comes from the membrane and not the seeds?
Mike Hultquist says
Traci, heat levels can vary from person to person, but I think jalapenos are a nice milder pepper with some heat, but not too much. If that is too hot for you, try poblanos. Also YES, the heat from chili peppers is in the whitish pith/membrane. There is no heat in the seeds.
Ken Lichtsinn says
Have you tried OTC Omeprozole? I take it daily by prescription and every doctor that I have asked about it says they (doctors) know of no harmful effects of taking it daily. I would suggest just taking it about a half hour before an occasion when you know you are going to have some spicy food.
Peter Cress says
I have found hydrogen peroxide to be very effective.
I enjoy preparing dishes with ghost pepper and Carolina reaper fairly often, and for a while I was just careful to scrub with soap and water. That works decently well for jalapeno, but for the superhots, soap and water are insufficient. An unconscious eye rub quickly reveals the failure. Once I woke up in the middle of the night...without revealing too much, I thought I'd gotten a disease.
Then I learned that hydrogen peroxide alters the capsaicin molecule. It contributes an oxygen atom which bonds to the end of the capsaicin molecule and makes it, well, not capsaicin any more.
It took a bit of courage to test; I cut up a ghost pepper, barehanded, and then rubbed my hands with hydrogen peroxide (I skipped the soap and water for the test). Then, after letting my hands air-dry, I mustered up some courage and stuck a finger in my eye. Hey, it was for science. Sure 'nuff, no burn at all.
Now, whenever I handle superhots, I rub my hands afterward with a paper towel dampened in hydrogen peroxide.
Nafiz Ahmed Shafin says
I'm reading this article when I'm in a real trouble with chili pepper extremely burning my nose. But the fact is that during reading the full article the burning has already been dissipated. This was too helpful. Read my comment and your burn gets more time to cool down. This is a great solution
Skip Willis says
I discovered this. Saltine crackers, and Corn chips absorb all the saliva, and wetness in your mouth, which contains the capsaicin. Chew crackers, or chips slowly, helping them to absorb the liquid in your mouth. It may take more than one cracker, or chip. The burn goes away almost, instantly. You can then eat more peppers, and repeat this process, as many times as as you want. It works every time.
Charlotte says
Nothing worked, the milk made the pain subside for 45 minutes. But then it came back full force. I applied Manuka honey (the one I have is strength/MGO 400). The pain almost immediately went away completely. I’m talking 100% healed up. Amazing.
Traci Vilez says
Yeah, I would say you could apply any kind of burning cream. I would use silvadene cream. Great for burns.
Vince says
When I was last in Mexico, I ran into some seriously hot serano’s (?!)… the server gave me a plate of sliced cucumbers, with salt sprinkled on top. Placing the salt side onto my tongue, it took 39 sec for the burn to die…. It was amazing. The beer didn’t help (was within reach) but neither did dairy… this did it, and fast!
Mike H. says
What a story! Do you go back to Mexico often?
Joris Ramon says
My daughter cut and de-seeded a load of jalapeños to make sriracha sauce, without gloves. Her hands were burning like mad afterwards.
We tried all the usual things: oil, soapy water, alcohol, milk; had no effect. Mechanics´ hand cleaner made it slightly better but only for a short time.
Then my eye fell on the bottle of DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide). I first tested it on my own hand: I cut a trinidad scorpion open, rubbed it on a patch of skin, waited until it was burning and then put some DMSO on it. At first it made the burning sensation even worse for like 30 seconds but then the burning completely disappeared, really quickly. Rubbed it on my daughter´s hands and same effect. Amazing.
DMSO is a transparent non-toxic solvent that has the property of taking whatever is on your skin, through your skin into the bloodstream. I use it in homemade medicinal oils and creams.
Of course it´s not something everyone has at home, but if you do and you have chili burn on your skin, you´re in luck.
Sujata Khemka says
Hi. Had a very bad Chilli burn and the only thing that worked instantly was ALOE VERA GEL. tried everything else and toothpaste made it worse. Others were temporary solutions. AV gel was MAGIC.
Nancy says
When I have a large amount of super hot peppers to clean I double glove with good quality gloves. Still a small amount will get thru to the skin. (If doing buckets full stop and re glove occasionally).
Say you forgot to glove. . .try using the full strength dish soap a couple times like the above article says. When my hands still burn I have had good luck with the king of hand cleaner mechanics use. The one with grit in it.
CJ says
Try avocado!! I cut a wedge off so it still had skin on the outside to use for grip as I rubbed it back and forth on my affected hand for several minutes — periodically I flipped it over and used the texture of the peel to gently work the avocado into every nook and cranny. Then I rinsed in warm (not hot) water and repeated. I did this several times (using dish soap maybe every-other rinse) and it has cut the pain to a level I can cope with. Before this Hail Mary gamble, I tried dish soap, cooking oil, lotion, rubbing alcohol, bleach bath, baking soda paste, honey, oil-based make-up remover, alcohol-based bug bite salve, shampoo. I thought the avocado might work because of its natural oils while being thick enough I could keep it in contact with my skin long enough to break down the capsaicin from the chilis. Not a total cure but at least I can finally think straight! Like many of the other remedies that have worked for others, I expect I’ll need to repeat the process, but this is the most relief I have felt in about 18 hours. Hope it works for someone else out there!
Barbara says
Gordon Ramsay said to squeeze lemon juice on your burn. I can’t wrap my head around that one but the man has more experience than me.
Metka says
My hand was burning after cuting chili. I tried to put my hand in milk and it didn't work. I tried with olive oil, with nail polish remover, with body scrub....nothing worked. Than i washed my hands with shampoo twice. And it seems to be ok for now. Hope pain doesn't return.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Metka.
Nancy says
Shampoo is a degreaser.
Howard says
I grew a Dragon’s Breath plant last year, and the peppers were so hot that I had burning hands even with nitrile gloves. I found that wiping them with medicated hemorrhoid wipes worked. Probably the Aloe Vera and witch hazel among other ingredients. (The hot sauce was excellent, but I made a pepper relish with them that was out of this world)!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Howard. Very helpful! I'll bet the relish was fantastic. =)
claire says
Larry says
The best way that I have found to stop the burn on skin is to use Fast Orange hand cleaner for mechanics followed by washing area with hand soap works very well for me. I would think any hand cleaner for mechanics would work as they are made to remove oil and grease.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing, Larry!
Jack Jackson says
Potato salad or macaroni salad works quickly
seedster says
after handling juiced peppers, I tried everything in the house and on this page including yogurt without the gloves; still nothing stopped the agony; until, I got to my wife's feminine wash: ahhhh-- instant relief.
