[NOTE: this post, describing an accident involving jalapeno peppers, has attracted a huge number of comments. See below. And please add your own thoughts as we seek a cure for this strange affliction!]
I received the following email from a good friend who I’ll call CD. He lives in the Washington, DC area. He sends along this cautionary tale about a cooking experience gone horribly wrong. His story is by turns frightening and hilarious. Enjoy.
Dude, I got a great story for you that I’ll try to relay in this message. Friday night S and I went over to J and C’s. I was going to help C prepare for a catering gig he had on Saturday. So we get there and start boozing and hanging out. We eat dinner and then begin the process of prepping for the catering gig.
Well, one step in the catering cooking process was to roast a 5-pound bag of jalapeno peppers on the grill and then remove the skins and de-seed them. Like what you’d do with a roasted red pepper. Well, at about 10:30pm I belly up to the table outside with all the peppers and start going to town. An hour later, I had peeled all 5 pounds worth….the catch is that I did it with no gloves.
At about mid-night S and I leave and I start complaining that my hands are burning. Not terribly, but a bit of fire. An hour later, we are back at S’s and it really sets in. Pain like I have never felt. Unbelievable, extreme, terrible, super harsh burning pain in both hands and even a little ways up both arms. It was like I had burnt both hands in a fire.
Now, I have to set the time frame so you can get the full affect of how long this pain lasted….it was at about 1am Saturday morning when I really began to realize i was in some trouble. At about 2:30am I woke S up and said I needed help (she had been asleep for about an hour). She got on the Internet and looked up how to stop jalapeno burn. She called two emergency rooms and even a number of “ask the nurse” hotlines. Nothing. At about 3:30am I was in so much pain i was rolling around on the floor almost yelling. By that time I had dipped both hands in milk, olive oil, vegetable oil, yogurt, oatmeal, water with baking soda, a bleach water mix, aloe and even mineral oil. Nothing helped.
At one point, I had both hands covered in aloe, a wet wash cloth on each and my hands in two huge bags that were filled with ice and water. That did not even help. at about 5am S calls my doctor at his emergency number. He says to get in the car and go to the emergency rooms at GW. So, we get in the car and I ride with my hands out the window to let the wind somewhat cool them down.
I check in with the front desk and am taken back to some ER room at about 6am. Now, realize that I am SO embarrassed at this point. Everyone in there is looking at me like I am a freak. They even wrote on the ER board where they identify what is ailing a patient “CD, jalapeno hands.” It was funny as hell.
Once I am in my little holding room they give me a shot a morphine, which by the way does nothing to ease the pain. Damn good high, but nothing for the pain. After the morphine they give me a shot of something stronger which also does nothing for the pain. I even got a shot of straight benedryl because they thought I might be having an allergic reaction. Needless to say, nothing works for the pain. They debated admitting me at one point. They also talked about putting me on some IV of pain killers.
Finally, after being there for about 3 hours, they tell me to go home and basically just wait out the pain. They did give me a prescription for some really strong pain killers.
Well, to get to the end….the pain finally lessoned to where I could take it on Saturday night at about 6pm. I was basically in a living hell for like 18 hours. Even today (Monday morning) I still feel a burning in both hands. If I scratch any part of my body, it immediately starts to burn. I can just bump into something and even that little bit of contact sets off a slight burn. And get this, my feet have this low grade burn from walking on them. That’s how much of the jalapeno oil got into my body.
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{ 216 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, Azadeh — what a story! Glad the burning finally went away, though…
i have that right now. i am holding an ice pack on my hands and typing at the same time. it hurts so bad! idont know what to do…do you recommend anything? please!!!!! *ow
I’m affraid, Brittney, that only time appears to heal the dreaded jalpeno hands — I think you just have to wait it out. Good luck. I’m sure it’s no walk in the park!
well, i am herelooking also, just made taco’s, pulled out the seeds and went to the bathroom!!!!!!! guess where my buring is!!!
I seriously recomend using gloves if you wear contact lenses. You do not want to be in that kind of pain, having burning hands is one thing, have burning eyeballs is another. I learned this the hard way. I took out my lenses in the evening a few hours after handling jalapeno peppers, assuming that since my hands weren’t burning that I was fine. However the moment that my finger touched my lense there was this intense burning. I also tried to put my lens in the next day thinking an over night soak would be enough, alas it was not, as again I was in excruciating pain. I left my contact to soak for a month. So to all those contact lense wearers….use gloves or wear you glasses during and for a few days after handling jalapenos!
Wow, Blyss — I wear contacts and can only imagine the pain. Thanks for the words of warning.
This is the worst pain I have ever been in. WHATEVER you do, do NOT beleive the vegetable oil myth. That was obviously somebody’s idea of a bad joke. There is NO answer to this. I just want to go to sleep. These people at my party better LOVE these damn jalapeno poppers.
I just had the same horrible reaction only with fresh jalapeno’s I was cutting up for making hot pepper jelly. I really only cut into and seeded (with my bare hands) about 5 jalapeno’s total for the recipe. The burning I felt lasted all through the night and created numbness in my right hand all the way up to my shoulder. It has finally subsided. In the middle of the night I got up and ran cold water over my hand again and scrubbed it with lemon juice. It did not stop the pain immediately – but a short time later it did. Not sure if the lemon did anything or not – but I will NEVER again touch a raw hot pepper of any kind. Wow what an eye opener!
All I did was mince 4 jalapenos so I could have fresh salsa at my party! That was at 6pm. It’s now 11 and everyone just left. Everyone had advise to give: milk, bleach, gojo hand cleaner. None of that worked. I am in agony. Stephanie I’m heading to the kitchen right now to try the lemon juice!
ok, so me being a really nice person, cut and seeded about 2 dozen jalapenos and stuffed them with string cheese, wrapped each in about 1/3 slice of bacon, stabbed with a toothpick and threw on the grill, they turned out great, everyone loved them, but as we started to eat them, the captian on my boat asked me if i used gloves, and i said no, that i had worked with green chillis in New Mexico in the past and have never had a problem, well sure enough, 2 hrs later the burning started, and it has now been about 24 hrs and they are still burning. I’ve tried soap, aloe, dish soap, limes (i didnt have lemons) bleach water, Mr.Clean, running water, more aloe, sun screen (spf 45), shampoo, and conditioner. Nothing has seemed to work, but i am going to try some alcohol based hand sanitizer as a last resort, i know it can disolve Sharpie Marker Ink from most plastics. I hope someone eventually finds something that will help. I know i will keep making poppers, cause they are really good, but i will start wearing gloves from now on.
ok, so the hand sanitizer seems to be helping, they still burn, but not as much as they did before i used it. A friend of mine also suggested using Rubbing Alcohol.