Bob Byers says
Something I discovered works very well for "pepper hands". My wife was buying the foaming hand soaps. I took one of the empty dispensers and mixed 50% Dawn Antibacterial with 25% water and 25% rubbing alcohol. The resulting foaming hand soap refill recipe not only cures pepper hands, but works great on really dirty hands like when you've been working under the hood.
Because of the rubbing alcohol and the use of the antibacterial form of Dawn, it also works as a hand sanitizer. Good stuff, give it a try!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Bob!
jeffrey palmer says
I dont mean to be a super man - but I wonder why people are really sensitive to the effects of cutting up chili pepps. I can do with no problem slice up habeneros and there is no burn - I am growing and sliced ghost and I will use gloves. I just have to be mindful that when I do any slicing of chili pepps is no touching of eyes or in the male sense well...No 1 is so to speak touchy:)
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
There appears to be varying levels of sensitivity.
Leo says
I have found that the mouth and hands are filled with tiny buckets. Drinking anything just takes the top of the bucket. Once you stop, the burn comes right back. The trick is replacing the contents of the bucket or neutralizing it. An old saying says that when people quit smoking food tastes better. Why? They emptied their buckets full of garbage. To neutralize the burn to a livable level bit an Orange or Lime and swish it around. For those that smoke. inhale and hold the smoke in your mouth. Takes about 2 times. This will replace the contents of the bucket. I haven't tried the honey or sanitizer tricks but you will know if it worked on the hands when you get into a warm shower.
Omoike Emmanuel says
My hands are burning because i cut pepper with my bear hands I don’t have alcohol or honey but I have sugar and vegetable oil what should I do
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Omoike, please see the post and comments above for all available possibilities. Sorry to hear.
Ana says
Honey worked for me! I tried dairy, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, oil, and make up remover. I saw in the comments that people where using honey and keeping it on for at least 30 minutes... and yup it worked! I used latex gloves and filled them up with honey. I felt the pain subside at the 30 minute mark but went on for another 15-20 minutes just to make sure the burning went completely away.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing, Ana!
Shannon says
Honey really works! Everyone should try it!
Just apply it on the burn skin for at least 30 minutes. Highly recommend it : )
Aries Eugenio says
Try SUGAR and dishwashing liquid rubbed to the affected area for 10mins. It worked with me! I think any color will do. I my case I used brown but not necessary for you to utilize.
Thorn says
When I used to have access to fresh chillies more regularly I found I had a burning sensation all over my fingers and over other parts of my hands. It was constant cause I prepared most of my meals with the spiciest raw fresh chillies I could find. A few years in a row the skin on my fingers formed bumps of varying sizes, looking a little like verucas, only they were not, some of them fell out leaving conical holes in my skin, and my red burning fingers hurt and looked terrible. I tried all sorts of things to relieve the burning and nothing helped much at all. Just when I had given up I saw my almost empty can of hemp oil and though fuck it, why not, so I rubbed it into my hands covering the entire surface area of my fingers thoroughly as well as the rest of my hands. I couldn't believe it. Within 5 minutes the burning sensation had almost completely gone, after 2 or 3 days the redness was gone and healing was happening, and after about 2 weeks you wouldn't have known that there were holes and bumps all up and down all my fingers and skin and little chunks of flesh falling off. I rubbed hemp oil in a few times a day each day, my skin was really falling apart. It was organic cold pressed extra virgin hemp oil FWIW. I hope this helps anyone going through the same thing.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for your input and experience, Thorn.
Lucy says
After a hell of a day with burning fingers, trying every single hack to stop the immense pain, the only thing that worked was bi-phase makeup remover (the one oily+watery that women use for waterproof makeup).
Nothing else worked for me, as I understand it is very personal.
Just adding this to the conversation as I didn’t read it anywhere. I tried after reading about the micellar water, and it helped reducing immediately the pain, lasted much longer than any other product tried and even if a little burning keeps coming out now and then even the day after, that remedy saved my evening and night. At least I could sleep.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Lucy. All the best.
Es says
Thank you so much for this. it worked instantly after trying everything else. this one truly works
Carolyn says
I had horrendous chilli burn, redness and swelling. I tried everything including anti-histamines and pain killers. Eventually thought ‘I need to neutralise the acid’. Made a paste out of dishwasher powder and water. It helped significantly but not totally. Eventually went to bed with rubber gloves filled with yoghurt taped at my wrists so it wouldn’t leak and a sleeping tablet. Woke in the morning with beautiful well nourished smooth hands. I have some Reapers growing this year and don’t plan to touch them.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing, Carolyn.
Vesin says
Hey guys thx for the suggestions, my wife was making chili paste with durban chillies without gloves, afterwards she put on rubber gloves, the kitchen yellow ones,to clean prawns...huge mistake, they where rubbing the chilly oils more into her hands...found this site and tried everything...only honey seems to be working now after25-30 mins (10-01-2020)...
True honey lover says
Thank you so much, Sasha for your comment. I tried everything on the website but nothing was making the burn go away until I read your post and tried honey. I only used the smallest amount and submerged my hands in it for 20-30minutes and it all went away. Thank you again!
keerthi says
6 hours of burning stopped after i applied hand sanitizer and some coconut oil over my burning fingers.
Emilie says
Dipping hands for about 10-15 minutes in cold milk helped - although it was lactose free (but there was probably casein in it)
Sasha Motass says
Was making kimchi with my husband. We’ve been making it for quite awhile, I’d say, this was our seventh or tenth time making it. One could say that we are fairly experienced with the chili part of the kimchi recipe, we like it hot and we always put at least two cups per four large Napa cabbages. The only new thing this time was the fact that I’m seven months pregnant. And, apparently, it made all the difference - after covering the salt soaked cabbage with the chili paste, I felt it burning, and the burning didn’t went away after I washed my hands throughly. It became progressively worse in the next 15 minutes, the burning turned unbearable. Both hands, only the outer side of the palms and fingers. It started getting slightly red (uneven, like during an allergic reaction). I found this website and started trying one thing after another, methodically. I was getting scared and worried (being 7 months pregnant does that to a person).
I tried covering my hands in olive oil, soaking in micellar water, rubbing with vodka, holding them in cold yogurt, hydrogen peroxide, antibacterial gel, three hours had passed, my husband and I were ready to call the ER, and we even called them to ask for advice (they told us to go to the farm act and call them again if the pain doesn’t subside in an hour) and then... I read the honey suggestion. I smeared a tablespoon amount on each palm and held my breath.
It helped! After 10-15 minutes the pain went down, in 25-30 it went away almost completely. I washed it off (without using soap), and the effect lasted. It felt like a monstrous migraine was finally gone. I nearly cried with relief. Thank you so much ❤️
Note - we had organic natural honey, not from the store - that might be one of the reasons it helped so quickly.
Again - HONEY WORKS!
Phil says
I tried many of the suggestions here (stainless steel, vinegar, honey, rubbing alcohol) as well as soaking in antacid (alumina and magnesia suspension), and they were all somewhat effective, but the pain and burning kept coming back after a while. Of all of them, the antacid was most effective, but that might just be because I did it the longest.
On a hunch I decided to try Voltaren (2.32% Diclofenac diethylamine topical analgesic, usually used for joint pain), and the pain and burning sensation were completely gone after 5 minutes and didn't come back. I highly recommend it.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Phil.
Kimberley Hedger says
After extreme burning sensation from cutting scotch bonnet on my fingers, I dipped them in vodka and then made a paste with the baking soda and vodka covered my fingers in it. Finally relief, a full day later.!!!
Abinayaa says
I cut a habanero pepper without gloves and ended up with burning/boiling hands.. This article was very helpful, especially the thread of comments. So I am here to share my experience.
I ended up rubbing my upper lip with my right hand and I was able to reduce the burn with 3-4 applications. By my hand - butter didn’t work. I tried many remedies suggested here. Nothing worked, rubbing alcohol aggravated the burn for me.
Lastly the HONEY!! Yes it helped and burn was bearable after 2-3 applications. After 4 hours it resurfaced and I applied honey again. Been repeating this for the past many hours. Not sure when it will entirely be alright.
Another thing to prevent is contamination. The leftover oil in your hand sticks on to any surface you touch. So don’t touch your face or body. Also sticks to devices. Im covering my phone in cling on wrap.
If you are in the same situation - try what works for you, each skin is different, exposure and absorption of chili oil is different. Between trying each remedy wash well. The chemical composition of each is different and any counter action between them might result in further pain and discomfort. Hope you feel better soon.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Abinayaa.
D Worth says
I found "stainless steel" helps. That is, rub the area with stainless steel. The advice was from some other site and it sounded worth trying because I have observed first hand that seems to work with garlic odour in my experience. We used to just rub our hands on the large spout in the kitchen sink for the garlic cure. We have since acquired a bar-soap shaped piece of stainless steel design specifically for the (garlic) purpose. We've had it and use it for years.
So, I tried it on my BURNING BURNING fingers (I had finely chopped 4 of the tiny red peppers 18 hours ago and my fingers starting complaining about it only now...)
Long story short: the burning sensation has GREATLY subsided! It seems perfectly clear that the stainless steel did the job. Specifically, I held the (bar soap shaped) piece of stainless steel in the unaffected hand and rubbed it all over the affected areas on my left hand (exactly those fingers that I would have touched the peppers with) UNDER running cold water. The relief was immediate, but that coudl have been from teh running water. But many minutes later, it retured ONLY SLIGHTLY and in one area. So I have rubbed that area more carefully now (again, under running water) and that was about 15 or 20 minutes ago.
and its seems to be 100% fine now.
What had started with a very pronounced and very annoying burning sensation all over three finger tips (well, thumb and 2 fingers) is now about 97% subsided.
Whew!
I speculate that had I used any other piece of stainless steel (eg the sink spout or the sink itself) it might have worked as well. The little piece of stainless still that I did use resembled the surface of my own typical stainless steel kitchen sink... not a shiny chrome-like appearance, more of a finely lined silvery gray.
FYI.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience! It surely helps others.
Bobbi says
Miscellar water solves it! Soak yr hand for 30 mins and you are burn-free!
CJ says
1. Storytellers, please save your stories if it's just a funny story and not related to solutions. People are in pain and looking for advice. We don't have time to read your boring stories.
2. Spammers posting their Facebook's, this isn't the place(see #1).
Has anybody tried mustard, yet? Since this helps with physical burns from fire, I wonder if it has an effect on pepper pain on the hands. I'm in a country where convenience stores don't carry it in the middle of the night, but curious if anybody else has tried.
I've tried white vinegar, milk, alcohol hand sanitizer, vodka, deep pore scrubbing gel that has teach free oil and it makes, head and shoulders shampoo, icewater, air conditioner, honey, scrubbing hands with hot water, hand soap. None of these have worked. Thai chili pepper all over my hands. Considering going to ER.
ye olde says
Mustard works. It is very soothing while it is on. When you wash it off then the burn comes back, but is slightly diminished, so you have to keep putting more mustard on and letting it sit a while and then rinsing.
I barehand cutting up jalapenos and it is just a mildly annoying tingle that fades after an hour, but the time I chopped up habaneros was not okay. Mustard really does help.
Fred says
I tried milk and dish soap to no success and then eventually tried salt, olive oil and hot water which was all I had available. It was a painful method and after scrubbing the pain came back but then subsided after about 40 minutes. My skin feels raw after being in pain for so many hours but now thankfully it's gone.
Noor says
Hey I also did the same experiment You all did without gloves so next time be careful and my hands are burning ohhhhhhhhhhhhh ...
JB McDaniel says
Mustard, if that doesn't work smash opposite finger with hammer. ,
Joy says
Well, I just had experience this and tried alcohol and cold compression but didn't work, I even squeezed tomatoes on my freaking hand cause of one of the comments here suggested that lol but it didn't change anything, still felt like my hand is literally burning from the inside, so I just soak my hands in water to cool it down but even that didn't help much cause the cooling effect wears off when I'd raise it out the water and I know I can't be like that forever, I was already kinda feeling desperate for solution when I went out to buy milk and that micellar water they're saying was working wonders when on the way my hand just gradually felt okay... I went home with the milk but my hand was already back to normal... I think the burning sensation only lasted for 30 minutes or so and I was just freaking out, in the end the solution could've been just to endure it... On my experience it didn't last hours unlike what I've read here, that's actually what kept me worried that it'll stay there for so long but it didn't... So yea, just make sure next time to wear gloves so you don't have to endure anything or had to suffer everything.
Mint says
The way I dealt with mine was by using Garnier micellar water! It works, at least for me. I tried using alcohol, dishwashing liquid, ice pack, and milk, but none of them worked. I poured some of the micellar water onto a cotton pad, rubbed it on my fingers and let it cool down in front of an ac. After it dried up, I dabbed some on my fingers again and repeated the process a few times. In about 30 minutes, my fingers don't feel the burn nor pain anymore.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Mint.
Josh says
Wear gloves
Jawadul says
It was very helpful.
Nena Liew says
Had a worse experience today for several hours after cleaning a basket full of thai chili without glove. Tried almost every remedy mentioned above...alcohol, olive oil, corn starch, cold water, ice etc without success until I read about the honey.