So I tried something new last night – mango salsa with freshly minced jalapenos. It turned out great . . . . but at a price! I didn’t realize how much my hands would burn! I couldn’t touch anything without feeling any pain. I tried soaking my hands in milk. Nothing! The excrutiating pain lasted since 2 p.m. yesterday afternoon until 9 a.m. this morning. Now, the pain’s subsided a little bit. I still feel like my fingernails and fingertips are radiating heat. Had I known my contact lenses would be affected, I would’ve had my husband take them out for me. I so wanted to rip my eyeball out this morning!
I was just up this evening trying to cure my burning “jalepeno hands”! It hurts like hell, but it’s funny that so many people found your blog when they googled trying to find help! I just actually rubbed my hands down with pepto-bismol and have actually found some relief. Not completely gone, but definately eased. Hope that helps other gomers like myself who prepared Jalepenos with no gloves. . .
Ok I’m not very encouraged to see that no one has a remedy for this BURNING!!! My hands are ok, probably because they are used to harsh chemicals and such but my eye and my nostrils ARE ON FIRE!! I washed my hands several times after cutting up my jalapeno’s for pico but it didn’t seem to help. I was actually mad at my wife for buying foo foo soap. I thought if I only had real soap this wouldn’t have happened. After reading the stories I think I owe my wife an apology. I tried sugar in the nostrils because ice cubes wouldn’t fit and I remember seeing contestants at a hot sauce contest emptying packets of sugar into their mouth to kill the burn. That was a bit messy and didn’t really help. I’m just waiting it out with wet tissue stuffed in my nose. Oh and thanks to Mayoclinic.com for a quick reference to wearing gloves and a chili recipie. Big help!!
UPDATE: reader Kimberly writes:
“After having the same problem, I found if you rub your hands on a stainless steel bar, sink, bowl… anything the pain goes away immediately. I would love for someone to be able to find this remedy before they go through the hours of pain like I did.”
I made salsa this morning and chopped and removed seeds from 12 jalapeno peppers. My hands were burnimg so badly I could hardly stand it. I tried acrtone, vinegar, alcohol, milk, soda and all helped for a few minutes,but did not cure my problem. I tried Caladryal lotion and got instant relief! It has been three hours and I am still free of pain. I thought this might help someone else!
I learned a lesson. I cut up 25 jalapenos w/o gloves on last night and my hands are killing me now. I’ve tried everything–rubbing alcohol, milk, tomato juice, all types of soaps and cleaners, grapefruit and lemons and nothing is working.. this really sucks. Does anyone have any cures? Is there a cure? hindsight is 20/20 and I won’t be doing this again.
Steve,
Thx for the hand sanitizer suggestion. I cut and cleaned 2 doz jalapenos this afternoon at 1pm to stuff with feta cheese and bbq on the grill (try it, btw…they are GREAT! The feta cuts the burn when you eat them). I did not feel a burn earlier today cos i thought I was smart to wash my hands throughout…but I just happened to remove my contacts! OUCH! Never again will I try that the same day! after grabbing saline and dousing my eye (it is okay now)…my hands started to burn. Dont know why it just started..anyway ran across a site that said Rubbing Alchohol was best to cut the “capsacin oil”. I did not have any and kept searching until I read your entry and found that I DID have hand sanitizer!
Thanks! It worked wonders (dousing my hands…not just the single press of the pump … 10 presses worth got the sting out.).
Guess it is glasses for the next couple of days until my eye heals!
OMG, I cut 2 jalapenos up tonight for spaghetti(in attempt to make spaghetti half as good as my father’s) and my hands have been burning ever since. I tried everything, milk, oil, noxema, shampoo, dawn, liquid antacid… nothing work. Went to the Pharmacy and asked them what they thought… he laughed at me. Just used the hand sanitizer. This is the best fix yet. Not completely normal, but cut the burn greatly!
I recently found a cure (the hard way) for jalapeno hands: Calamine Lotion. It’s a drying lotion intended for poison ivy or mosquito bites, but it also worked on my burning hands. It took the sting out right away. NONE of the other remedies I found on the internet worked, but the Calamine did.
Here’s my original post about it: http://yaktalk.blogspot.com/2007/08/jalapeno-hands-something-that-actually.html
Try it….trust me, you’ll have immediate relief.
I went through the “jalapeno hands” torment two nights ago. I tried calamine lotion and it didn’t work for me at all. Maybe everyone reacts differently to different solutions, or maybe it only helps with mild burns. I also tried vinegar, milk, yogurt, bleach, soap, orange juice, coke, and vegetable oil – none of which helped. As long as I kept my hand submersed in cold milk, it was fine. But as soon as I took it out – the pain returned! The only thing that seems to work is time. Sadly, all I can suggest is remembering to wearing gloves when you handle jalapenos!
I cut up about 4 jalapenos, with gloves, and accidentally rubbed the oil all over my lips and nose. It was horrible. The minute I would take ice off of my lips, the pain would return. I tried yogurt and milk, but they didn’t help. The burning continued for another hour or so. I then tried pasting on baking soda, and continued to keep ice on it. It actually helped me a lot.
I am the latest victim of the jalapeno pepper. I cut cut up about 10 jalopenos for salsa. All was fine, and then the burning pain hit. I came on the internet to look for a remedy. I can totally relate to all of your stories. My left hand is on fire. I am trying hard not to touch any other part of me, especially my eyes! Now I am glad I was wearing glasses when I was chopping because a few times the juice squirted me right in the face. I tried the lime juice, yogart, caladryl, stainless steel, and the rubbing alcohol. The alcohol took the pain away for a few minutes, but now it is back! I am not looking forward to suffering with this pain for the next several hours…it really is a bad burn! I can’t believe there is nothing I can do to stop this! There should be a warning with these things!! Ice cold water feels good, but doesn’t make it go away! Lesson learned.
I finely “french cut” jalapenos to deep fry (Texas toothpicks). That was at 5:30 pm. My hands are burning so badly that I tried looking up help. I found this website and tried the hand sanitizer. It worked for the backs of my hands, but the palms are still burning. Going to try more. My thanks goes out to everyone who has had suggestions. And my pitty to all who are experiencing the pain of the jalapeno meanies.
This is NUTS! I thought I’d make some fresh salsa for lunch and not only seeded and sliced the raw jalapeno not know what I was in for, I went ahead and used my hand to mix it up because we were at camp and I couldn’t find a suitable spoon. Yeah!!! That burns!
My husband of course has no sympathy thinking I’m being a wimp and just dismisses my complaining that my hand is on FIRE, not to mention when when I wiped my eye without thinking.
Well, isn’t this interesting. He wanted another batch to snack on tonight so I said fine, as long as he cut the pepper this time. He was fine ’till he wiped his hand across his face. So, now his face is on fire and he’s been running around the house for a half hour begging me to find something to make the burn stop. Apparently THIS is the worst pain ever felt according to him.
He finally tried putting baby powder on let it set, wash it off and reapply it every couple minutes. It seems to have dried up the oil and eased the burn.
I, too, got the jalapeno hands. I wore gloves to clean 1lb of the little devils while making chow-chow. As I pushed them through the grinder the juice coated every nook and cranny of my hands. Now I am in misery.
The pear chow-chow turned out delish but the pain is not worth it. Will try to calamine lotion as I do not have hand sanitizer around the house.
BEWARE ALL!
This is a really, truly painful experience. I am holding/drinking a cold beer which feels better, but is hardly a cure.
I made the mistake once of eating a hot sauce called ‘endorphine rush’ that made burn mark literally under my nostrils. I was breathing fire!
The ‘rush’ attained was not worth having a numb mouth for three days…
Hola from Acapulco. living in Acapulco has opened a new world of culinary facination for me. i have fallen victim to Jalepeno hands a few times now. Nothing major until today. Today I cut up one jalepeno and added it to some mango salsa I was making. It was especially hot on my hands and caused great lament. I read a post above that mentions rubbing your hands on stainless steel appliances. i have a stainless counter top and rubbed my hands on it for about 30 seconds and immediately began to feel relief. Upon 30-45 seconds completion time I quit rubbing them on the counter. The relief was rapid there after and was measurable. So now that i feel so much better I think I will continue to enjoy this icey cold Vodka Tonic with limes picked from the tree outside my door. If you ever move to Mexico i highly recommend getting a place with a mature lime tree. Trust me, you will need them. Oh, and limes do nothing but cause Jalepeno hands to be worse. They do however go well with Corona. We are getting alot of rain down here, I love it. Acapulco is sexy in the rain.
Cheers Bebe..
I tried everything for my lip and nostrils burning from the jalapeno I cut at 8am. I decided to go ahead a take a shower. The hot water did hurt. Afterwards I used my Neutrogena Clear Pore oil-eliminating astringent on it and the pain and heat went away. However, I did get a hot spot on the back of my hand and it has not completely stop it. Hope this helps.
I just had the worst experience cleaning jalepenos….I stopped, rinsed my hands in water to blow my nose. I ended up with my nose, lips, cheeks and under my eyes on fire! I tried everything I could think of and nothing was working. I called my sister and both of us were looking everywhere on the internet for a solution before I went to the hospital. Well, we found a solution! I covered the burning area with honey and almost instantly the burning stopped. Truly amazing.
I found the cure for “Jalepeno Hand”!
Don’t mess with the lemon juice, bleach, etc. Now I know this may seem counter intuitive, but I was on a garden web site forum (http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg081330274973.html) and they recommended running your hand under hot water. The Capsacin oil breaks down and comes off the skin. My hand, fingers and cuticle areas were all burning. I ran my hand under hot water (not steaming hot) but warm hot.It was painful, but I did it 5 times in 5 second intervals using soap. After that my thumb which was the worst still hurt some, but the rest of the pain was gone soon after drying my hands.
So we tried hand sanitizer, milk, butter, vitamin E oil, tanning oil, washing with soap, ice water, frozen towel, rubbing stainless steel, and ranch dressing. Hand sanitizer BURNED!!!! Milk, ice water, frozen towel all felt good until I removed my hand from them. Ranch dressing not advised… stainless steel… NOT. Its so bad my husband is typing for me as we try to find something to help. It has been about 6 hours and still hurts as bad as in the beginning. I guess it looks like the only option is waiting it out.
I cannot believe how many of us there are! I must say I am probably one of the biggest fools here. I was watching a Paula Deen show the other day and she warned everyone to wear gloves when cutting jalapenos. My husband says “What a baby she is. Jalapeno’s aren’t even that hot.” I shake my head in agreement. That Paula Deen sure is a baby. So tonight I am making Baja Beans for dinner. Only 1 Jalapeno (I am so lucky). Yum tastes great. But then my hands start burning. Paula’s show starts playing over and over in my head…oh crap! She is not a baby she is an intelligent woman. So here I am like everyone else trying to find a remedy. So far the rubbing on stainless works the best for me. Weird. Good Luck everyone. Embrace the pain.Oh and next time let’s wear gloves
I know this is at the bottom, but the suggestions above didn’t help as much as bakingsoda in water did for me.
Maybe tomarrow I shall have relief. This is horrible. Calagel (for poison oak) helps a little, for a minute!
Me again! I just found another site. Tecnu, a wash for poison oak, ivy and sumac, this really works. All the others from above helped for a second. This actually took the burning away!! Try it!!
We grow Jalapenos for a variety of uses including cream cheese poppers. We have found through trial and mostly error nothing works better than gloves and even then sometimes the oil gets through. If you process these little firecrackers do it outside and spred the wash water along fences or decks as a critters repellant. Usually, the water is what starts the heat process so wash and dry them after all peppers are deseeded. Another tip is to throw the wash clothes and hand towels into the laundry after use as others may get some on them from the towels. I learned this after my entire face and eyes began to burn the next day when I wiped my face with a towel I had dried my hands on the day before and had been using gloves.
Wow, I cut a jalepeno once and didn’t have any problems. Tonight I cut up one for dinner and all hell has broken loose. The fumes started burning mine and my husbands lungs. I had a runny nose, so I washed my hands and blew my nose. I ended up with burning hands, nose, and mouth. My husband and I took a benadryll and that seems to have helped the lungs. Also, the dinner was a chicken soup, and the chicken broth seems to have helped my lungs and my nose as well. Nothing was working for my hands until I tried the hand sanatizer. Thanks for that suggestion. Now I have learned that my apartment is too small and too poorly ventelated to cook with jalepenos again.