And it finally worked!!! I massaged every crevice with honey and in 15min burning sensation started to subside so I continued for another 15mins and it finally stopped burning completely.
I eat thai chili with my meals regularly and never had this problem so I never thought of wearing a glove. Big mistake!
Hope my experience will help you!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Nena.
Mei says
I love a Thai chili, and I was cutting some, unfortunately I had an unbearable burn for hours, it was like nothing I’ve felt before, to feel burnt, I had to wrap a cold cloth around my hand, to cool it, to stop it from progressing, when I had left my hand alone, exposed into the air, the burning sensation in the area was progressive, I could last to 30 minutes, before I couldn’t take it, the burning pain in my hand, was soo bad, it made me cry in my pain, the cloth only helped, I was loosing hope, I wanted to just go to the hospital, my sleep was the casualty, tried to sleep at 2 am, it was not good, the cloth while first soothing was warming up, my hand was just worsening, even when I dipped the cloth in ice cold water, it barely helped, I ended staying up to 5am, trying to fix my hand, until I read your comment about the honey and it really helped, like many people I had tried other things that didn’t work, thank you for your recommendation about the honey, you’ve really saved my hand.
Ps: did anyone’s hand felt cold water warm? And warm water super hot? Because I did, and I’m not sure if I was the only one.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
So sorry to hear about your experience, Mei. Take care.
Palak Chhabra says
I’m so thankful for all of these comments up here. I’m from India and spicy foods are our specialty. I never realised I had a small cut right beside my thumb nail until This morning while chopping green chillies I started feeling utter burning in that small area, I tried washing my hand with shampoo and then ignored it for like 2 hours until it started burning my thumb, my index and the middle finger. I soaked my hand in cold milk it seemed to work for a while but not for so long, I washed my hands thoroughly with alcohol based sanitiser which we have in abundance due to corona, it didn’t seem to work for long either, I mixed some baking soda with sanitiser and formed a paste soaked my fingers into it for 30 minutes and it was a whole lot better. I then coated my hand with desi ghee and BAM it’s gone!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for contributing, Palak. Very helpful!
Melissa Polinski says
I made a green and red chillie relish which I was stupid enough to make without gloves. I chipped and tried to seed a huge bag of them about a kg worth.
Hour later the burn started , I immediately called my chef friend and asked her advise , I followed all the web advise on google . I eventually called my doctor at 9pm this was 8hrs later and I was in agony.
Got pre scribed a schedule high level painkiller and told that I had to just wait !!
I did everything they told me to do and nothing worked !
Untill .....
I found one comment on this thread saying moisturizer hair conditioner!
Luckily I have very long hair and I use hair masks often! I grabbed a fair amount and applied it as a generous amount let it sit for 20 min then rinsed off in cold water and then applied a thinner layer and now I’m in bed hoping to fall asleep 12:30 midnight !!!
Anyhow mildly annoyed at myself for not reading these comments sooner !!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing, Melissa. Sorry it hurt so bad.
NJ says
I tried most of the suggested remedies like the yogurt and baking soda and olive oil but the burn didnt go away till I cut open fresh tomatoes and applied the juice all over my hands. I applied about 2 whole tomatoes and allowed it sit on my skin for about 20 minutes. The burn started to cool off
Rachel Frey says
This works on my kids lips to! Thanks!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Excellent!
Morgan says
Hey guys! Thank you for all of the suggestions in the comments. It kept my mind off of the EXTREME pain my hands were in. I tried literally ALL of the suggestions and nothing worked 🙁 what finally worked was running my hands under hot water (the most painful thing I have every experienced-so be prepared) and alternated between washing with Dawn dish soap and olive oil and I used our dish scrubber to scrub the oils off of my hands. The hot water opens the pores of the skin and the dawn cuts the pepper oils and the olive oil binds to the pepper oils while the scrubber scrapes it off. It was honestly the most painful thing I have experienced but I feel sooo much better! Hope this helps!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Morgan.
Michelle says
Why do I do it to myself over n over n over lol, ouchhhh
Elena says
Thanks for your suggestions. I had a severe burn from red chili peppers. I was about to go to the hospital, because pain was unbearable. Baking soda with oil really worked for me. I had to apply many times, but finally the pain disappeared. Thanks again!
wawa othman says
i was enduring the pain until i saw my hand starts getting redder...tried putting my hands in the freezer only to make it worse when my hands went out of it ....i washed it and it made it even worse....so i tried garnier micellar water and voila it went away just like that...so mad that i didn't try it sooner
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing!
Diane says
Thank you for this suggestion! It helped so much!
Angel Baret says
Omg.. while my hands is burning like boiling into something I was reading all comments and try all the suggestions but nothing works I was just cooking a green chilli for dynamite for me and my husband but I was excited to cook and to eat I forgot to use a remedy for my hands before I take off the seeds of the pepper and while cooking I can already feel some heat until it grows and go through my whole hands
I keep ignoring the pain I entertain myself play a phone and watch movie but gosh.. I already watch 3 kinds of movie and it is already 4:30 in the morning nothing happens what I did for the last time I slept with my frozen hotdog and I used all the iced and the towels are not yet cold so I just get the frozen one ahhahah it relives
I need to lay down because my baby wants to drink milk from me so I have no choice and I am sleepy so I sleep
When I wake up.. I can't even feel my fingers and there is no pain ...
By the way thanks for all your suggestions
becky says
My girl Angel, my hand is burning like a mother fucka rn. I NEED an update. How are ya girl? Tell me there’s a light at the end of this tunnel? We need a support group up in here....but really tho how’s your hand?
Sincerely,
Someone Looking for Hope
omg my hand holy shit it’s boiling
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Sorry to hear, Becky!
Caitlin says
If it ever happens again, mustard! I kid you not. I was in hour five and had tried just about everything suggested on these pages from baking soda, vinegar, salt rubs to the hot water and oil job (which was frankly worse than childbirth and significantly less productive!) and nothing worked. We were at our wits end (the family) then found a site where a woman had put mustard on. 3 x 30min sets. I had just finished rinsing off the toothpaste (mild temporary relief for what it's worth) and was in tears. Tried mustard. Incredible. I've gone from searing pain across both hands palms, fingers the lot, to hot finger tips in the space of three sets of this. I think I'll be able to sleep. So happy!
becky says
HONEY WORKED FOR ME!! I coated it in honey for 30 minutes & rinsed with cold water, and the pain went away!