Thank God for all you boneheads who, like me, had that “Doh!” moment when the pain kept getting worse and worse…
Tonight I minced 4 jalapenos to make homemade salsa for a friend’s going away party. No gloves. Didn’t burn at first. Slowly discovered, much to my horror, that this wasn’t a ‘brief discomfort’ that would ‘go away in a minute or two…’
In my middle-of-the-night attempt to find a home remedy, Google brought me to your site (top of the results list for “jalapeno burn,” I might add!) The rubbing alcohol worked. Not completely gone, but I’ll probably be able to get some sleep tonight.
I’m just darn glad I took my contacts out and went to the bathroom before I started cooking!
Thanks to all of you who posted remedies — one of which is actually working for me! My husband is a pharmacist, and I’m going to make SURE he knows what to tell folks if he’s ever asked what to do about jalapeno hands…!
After several hours of excrutiating pain, a call to poison control, and absolutely no relief, despite having tried every suggestion on this page, my husband came up with a BRILLIANT suggestion that worked instantly. He had me coat my throbbing hands with Benzoyl Peroxide – like the stuff you find in Oxy or other acne drying medicines. I left the stuff on my hands for about 5 minutes, and it dried up all of that pesky pepper oil – INSTANT RELIEF. I did one more precautionary treatment, rinsed, went to bed, and awoke pain-free.
I hope this works for everyone as well as it worked for me!!!
I just cut up 4 of the hottest japelanos and suffering fro all that is mentioed above. I tried the hand saitizer, it works for a few minutes and burns again. I tried vineger, no good. I am ow in the process of soakig my hand i a mixture of baking soda and water. Alternated with baking soda poured directly on the hand. It does bring relief
Tonight my roommate and I made two batches of and super spicy jalapeño poppers and the burning set in about an hour ago, especially on my right index finger and thumb. After trying dish-soap, alcohol, vinegar, hand sanitizer, stainless steel and left over cream-cheese from the poppers, I remembered when my brother got stung by a jellyfish in Australia…. Okay, this might sound a little bit crazy, but I was desperate and the pain was only getting worse; if your hands are burning as bad as mine were two hours ago I’m sure you will understand what I did next.
I peed on my hands. Yes thats right, pee.
Initially, the heat from the urine increased the burning. I left the pee on my hands for about 1 minute until I couldn’t take it anymore and I rinsed them about 5 times. The burning COMPLETELY stopped in less than 5 minutes. I know it sounds gross but if you are in pain and nothing is working, just try it.
Tomatoes, the acid in tomatoes counter acts and gets rid of the sting! Fresh tomatoes or canned or even tomato juice.
Chalk me up as another victom. Only one jalepeno for my pre-game chili & I rubbed the inside of my nose. Lesson learned. Don’t pick your nose after cutting up jalepeno peppers!
You need to get the plant oils off of your fingers. The best way to do this is the same way you’d get poison ivy oil off your fingers: with Technu or Burts Bees Poison Ivy Soap. I’m really surprised the hospital didn’t think of that. It could’ve saved you a lot of pain.
I made those jalepeno poppers for the first time , 35 peppers, and I did not use gloves because I cut up one or two lots of time for salsa with no problem. Anyway, it started making my hands burn while I was making them, but I had to finish to go to my Baptist church for the ladies night fellowship. That was 6 hours ago I started, and it has been terrible. 20 ladies were giving me suggestions, also about half said they were too hot to eat,even though I removed all the seed with my fingers. I was telling them this feels like I just burned them in the oven and it won’t stop. Man, it really hurts. I drove home and it seemed better so I decided to wash the dishes and carefully with a knife get all the seeds into the trash, anyway, not a good idea, now my hands are burning again. I’m so glad I repented and trusted in Christ to save me from hell, because I wouldn’t want anyone to experience this, and I know hell (far worse) is imcomprehendibly hot, seperated forever from the only one who can save you, I kept telling the ladies at church that having my hands on fire makes me want to warn everyone that they do not want to go to hell. So I’m thankful for all the suggestions, tried hand sanitizer, aloe gel, still burning but I will go see what else I can find. I’m really glad the Lord saved me from hell, but I’m even more glad that my sin, that was going to put me there, was done away with because of Jesus thought I was worth it, and He willingly went to the cross for me. ( and you too) I’ve known him since I was eleven and I’d have to say; he really did come to give me life, and life more abundantly John 10:10. My hand are still burning, but I feel better now, when I think about how much he loves me. He is truly God.
Jalapeno poppers got me. My hands were also burning. I read through the stories of all that have come before me after i had tried washing my hands in warm/cold water with no relief. I rubbed some Benadryl cream on my hands and read some more ideas on this page. I have to say, I tried the HOT water with soap idea. I filled the sink with soap and HOT water, and put my hands in it for 5-10 seconds at a time and then took them out rubbing the soap in. I did this about 10 times. After drying my hands the burning is completely gone! Thanks for the advice!
….now lets see if my eyes burn when i take my contacts out later…
The contacts thing really, really, really sucks. I have worked in kitchens my entire life, and have cut numerous amounts of jalapenos; but, last night has started a new chapter in my life. I have never felt such a sensation on my hands or even in my eyes when attempting to put in my contacts.
My heart goes out to you 5 pound jalapeno-ers! I only chopped a half of an jalapeno and my hands were ON FIRE! The only reason I can sleep tonight is because of the advice received here. Before reading these ideas I tried soap, gojo, baking soda, burts bees hand salve, and aloe more than once. stainless steel didnt work for me but hand sanitizer did after many layers. I went out to buy latex gloves to use when I take out my contacts later. Thank you to all the fellow jalapeno handers out there, I’m so glad to know that I am not alone!
My girlfriend made me some chili tonight and decided that some jalapeños would be a good idea. They were! It was awesome. She’s great. However… She used one whole jalapeño. Shortly after her left hand had a very unpleasant burning sensation. Long story short, it was like everyone else’s burning sensation (only in the hand though).
We tried vinegar, vegetable oil, olive oil, ice, and FINALLY the hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer took the burning from the “I-wish-I-was-dead” level to a “Oh-that’s-unpleasant-and-I-wish-it-wasn’t-happening-but-at-least-I-can-stand-the-pain” level. So out of all of the suggestions and what-not, go for the hand sanitizer. It helps!
Ok, another jalapeno chopping idiot here, looking for relief. I was ok until I got my hands wet 2 hours later, now, owie. This was my first time chopping the little buggers, never, EVER again. I thought wearing gloves was a bit overly cautious, and mainly to protect your eyes if you accidentally swiped them later, I didn’t know the damn things just BURNED. I have tried so far: lime juice, alcahol, hot water washing, and calamine. The calamine made it worse! It seems just getting them wet is what’s activating it. Every remedy feels good for a few seconds, especially alcohol. In desperation, I dunked my fingers in a tub of margarine, it felt sublime! But didn’t last (probably because I washed it off). I guess I am stuck wearing my contacts all night, and I wonder, is everything I’ve touched cursed with this horrendous oil??
owwww
Here I am, thinking I am the biggest idiot alive but it looks like I have company. stupid stupid stupid.
“wear gloves” she said. Now I get to hear “I told you” so all Sunday long.
Oh and more good advise, Let her hold it for you when you take a leak. Now I am sitting at the computer try to find out what else to wash myself with. Okay. SHE WAS RIGHT! I will never tell her but I will mention it to you other wives on this forum.
Technu worked great. Definately worth the money! If you are looking at this post and suffering, find a 24 hour walgreens in your area and make the trip. Made my day much better!
Oww it burns!!! Who would have thought such small peppers could cause such pain. Yesterday, I cut up two jalapeños w/o gloves and wouldn’t you know – I started to experience a burning under my nails 2 hours later. The pain has lasted through today. I just tried soaking my fingertips in straight bleach hoping that will work. I think I will try some of the tips you all have left. Next time, I’ll be sure to wear gloves. I didn’t realize jalapeños caused burns. Man, I’ve cut the peppers before and did not have this problem. Gosh, how stupid.
Good lord! I, like the many others here, have found this through a google search. Hand sanitizer, I shall tackle you and make you work for my burning.
So, good story. As we ate our dinner last night, complete with jalepeños, we shared some stories of past “‘peño hands” experiences. My friend, a lesbian, shared a humorous story regarding a delicious dinner followed by some not-so-delicious post-grub sex. Laughing at the pain, with her—not against, I headed to the head to #1. Wouldn’t you know it, I got my karma.
Maybe we should do some AdCouncil awareness or public-info website regarding “los manos de ‘peños.”
Caladryl lotion. It’s amazing. It totally makes all feel better!!!!
Feces and urine are the key to helping jalepeno burns. It cured my hands almost instantly after I ran into my backyard and picked up some dog poop and rubbed it all over my hands. Right afterwards I rinsed it out with some pee. Sure, it’s not completely sanitary, but it stopped the burn.
Try azule oil. My hands were burning horribly last night after cutting up some jalapenos. I have a very low pain tolerance and I tried many things listed above to ease the pain. I finally remembered this wonderful oil I used after I wax my legs in the summer. The azule oil comes with the Sally Hansen wax from Walgreens. It soothes the burn insantly and about ten minutes later the burn was gone completely. You can also buy the oil from day spas however it is much cheaper from Walgreens.
add me to the list…the baby powder worked well for me, which makes sense since powder soaks up liquids, water, and so on…it hasn’t stopped burning completely but it’s a lot more tolerable. I also tried using different cremes for eczema and even an antifungal lotion which also seemed to take the edge off. it’s under my nails that’s the most painful. I didn’t even try the lemons and didn’t have any caladryl lotion so….good luck
I made a bunch of jalapeno poppers for a snack before T-Day dinner, and they were great, however, as with the rest of the people in the comments table, my hands are on fire.. These things should come with warnings and have gloves available at the pepper stand in the market. I am extremely tolerant of pain, so its only a minor distraction to me, but I figured I would check if there was some easy remedy and came across this blog.. I almost fell out of my chair lauging at how many comments you had with the same thing!
Hey guys, my wife did the same as you all….She tried everything from milk to alcohol and nothing worked…but rubbing your hand across stainless steel immediately got rid of the pain and burn. We just used a stainless steel coffee mug
Hahaha. that story is gold.
Honey worked the best for me. Thanks for the tip. I have an apartment devoid of anything remotely medical or hand sanitizerish, and I can’t leave to the pharmacy because the chili is still cooking. I tried lemon, baking soda, and even poured cheap tequila over my face, because it was the closest thing I have to rubbing alcohol. I had resorted to drowning myself in a bowl of milk to aleviate the pain (my nose and lips were affected), but the honey has finally worked. Now I just have a slight hotspot in my ear, where I apparently stuck my finger while cooking (I know, not very hygenic!). However, I am rather hesitant to spread honey in my ear, so I think I’ll wait out that comparitively small nuisance. Good luck to everyone.
As with almost everyone else here, I’ve chopped jalapenos before; thought, “I don’t need no steenkeen’ gloves!”; and have come to this site in search of a cure for the pain that won’t go away. I endured 4 hours of burning with intermittent relief (for seconds or minutes depending on the remedy I tried) then finally gave in to the ‘final resort’: Using medications. I reasoned that the pain itself involves neuropathic, or nerve pain and also may involve the histamines, or allergic reactions. I took the meds prescibed for my restless leg syndrome (gabapentin/Neurontin) and diphenhydramine/Benadryl; put Benedryl gel on my hands then puttered around the house until I got sleepy. I still needed to put Benedryl gel at my bedside, coating my hands at various intervals, but basically slept for 8 hours and awakened pain-free.
Bless you all! You provided remedies and fellowship and a lot of ideas for jalapeno recipes. Remember to DOUBLE GLOVE (wear 2 pair of latex or plastic gloves) and WARN YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT ‘JALAPENO HANDS’!
I don’t feel so stupid then. I got the oil in my EYES!!! I literally couldn’t breathe for maybe 5 minutes but just continually flushing my face with cold water and keeping a cold washcloth on it helped. That was about an hour and half ago that I did this and my fingers are still tingling. It’s not that bad. It’s bearable. But I can totally sympathise with the pain. It felt like someone poured hot oil in my face. I can understand now why they use peppers for spray..lol.
How about Calamine lotion? I know it worked for me for a sunburn so maybe it will help for pepper hands and in my case, peper face..lol.
I tried the Calamine lotion. Initial relief and then burn again. I tried alcohol and the stainless steel. Hand sanitizer too. The only thing giving me relief unfortunately is an ice pack. I’ll go try the baby powder and if that doesn’t do anything, I’ll stick with my ice pack. For sure I’ll have on gloves the next time.
Just tried the following with some success (pain free for half an hour now): wet hands with cold water, coat with baking soda and wash clean with milk. Apply more baking soda.