Hans says
Thank you is really help with honey 30 min . I had tried yogurt soak ,hair moisture, alcohol hand sanitizer ,baking Soda , all not working . Only honey help and have to be 30min . You saved my night thank you
Katt says
Manduka honey seemed to settle the hot burning sensation on my upper lip and under my nose i thought i had washed my hands well enough before touching my face after planting some seeds from a fresh pepper . Big mistake it’s been 20 mins and colloidal silver helped a lot but only when i held it on there as soon as you wipe it away the burn comes back . Hope this helps
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for helping, Katt!
jeanie says
I made my favorite hot sauce today. 70 serrano peppers (most seeds removed) 30 Jalapeno peppers with a few chared ancho pepper (pureed with 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 lime juiced, and salt). Love this stuff :). I forgot to wear gloves....again. I tried all of the listed things to do in the article. All of which helped for a very very short time and you had to stand over the sink. although it may have reduced the severity in the long run. What did help me a lot and wasn't too awkward to keep up with was holding a cold washcloth. I started by wetting 2 cloths and putting them in the freezer. once frozen.....I used just one. I would cup the cloth, wipe, hold it, etc. Once cloth got warm I put it back into the freezer and took out the other. When my hands were cold, the pain dissipated. you can run your hands under cold water or hold an ice cube but it's too messy or you have to stand at the sink. It takes a few hrs for the pain to subside, Hope this helps someone. Cheers
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Jeanie. I hope it can help someone!
jeff palmer says
What is puzzling with me - never was unlucky when I chopped \ diced chili peppers. Even when I am slicing habeneros I dont suffer from it (the burning) and I even take a slice or 3 and chew them. I love the taste of orange peppers, But now after I eat a slice or a few of those and take some tequila - now you got pain. I always thought that the oil from the peppers spreads it with alcohol, Maybe I'm wrong? How can alcohol actually relieve the pain on the hands but light you up in your mouth? (I know its the taste bud thing - but the alcohol has to dissolve the oil and spread it around making it worse)
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Yes, curious! A question ripe for testing!!! =)
Frost says
I sliced chilli for the dynamite I was cooking and forgot to wear gloves while at it amd 20 mins. later, the tip of my index finger began to burn but I paid no attention to it thinking that I must've accidentally touched the hot pan without noticing it. I continued cooking until the tip of my finger burned so badly and I feel like my finger was being deep fried so I put an ice to it and it provided me temporary relief but after 1 min its gone worse and the burn spreaded from the tip to the whole finger.
I tried applying toothpaste but it got worse and it burned like hell! I let it be, enduring the pain thinking that it might be taking effect that is until the burn spreaded from my finger to my whole palm so I immediately washed it off. I tried the alcohol (but only has temporary soothing effect), lotion(got 0 effect on lessening the effect), anti acne facial foam (a 1 min soothing effect), aloe vera cut straight ffrom my plant (no effect), vegetable oil (no effects). I got drowsy while lying on the bed holding a cold pack and woke up with no burning pain in my hand so i thought it was gone but a minute after getting rid of the pack, the burning pain is back again....
My hand is still burning until now (5 hours after it started) and doing cold compress helps to lessen the pain and I don't know how long will the pain last. I hope that remedies can help your burns and you won't have to go thrpugh this process.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Sorry to hear, Frost! Frustrating!
elena says
i have experience the same just yesterday..i have tried a lot from my internet readings too but none worked out. what i did to lessen the burning sensation is to put may hands in front of an aircondition and it worked..in less than 10 minutes i was relieved.
Belle J says
I mixed baking soda inside a few drops of vegetable oil. and left my fingers in for about 5 minutes. It works well!
Georgina W says
Thanks Belle! This worked like a charm!! I rubbed my hands with the mixture for about 5mins. I had tried toothpaste & washed with soaps for a few rounds but the relief was only 10mins & then back with a vengeance!!!
A.Foo says
Just pinched and sliced some green peppers and literally just two pieces of dried red chilli into an Indian dish. Hand burned throughout dinner and till after washing off in a bath. The whole process took about 2 hours? This is after trying all of these.. so im just gonna list them all down.
1. Bath washing soap
2. Hand washing soap
3. 70% alcohol hand sanitiser (evaporates too quickly, but soothing while it was on my hands)
4. Bottled aloe vera gel
5. AVEENO Active Natural w its oat extracts - 1 pump, rub, wash off, dry. 2nd pump, rub, all good now!
It was quite hard to bear the last 2 hours, especially if you do need to use your hands and be still. If you're going to get through it, find smth to distract you from the burn, and try these which I've listed.
Just sharing, but perhaps it'll help! Lotion makes a difference. Use it and wash if off the first few times.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing. Different things work for different people.
Sophia says
Tried face scrubs, milk, vinegar, hot water, toothpaste, sugar, dish soap, alcohol, aloe, and none of them worked for me. I was cutting up some fresh serrano peppers for dinner and an hour later the back and palm of my hands, including fingers, were burning HOT!! nothing worked. scratched my face and it was also burning applied milk and that went away but my hands were still on fire. I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to sleep last night... but something worked wonders!!! My hands were burning so bad, I managed to take a cold shower. While getting ready for bed my hands were still on fire. I grabbed a plastic container and filled it up with tons of ice, a little bit of water and grabbed a rag. This, even though i knew it was going to give me a little hard time, actually WORKED!! Cold compress gave me a relief of around 5 mins. Each time I would continue to wet my hands and “hug” the rag with my hands, and put it back to cool again. I also had a fan in front of me while sleeping and my hands toward the edge of the bed allowing my hands to cool off with the wind of the fan. Pain and burning disappeared within an hour while I fell asleep. Would recommend trying!!
Emily says
So the situation is that I have blisters on both my hands and was stupid enough to cut a finger chili or long chili.
I tried the suggested remedies above, like milk, alcohol, and oil. But it feels like the burning had worsen so I stopped.
Then i used the body lotion (which is the only lotion i have at the moment) twice and washed.
Guess what, it still didnt work. For me. And so my conclusion is to endure the pain.
Eventually, after 20 mins of enduring. The pain went away.
But thanks anyway guys.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Sorry to hear, Emily. I know it can be frustrating and different remedies will work differently for people.
Gary says
My wife cut bunch of hot peppers without gloves yesterday and she told me that it's feeling like burn on her hands. She tried washing hands with milk but it didn't work, so she kept ice pack on her hands until we go to bed. We were afraid this pain might last for a week.
I ended up to find these comments and told her to try body oil. She tried it for 3 times and the burn went away!
First time, she massaged her hands with the oil carefully, and rinsed off with the water. And dried them.
And next, she tried it again, but with body scrub, thinking the particles can help it. (She could feel the burns are vanishing.)
And lastly, with confidence, we did it again with salt like similar effect with body scrub, and almost all pain went away.