My turn to suffer…..nothing is working for me. The baking soda does ease it a bit, but only for a few minutes. I have tried the hand sanitizer, alcohol, honey…everything except Calamine lotion which I don’t have. Best advise I have is grab a cold beer, hold it where it hurts, then drink it and start over! I’m on my third one and it’s definitely getting more tolerable!
Ok, my turn I only sliced 6 jalapenos they were tho ones in the can not raw and my fingers were burning as if they were on fire!! I sliced a lemon soaked them and relized I had the Neutagena face sope so I used that as well … pain is gone … !
try mustard. it seemed to work for me…
This happened to me and I thought I was going to call 911. My husband said to check the net and here I am. I scrubbed my hands with a washcloth and soap then applied solarcaine aloe (for sunburns) then I mixed water with baking soda and it is relieving the pain enough to be tolerable. What a way to start Christmas Eve.
Okay, I cleaned and deep fried 35-40 crab stuffed jalepenos around 2:00 pm. My hands were on fire within and hour…I tried lemon juice…didn’t bother with the milk. I decided to try TOMATO PASTE not sauce. I have to say I was surprised, it actually took alot of the sting away almost immediately. I of course used half of the 6 oz can. I just rubbed in like any hand lotion, then rinsed and repeated several times. It worked for me. Hope this helps someone who makes this mistake.
Another success story with the hand sanitizer. It worked immediately (after trying baking soda, milk, limes, and hot water). I’m hosting a New Year’s Eve party tonight and was terrified that I’d have to walk around with an ice pac on my hand.
Do NOT!!!! do limes/lime juice. It made the burning so much worse and more widespread.
So yea. Hand Sanitizer. Best of luck everyone!
So, here I am on a wonderful ski vacation in Steamboat Springs, I decide to bake jalapenos with the cream cheese and bacon etc. and get a case of jalapeno hands ! I tried everything just like everybody else on this blog and finally got to hand sanitizer. So far it’s the winner. I’ve been outside in a blizzard off and on all day with my hands in the snow just to be able to stand the pain! Forget pain killers, you can’t take enough to get you out of your misery unless you OD on morphine. Try the sanitizer..I’ve been pain free for an hour now.
I had the exact same thing happen to me yesterday. I had never felt burning like that before and the only relief was from keeping them under water or with ice in my hands. i could not touch anything remotely warm because the burning would increase, not even my own face. It burned to go outside because it was so hot out there that the air killed (live in Australia). I went to a pharmacy was was told to rub milk or olive oil on them. I did that but they burned even more from the rubbing. So I called a different pharcamy and was told that the best thing would be to put them in warm water. I had to let the burning continue if I was going to get over it, the faster it burned, the faster I would feel better. Can’t say I was crazy to hear that news, but it worked. For about an hour I didn’t put anything on my hands, they burned like mad, but it finally stopped too. Hope this helps someone….
Wanda
Many years ago, I worked as a waiter as a popular Tex Mex restaurant. One day when the poor kid who was chopping jalapenos for nachos came out of the washroom in tears because he, well I guess you can figure out what happened – and that was just with the pickled ones. I’ve told the story many times, and boy do I feel bad now that I have a bit of an idea of what he must have been going through. Here I am on holidays in Mexico and I decided to buy some fresh jalapenos to put in my fajitas. I diced one very finely without taking any precations. Afterwards, I carefully wahsed my hands twice. Midway through dinner, I noticed a slight tingling on my hands. It gradually got worse and worse (particuarly around my fingernails), but from what I have read here, I think I got off pretty lightly. I thank God (literally) that I did not have my contacts in and that I did not have to go to the washroom. I am also grateful for the suggestions that have been provided here. From the other responses, it seems that the top three remedies are #1 hand sanitizer, #2 stainless steel, with calamine lotion as a distant #3. Astringent also looked interesting because it is used to cut oil. I had already tried milk, because I thought it would possibly neutralize the acidic oil. It gave temporary relief, as did ice water. I decided to try a few of the remedies listed here to see what worked best. I tried hand sanitizer on one hand and astringent on the other. Both offered partial relief. Then I decided to try the stainless steel on one hand (even though this remedy seemed to make the least sense). To my amazement, it worked! Then I tried the hand sanitizer again on the other hand. That also cleared it up. I’m sitting here 15 minutes later completely free of pain. That being said, I am going to wear my glasses instead of contacts again tomorrow – just in case. Hopefully others who are in pain can find this site! In the future, I will think twice before laughing at the misfortune of others – after all, we reap what we sow! (Galatians 6:7)
i had this same problem after slicing about 1 pound of jalapenos, the pain lasted well into this morning. as i was getting ready, doing my hair i had to use hairspray because i was out of my pomade. so i guarded my eyes from the spray with my left hand, then went to find my belt. as i put my belt on i relized my left thumb which had been in excruciating pain no longer hurt. so out of curiosity i sprayed my right hand with the same hairspray (”proffessional” hairspray aerosol it’s what was on sale at wal-mart at the time). it’s now been 11 hours since i sprayed and have washed my hand numerous times and no burn to be mentioned
Ihave tried all of the aforementioned suggestions and nothing has worked!
Help!
Soaking in astringent worked great. I only chopped one of those little boogers and it got under my fingernails – talk about some serious pain!! I can’t imagine how much worse it was for some of you, those are some crazy stories! Thanks for sharing and best of luck finding relief!
I have now joined the Jalapeno Hand of fame email with all of you!
I actually feel better reading all your stories…..thanks for the laughs…I feel better knowing I’m not the only one out there!
Hands still burning………..
This blog entry was a godsend, as I just happened to be incredibly stupid and not use gloves while chopping up jalapenos for chili, but I believe I’ve found the perfect remedy – Lysol Food Surface Sanitizer! I didn’t have any calamine lotion, but I tried everything else we had, and I was dying of pain until I sprayed my hands with Lysol and waited 60 seconds, according to the directions. I’m pain-free!
I am so glad that you guys understand the pain of Jalapeno hands it isnt something that you can explain to anyone unless they have expirenced it. My husband says I am over reacting about the burning pain in both of my hands after deseeding 15 peppers with my hands. I did this 5 hrs ago and still burning.the best relief is cold water, but only when my hands are in it. I take them out and the burn is back and maybe worse. I would rather be giving birth.
okay, I am finally cured. After hours of pain I rubbed alcohol 70% like 3 times, Felt good then burned again then sour cream was the magic relief for me. I coated my hands in it twice. Oh, the joy I felt. I don’t know if it was because it was done like 6 hrs into the burning terror that made it work but who cares, I have total relief. I hope this helps someone else. The other things I tried were milk, vinegar, baking soda, stainless still, hand sanitizer(helped a little) alovera plant and gel, hot water (sucked bad)
Oh my God! thanks for the belly laughs! My left hand and eye have been burning since I made guacamole and chile for the superbowl yesterday. The burning made its way up my fingers and woke me from my sleep, but I’d say the pain has been worth it because it compelled me to find this page, and I can always benefit from a healthy dose of laughter! Thanks!