(But I'm not sure how much body scrub and salt boost this effect. I just wanted to test them.)
Thank you for the comments guys!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for your comments, Gary. Every bit helps!!
KarenG says
I had the worst pain ever. I cut up lots of Thai red chilli pepper and after 30 minutes it was painful. I tried , isopropyl alcohol then dipped my hand in yogurt and milk. Rubbed some lemon but it only got worse. So I thought, the only effective cleanser I know is my Garnier Miscellar Water make up remover. I rubbed my hand with cotton rounds soaked with miscellar water and sat in front of a full blast fan. After 30 minutes, miraculously, the pain was gone!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing, KarenG. I'm sure this will be useful to others!
Geraldine says
Oh this worked for my sister too.
Riley says
One of the worst pains every. Made just some simple jalapeño poppers
And two or so hours later my hands legit lit on fire it felt like. Try a really strong hand cream and The olive oil treatment because that’s how I fell asleep finally
Jeaneene says
I used benadryl after trying aloe cut straight from my plant, half n half soak, baking soda/powder paste, and alcohol. I took two benadryl and two advil and broke open two ice packs and fell asleep with them in my hands. This morning my fingers still tingle, but they no longer burn. That was the worst!
Rowena says
Aloe Vera is the best medicine for burns due to super hot chili peppers. It relieves the pain instantly! Apply it on skin or lips its safe and very effective!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for contributing, Rowena. We ALL appreciate the ideas and help!
Scarlett says
I had a terrible burn on my hand last night, the whole operation took 7hours! I had tried everything from washing with vinegar, alcohol, scrubbing with olive oil and salt, soaking with milk for three hours but nothing seemed to work. Doesn’t ease the burn at all. It was getting late and I was more desperate to remove the burn from my hands. So I washed my rub my hands with olive oil and salt again and rinse off with warm water. It was excruciating!!!! The burn seemed to wash off but my thumb and index finger was burning again.
I washed my hands with conditioner and let dry ( I tried this for about five times until most of the pain goes away). There would be some burning sensation left, and I found body oil, rub it extensively (it’s soothing because my hands were so dry from washing), wait for a minute or so then rinse it with water.
Then, I was sleeping soundly at 3am...
Ixchel says
Did it still hurt after you did all this?
Angela says
Worked with Serrano chilis for dinner. Went to sleep 2-3 h later. Woke up in the middle of the night from pain on my leg that I scratched in my sleep. Gosh.... then my hands began to burn like there is no tomorrow... thanks for advices, alcohol rub seems to help, but I guess it will take a while until it completely stops to burn. What a nightmare.
Anna says
This site helped me, and the answer was alcohol based hand sanitizer. I used a chili cream for my muscle pain, and it burned my skin at the middle of the night. Used lotion, milk, vinegar and scrub too!
Musti says
Saved my life, thanks a lot
Glenn says
Pickled some lighting Habs and somehow got the capsaicin on the back of my hand..OUCH....but St Ives green tea face scrub for the win...still burns a bit but it's manageable
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for the input, Glenn! I hope it helps someone else with the burning issue.
jeff says
I processed 35 lbs of Ghost and the like over the past three days to make jellies, hot sauce and dried peppers that I use in my dry rub. Used Latex gloves doubled. Never touched the peppers with bare hands. Still got hand heat from Oils that will migrate thru the gloves especially Latex because they are not made to stop oils, The black gloves that are used by mechanics are made to block oil base from getting to the skin. Know which gloves stop what type of substance. I don't really mind because I use capsaicin for my chronic joint pain so the feeling of the "burn" is a normal feeling. Vinegar 10/1 with water for 10 minutes will quell the bad burn and the rest will subside in time. Maybe this is the "cost" of home made stuff, which we all agree is better than anything you can buy because it is made with love. Enjoy the heat, it's good for you @zepinkpig, follow me.
Lauren says
The oils can go through latex. Need to use rubber gloves
Penny says
I tried yoghurt, dish washing soap and milk but none of them helped. Finally I tried vodka (didn’t have rubbing alcohol). I put it in cotton wool and rubbed it all over the burning areas. It didn’t completely go, but got rid of the pain from most of my fingers and improved the pain in my thumbs (the worst affected). Thanks for all the tips.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing, Penny. Very helpful.
Prachi says
I went with applying oil, then some cold milk, followed by my nail paint remover and then finally spraying some alcohol based deodorant on my hands. Don't know which of these worked, or maybe all worked in some way or the other. It took about an hour and a half to heal.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing, Prachi. I hope this is able to help someone else! The burn can be quite distressing.
Diana says
I tried all of the remedies and my fingers were still burning. Watkins salve worked the best. First cleaned with rubbing alcohol.
Aly says
Nothing was working so I mixed baking soda, Dawn, and kosher salt together and rubbed it on my burning skin roughly. Applied twice and the burn is nearly gone.
Rosie Brook says
Very grateful to have found this site and all the helpful comments, thank you. After the alcohol and milk only took the edge off I noticed the tea tree oil posts, and suddenly thought my oil make up remover might work too. Worked a treat what a relief after 4hrs! The trick to oil make up remover is to apply the oil to dry skin and then add a small amount of water massaging the skin all the time until you see the mixture turn white. Then rinse off. I'm guessing that is what you would do for vegetable oil to work best too. Hope that helps others.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing, Rosie! Very helpful!
poopis lingoberg says
I had ghost peppers burning my hand after crushing them with my bare hands to make pepper flakes (after drying them). It has been 16 hours and I still feel the burn after remedies as simple as soaking hands in rubbing alcohol then rinsing, or soaking hands in baking soda mixed with water, then rinsing and even after "Wash the skin with warm, soapy water. Rub the skin with vegetable or olive oil and let set a minute. Rinse." My hands are still in agony, and Im stuck on what to do. 🙁
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Sorry to hear about this. You can try using a dairy product, like milk or sour cream, to try and counteract the capsaicin. Sometimes it can be difficult the stop that chili burn on the skin.
Kelley says
I just went through a very painful 6 hour jalapeño hand burning crisis and after trying ice water, dish soap, whole milk, yogurt, vegetable oil, olive oil, corn starch, baking soda, Alocaine, and first aid burn cream, I called the local hospital and spoke with a nurse who gave me great suggestions that ended the pain.
1. Soak hands in a 10:1 water to white vinegar solution and rinse with cold water.
2. Can also soak in a 5:1 water to bleach solution as the bleach can make the oils more water soluble and then wash with dish soap and water
3. Wipe affected area with rubbing alcohol using a cotton pad and rinse. Can also use alcohol like vodka or similar
What ultimately worked for me was the vinegar / water solution and the rubbing alcohol. This combination provided relief within about 5 minutes.
Best of luck, I hope you are able to find relief soon.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thank you for sharing your personal experience, Kelley.
Mali says
Thank you so much! The white vinegar really helped the best.
Jose says
The vinegar is the most efficient of ways Thank You !!!
John says
~This worked for me, I tried all the previous suggestions, but nothing worked.
Two 5 min hand soaking sessions in a 10:1 water to white vinegar solution and rinse with cold water did the trick.
George B says
I have found that hand lotion rubbed and well applied will also work well after washing off.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks, George.
Lucy says
I had jalapeño burn on my face and nothing I tried worked; olive oil, dish soap, and I didn’t have dairy. I ended up putting essential oil on the burn and then put Aquafor on top of that. I let it sit for a few minutes and wiped it up with water. That worked quite well.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing, Lucy!
Jenny says
Try lemon juice, just squirt the juice on your hands and the pain goes away, sometimes you have to apply a couple of times, let dry! ❤️
Angela says
Just wanted to share. I was making pizzas tonight and my husband wanted chilli on his. So I very finely diced 3 really hot birds whe chillis and I sprinkled them with my hands onto the pizza . Long story short, wanted to thank you for the TEA TREE OIL TIP! After using dishwashing liquid, hand soap, bathing hands in milk, bathing hands in baking soda, vinegar, a double coffee body scrub, coconut oil, soap again , milk again, iced peas ... everything. Doused hands in straight tea tree oil (applied with cotton wool) and 20 minutes later the burn has really really subsided to very very nice and milk! Thank goodness it seriously felt like I was holding my hands in a fire place.
Chazy says
Dip ur finger in Sugar+ cold milk mixture.
Then wash it with soap and cold water.
It would surely help u guys.
Lin says
After wash with shampoo clean with alcohol let my hand in milk with ice for 10 to 15 min and then put the yogurt around my finger or hand and let it dry till the pain go away mine last for 30 min,
Lin says
This one realy help me with the pain
Sahil says
My eyes and whole face is burning whith chilly????????????
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Oh no! Try some of the remedies above!
Courtney says
If none of these work for you like it didn’t for me try using a body scrub or face scrub if you have it in the house. Since the burning sensation is from the oils trapped in the layer of the skin the scrub will peel back the layer and upon rinsing I felt instant relief. I used st Ives apricot scrub! Hope this helps
Alma amarillo says
What is st. Ives apricot scrub.
Ela says
Thanks . It worked i used Neutrogena Facial Scrub
Anne Harris says
Omg thank you for the body scrub idea it was the only thing that worked so thank you so much
Bia says
When i read this, i rushed to go to our CR and used the St. Ives Apricot Scrub and stay it for atleast 5 minutes and while rinsing it with cold water it kinda suit but still there is a burning sensation.
Mike Shelvy says
I came to this site because my mouth was on fire from peepers. After scrolling through the comments i realized the heat was almost gone by the time i was done. I guess focusing on something else helps to.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Sorry, man. True, though. Distraction is a good aid!
Lyn says
I was dealing dealing with thie burning sensation from chopping habanerro peppers yesterday and it lasted for about 8 hours. And oh man it was a nightmare. I couldn't sleep,hurt it was terrible. I tried rubbing alcohol before I soaked my hand in to a bowl of yogurt, dishwashing liquid to olive oil, to milk and lotion to shampoo, but none of those things works. Until I get the idea of using TEA TREE OIL, and it works really well and eased my pain in a matter of minutes ahh finally. Thanks Tea tree oil.
Rickie says
Try using prickly heat talcum powders. It really helps.
Chris says
Just glad to read these various remedies. We were VERY lucky to have a local farmer call us this weekend. His field of ghost peppers, Carolina reapers, various habaneros, and some exotics (Lemon drop, scottish tams, Dracula peppers, etc.) is still producing fruits. Their problem is that they are done with their farmer's market business for the year (global warming? Who knows, but it was 70 degrees in November and the field was full of pepper)
Anyway, we ended up with nearly 25 lbs of chilis and nearly HALF are ghost peppers. Since I am going to be processing chilies for weeks, it's good to know the various remedies for what is almost certain to happen with THIS much pepper to deal with. BUT, I am sure glad to have the problem of too many chilies.
Hopefully this picture will take to give y'all an idea of how much we got...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204908104697710&set=a.1352116498300&type=3&theater
Thanks for the Great website and GREAT recipes.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
That's GREAT, Chris! Good luck with all those peppers! What a nice windfall. Enjoy.
Amy says
Just wanted to share what happened to my boyfriend a couple years ago. We grow our own hot peppers every year. And every year, when it comes time to processing them for sauce, i always wear gloves (along with a face mask & goggles too sometimes)!!!
Well my hunny, bless his heart, considers himself a tough guy & always works without the gloves. After chopping away, he washed his hands with dish soap & water. Now most of us know better than to think that a little soap is going to eliminate all those oils on your hands, under your fingernails, etc! But he can be a little stubborn.
Needless to say, he had... how should i say it politely... scratched his balls. Sorry, there is no way to be polite about saying it & this story is just too funny not to share! Anyways, you can imagine the little dance he was doing after that!
He jumped right into the shower & began to wash vigorously. Of course, all those oils are still on his hands. And so washing just made matters even worse! The water only seemed to spread those hot oils everywhere (down there). To this day, we still joke about his spicy hot balls!
So word to the wise- wear gloves!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Hilarious! Sorry to hear about his spicy hot balls. Needless to say, I've actually been there (ouch!) and have a good friend who had the same issue and there was a bit of milk soaking involved to alleviate. So YES, wear gloves!
Amy says
Oh no! I actually think that painful mistake is a lot more common than most people could ever imagine! Its probably the "big bad secret truth" of the hot pepper world! The peppers are conspiring against us! Lol!
Beautiful website you have here, by the way 🙂
Ray says
Been there, done that! ..........not lately, though. One time was enough for me to learn my lesson!