I hope everyone enjoyed the poppers at the super bowl party, but I’ve been 24 hours with intermittant pain. It seems that getting my hands wet continues to trigger the burning. Taking a shower this morning triggered at least an hour of pain, and doing the dishes tonight triggered it again, although washing my hands throughout the day after using the restroom didn’t seem to trigger any pain. The hand sanitizer helped marginally tonight, but there is still discomfort 15 minutes after a heavy dousing. Stay away from getting your hands wet for long periods of time even the day after you are exposed!
I had a similar problem last night, albeit not as severe as yours. My jalepeno hand was localized to just my left hand but when I put lip gloss on it caused me to have jalepeno lips. I also had a burning hand for the better part of the night – hence the reason I found your site. Fortunately ice soothed it somewhat. I only cleaned 2 peppers so I can imagine what it would have been like if I did all that you did. The odd thing is while I felt the reaction a bit all day it intensified at night.
Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. Keep the comments coming…
Alcohol…rubs hands together…repeat. This works!!!!
you lot are making the mistake of putting it on your hands.. drink lots of water. it wont stop it or anything but if you drink lots of water to flush it out of your system it’ll reduce the reaction time. it worked a treat for me last night and this night.
It has now been 24 hours since my jalepeno hands started. It is true, nothing really works. The only advice I have is try keeping your hands as cool as possible. My hands only burn if I get warm. I stayed outside in the cold today and had no problem until I got inside and started a fire. Now my hands are bathing in an ice bath. If I cool my body temp, it definatly gives some relief. It sure is an experience like no other. The pain is almost unberable. Good luck to all and remember WEAR GLOVES!
okay everyone i have the answer you are looking for – i hope for your sakes.
i didn’t burn my hands on jalapenos but on chili peppers so maybe it’s not the same, but after calling the emergency nurse for my insurance company and her suggestions did not work at all (can you believe it’s in a medical database somewhere to soak your hands in vegetable oil?) – i was visiting my mom, and was putting my hands in cold water (again) and so my mom called my uncle who’s a doctor in the middle of the night.
he didn’t know what to do but he said to call poison control.
the poison control lady told my mom she knew exactly the condition she was talking about and that even though it sounded really weird, to have me soak my hands in maalox or mylanta for 20 minutes. she said it does something to your nerve endings. my mom went out to buy the maalox.
by the time she was home, having soaked my hands in cold water for twenty minutes actually eased the pain and i thought it was fine. i went to bed and put my hands under the covers and they started to burn again!
so i poured out the entire bottle and soaked my hands for twenty minutes. the pain really was gone and this was days ago so it’s def not back. my hands did feel a little weird though for the next 24 hrs – she was right about the nerve endings – they just felt a teensy bit numb.
i had actually done this once before (i am the only one on here who has done this twice!) and rubbing alcohol totally did the trick, but it did nothing this time.
do the maalox, i’m telling you.
I chopped up a few jalapenos this morning. Went to the bathroom. Noticed a bit of a burning sensation in the nether regions. The burning increased to an unbearable level. Two hours later, I was sweating profusely and couldn’t stand the pain anymore. A friend recommended bananas. Peeled one, mashed the fruit into a balm and coated my junk. Within a few minutes, the burning and redness were gone. An effective treatment, and an interesting way to use a banana.
Contact lens wearers beware!!! I chopped one jalapeno w/o gloves and washed my hands right after. There was no sensation on my hands at all and I didn’t even think about it. I wasn’t wearing my contacts at this time and a couple hours later went to put them in… the second I put the first one in it was searing, my eyelid snapped shut and wouldn’t open. I was almost screaming and somehow managed to pry my eyelid open and get the lens off. After splashing with water the burning subsided, but my eye was blood red and watering for a good 15 minutes. I contaminated my lens and this was hours after contact with the pepper and washing! Later the same night after having scrubbed my hands with many products, I rubbed my nose and it started burning! Never without gloves again. Never.
Haha, I too found this site while searching for a jalapeño hands cure. I read most of the replies, and nothing helped.
Then I thought I should give some ammonia a shot, since its basic and may bind the oil. Put some Afterbite (which is just ammonia in a gel) on, and stupidly took a quick whiff of my hands to see if it was working. I instantly got a head full of jalapeño-scented burning, and my hands immediately stopped burning (for the most part, just a little under my nail now).
The sink thing did work. I just rubbed my hands on the sink and they do feel much better. I am going to do that every so often and hope it helps. Thanks!
i find myself laughing at all these stories as my hands, under my nails, and eyes continue to burn! victim #95
My Goodness! It’s funny and not so at the same time, to have found this blog and all of the experiences everyone has had with Jalapeno Hands.
Last night around 7pm I minced just 1 Jalapeno for some delicious salsa. I took a little nibble to test the hotness of the pepper and realized it was far too hot for my boyfriend. I then removed about 1/2 of the minced pepper with my bare hand and an hour later I felt like my fingers were on FIRE!
I soaked them in ice cold water and that felt good but when I took them out they still burned.
I tried coconut oil because I know that fat in milk, and chocolate helps to cool a burning tounge, it only got worse!
I tried rubbing alcohol, that felt good for a little while.
Then at 10:30pm right before bed, I used Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap because peppermint has a cooling effect, it felt good only while my hands were wet.
I also had some Peppermint Hand lotion from philosophy so I put that on right before I turned off the lights for the night.
I woke up this morning and My boyfirned asked it my hands were burning. I said no but after I took a shower 8:30am the burning sensation came back.
Now at 10:15 am I find comfort in knowing that I am not the only one who has had this experience. I know that only time will cool my Jalapeno Hands and eagerly approach the day in hopes of relief.
I will always remember this and vow never to handle this hazardous pepper without gloves again!