Kevin Zawiszs says
Funny I did something similar probably about seven or eight years ago. I was using a couple peppers and one was a habanero to make some salsa. Did not use gloves while cutting. Thought I washed my hands thoroughly. Didn't burn my hands at all is the skin is a lot tougher and I tried not to get a whole lot of that on my fingers but obviously there was some on there wash my hands I thought thoroughly with soap and water and then went to the bathroom obviously being a male I had to hold my penis while peeing and about 30 seconds or so after finishing urination I began to feel a burn. I didn't have any milk as I started drinking soy milk back then then converted to almond milk I fortunately didn't have a whole lot on there but it was enough to have me severely uncomfortable for close to an hour. Don't remember if I tried washing with anything or not I think I probably was trying to rinse it off with some soap and water I don't really remember thanks for sharing nice story
Brooklyn says
My friend dared me To eat a hot pepper seed!!!! It hurt so much but then I just put a washcloth that had water on it and boom ? it was gone
Dave Howard says
Rubbing alcohol first, then Olive oil (or any cooking oil) then Dawn dish soap. Add the Dawn dish soap to your oily hands and wash thoroughly. That works for me, but get the pepper oil off before going to the bathroom!!! You think it's hot on your hands------that's a different ballgame if you get any oily pepper residue on tender areas----
Chris pooler says
Don't moan about it, just love the burn!aint that the point after all?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Haha, I hear ya! Though sometimes it might be TOO hot for someone unsuspecting. Plus the burn on the hands (and other body parts) is no fun.
Joshua Palmer says
Yep lol
Shaydee says
Someone help me!!!!
My fingers are cooking up here!!!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Sorry to hear, Shaydee. Try the methods here and see what helps.
billy bob joe says
Oh my gosh, rubbing alchohol works so well, thank u so much...pardon my spelling
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Glad it helped!
SYEDA HUMA HASHIM says
I Wanted to serve my neighbours 'shami kabab' . I chopedgreen chilli in very small size , Unfortunately I couldn't wash hands even a hour ... Then u can't imagine what happened ? the intense burning sensation ... no words no words to say..... I used every thing for it milk, polyfax ointment, vinegar,milk ,mustard oils but failed... I feel that no remedy can work faster ... TAKE TIME EVEN 7 HOURS HAHAHA... IN LAST I APPLY SHAMPOO ON MY HANDS .... I FEEL THAT MY ALL SKIN CELLS ABSORBED BADLY.... NOW EVEN I AM IN INTENSE PAIN.....
REPLY: Syeda, I'm so sorry to hear! I know, sometimes the burning on your hands can feel quite intense. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
John says
Chili Sensi:. You have truly thought of everything from how to enjoy to how to deal with them when not handling them properly. I always use gloves now when handling multiple peppers. Thanks!
KRose says
Plain fat-free Greek yogurt just saved my life!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Glad to hear! Relief!
anomynous says
i tried milk but it only worked for a minute. then i tied an ice cube onto my burned finger with a cotton clothe. It really works and the burning disappeared immediately! but you have to keep ice cube facing the sting area all the time and change the ice cube when the former melts.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing what helped.
Daniel says
A great tip I learned about combating the heat on its way out the next day is to drink a large glass of water immediately after the burning sensation in your mouth goes away. It helps things flush out w/less pain.
Ling says
I tried milk, cooking oil, soak, vinegar... all failed! But finally i did it!! very easy, just go wash your hair with hair shampoo, use your burn fingers to rub shampoo on hair with soft.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing what worked for you!
jiro says
I tried using lotion, but it only worked for about a minute. My best solution was actually moisturizing hair conditioner, and it really dulled and erased the pain.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing what worked for you!
Christie says
I tried everything tonight... Best final bedtime remedy! I tried a moisturizing conditioner and let it dry as if it was a lotion. It was so there a bit for a little while while it was drying, but it reduced the burn exponentially and now it's a only occasionally abearable mild tingle. I can get some sleep, thank you!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Glad the information was useful, Christie.
Rose says
Rub generously with lotion (i used jergens), then rinse off with soap and water. Repeat if it still burns a little.
Logan H. says
how can salt help with a chilly pepper burn?
REPLY: Logan, salt can help to soak up the oils that cause the burn. It is one reported method that has worked for some people. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Jenn says
O..I just did this yesterday! I was prepping peppers for dehydration and did not even think about gloves..
about an hour after I was done, the burning began...both hands on fire! to the point of feeling of skin melting
when touching anything.
I tried washing them repeatedly with dawn, and then with hand soap containing sanitizer. That did not help at all
I then googled and was told to rub hands with a household cleaner that contains bleach. At that point I didnt have
anything else to lose (except what sanity I was holding onto) so - I did this! and yes, the burning went away and I
was happy happy happy! Until about an hour after..the burning was starting to return. By the middle of the night -
it was FULL BORE..ICE CUBE SEEKING FRENZY.
Oo! I do not know how the hell I made it through the night! I did at one point apply burn ointment - but then the brain
kicked in and said "oh, yeah, good idea genius- until you have to touch something,,,, like maybe your...EYEBALLS! LOL
so I washed that off lol....
Sometime between the praying and the screaming...it did quit LOLLLLLLL
so...please please please...wear the freakin gloves!!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
OH my, yes, the best way to stop is to prevent it from starting in the first place.
Susanna says
My son ate a chilli as a prank and now it's come back to bite him . He's been throwing up all night & now has diarrhoea. I made him drink milk & yogurt afterwards but it's made no difference.
Do you have any remedies you can recommend or just let nature (& eisdin) take its course?
REPLY: Susanna, I'm sorry to hear this. Unfortunately, I don't know of any particular remedy for this. My guess is that Nature must run it's course. Dairy usually helps quell the burn, but perhaps additional stomach aids? Happy to hear any advice from others here. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Kate says
I only cook them on my grill side burner outside....no way I'm going to be coughing all night in my house if I let those things inside.
REPLY: The fumes can get you! That's for sure. -- Mike from Chili Pepper Madness
Walt McCoy says
If your chili or hot sauce turns out too hot, grind up a carrot and pour that in. It works. Also, Carnation malted milk cuts the hot, and also adds an interesting flavor
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing this!
RJ says
Geez. Maybe cook outside on the side burner if you can't handle it.
Nutan Jha says
Accidentally, the chili pepper flakes fell on the burning stove and I was coughing badly. It was terrible. I ran fan and opened window and drank water. Anybody knows any remedy just in case it happens again??
REPLY: This has been known to happen. Chili pepper fumes can get very strong. It is best to cook with an oven or stove fan on, or try to keep good ventilation in the house. Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
suzanne feliciano says
was told by a cook to use vinager
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Vinegar can help as well, yes.
firehousechilli says
yoghurt helps
Mike H. says
cdFidler, with chili, the best way to tame the heat is to serve it with a dairy product, like sour cream. If you feel that will affect the flavor too much, then try diluting the heat by adding in more of the chili ingredients. You'll wind up with a bigger pot of chili, but the heat will be more dispersed.
cdFidler says
Is there a way to chill out the chili dish for dinner?
Anne says
I tried milk etc but the best solution was hand sanitiser. The alcohol in this probably helped! I didn't car what helped just that it did!!!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing what worked for you!