Wow, whoda thought so many people go through this! Yes I’m feeling the burn too – I made chili using Rotel tomatoes and green chilis. My husband can’t have seeds of any kind so I separated the seeds from the tomatoes and chilis under running water, never thinking about the fact that there’s CHILI PEPPERS in there! It really just tingled for awhile, but later after I cleaned up and washed dishes in hot soapy water my hands began to feel like they’re on fire! I’ve tried most of the remedies, everything works for a few seconds and then back to the burn – worst part is I’ve burned my hands with fresh jalapenos before so I should have known better!
Hand sanatizer is amazing … thanks to who ever suggested it!
lmao! When it starts burring, wash your hands with an oil repellant soap & cold water (closing your pores) and then leave it alone. Do not start washing your hands with hot water and a 1000 soaps, this opens the pores and spreads the burring, all the chemicals, and scrubbing are contributing to the burning. If it’s just too much pain.. try a bag of ice. It’s the only thing that works for me. My left hand was on fire tonight.. it lasted about 2 hours.
But… I’ve heard that if you let your dog lick your hands for a minute or so, and let the dog saliva set for a minute. Then wash your hands with cold water and apply the ice bag. the enzymes in the dogs saliva will actually begin to break down the burning oils and drastically degrees the burning time. I donno tho.. try it..
i now my hand has been on f ing fire for12&/ hours it hurts can sleep just acedimedaphen for pain not helping lol
back tryed everything i had that so sujested and not hepling don’t have hand sanitizer bec’s jids use it all lol have baby powder now husband is going to shit in the morning if i don’t clean it lol
thanks everyone good luck
I am having a bit of luck with pouring rubbing alcohol into my hands an scrubbing it around and then using milk of magnesia. I don’t have any hand santizer but think the alcohol cut the oils and the milk of magnesia is soothing the burn.
I’m writing this with the pads of two fingers because i can’t curl my hands enough to type properly. i officially hate my “spicy bean salad” that required three deveined/deseeded jalapeno peppers with a passion. i’ve tried everything: milk, lemon juice, hot water, cold water, baking soda paste… and while some things provide temporary relief, i end up having to roll around, waving my hands frantically to get the burning to ease up.
it really does make me feel better to know that i’m not the only one who took a dummy pill and forgot to glove up before handling the chilies. now if i could only figure out how long the burning lasts…..
Unbelievably i own a mexican restaurant and have no cure. my wife diced and cleaned 30 japs and is only findinf solace in margaritas. when i asked my chef how he does it and why did he let my wife do that silly thing…he said you get used to it and go on cooking and it goes away. my thought is after trying all of these remedies and still no help, the heat from the kitchen equipment is what really helps but we havent tested the thoery. ps no love for this guy tonight…thats just scary
im typing wth 1 finger as the calamine dries pretty good relief compared to the burning fire i was experiencing just a minute ago THANKS for all the laughs, im wearing gloves from now on!!!
Sad… Victim number 107.
Choped one jalapeno for guacamole, washed hands several times, before handling contacts, but they are contaminated.
Best thing so far is putting milk in a cup, holding it up to my eyes and pouring it in while keeping eyes open…
Not sure if this is good idea, but stopping the burning.
Glad I have a spare set of lens (rigid)
okay well yesterday(sunday) i cut 36 jalepenos for an poppers appitizer for the family and my hands started to burn right around 5:30 till the next day and it now 3:11 p.m. and it is still at a constant burnn what should i do. i need some more suggestions. right now though some ice cold water and sugar and baking soda is working for me. you have to let your hands soak in it though to numb your hands and you wont feel the pain as much.
Victim #109. I’ve never worn gloves to cut jalapenos before and have not had a problem…until tonight. The burn is unbelievable. I’ve tried stainless steel, hand sanitizer, baking soda, oil, lemon, rubbing alcohol, honey, hot water and soap (ouch), and my hand is currently immersed in mashed banana. The latter may have worked for #92’s junk, but it ain’t helping my hand! I am getting desperate, and may wake the bf and send him out for Calamine lotion! Next time, GLOVES!
So funny. Tonight’s my night, apparently! First and foremost: TAKE SOME ADVIL. I tried baking soda, hand sanitizer, milk, lemon juice, and ice water. The ice water helped numb it, but the edge didn’t come off until I took a couple of advil. My hands are still burning, but not nearly as bad as they were. Good luck everyone.
And just fyi: this was a poblano pepper! I’ve roasted and peeled them a million times, but this was apparently some sort of demon-pepper.
HAND SANITIZER…IT WORKS…MAY HAVE TO USE IT A FEW TIMES, BUT IT PUTS THE FIRE OUT. CHIPPY
I too, had the extremely painful burning hands tonight. This has happened before. It doesn’t happen every time I chop jalapenos, so, I forget how bad it can get, and I never have gloves (I’m getting some tomorrow though).
Anyway, my hands were on fire tonight, so I got on the internet to see what to do. On another site concerning this, someone mentioned sucking on your fingers, it seems the saliva helps. So, I did that and it helped a lot. Then I applied peppermint schnapps and the combination seemed to work pretty well. Then I found the hand sanitizer and applied that, and that seemed to do the trick. My hands were burning for about 6 hours, and not getting any better til I used my saliva. Sounds weird, but it was a quick and easy thing to try. Earlier, I had tried the hand washing in hot water, too painful. Soaked my hands in half and half, relief was very brief. Then tried vinegar, also brief relief.
Damn painful stuff!!!
Ok so here I am…another victim to the dreaded jalapenos…I thought I would be a good hostess and make popper for everyone while they waited for dinner to be ready…I had seen on Food Network to wear gloves…which I did…I thought I was so smart…So I am cleaning the peppers…crusing alone…I got a real juicy one and it squirted right in my eye like a grapefruit…my eye was burning so bad right away…I went to the bathroom and put my head under the fauset…the water didnt help…then I remembered when I would eat something spicy to drink milk and that would help…so I take the gallon of milk to the bathroom and start dumping it in my eye…it helped…I had to do it for a few times and let it run in my eye for a min or two…thank god I had milk in the house…so the milk helped my eyes!!! But like 45 mins later my hands started burning…under my finger nails…so even with wearing gloves my hands were still on fire…dumped milk on them too…helped a little…used ice that helped while I had it on but as soon as I took it off it burned again….so I dumped vodka on my hands…that seemed to help…So lesson learned…I will wear two pairs of gloves next time and wear my sunglasses so I dont get it in the eye …..I am so sorry for anyone who has gone through this pain…it really sucks…they should have a warrning label at the store with a cure so people can be prepaired for it….Good luck to all…hope my story helped.
It has been two hours since chopping ONE jalapeno, and finally now only my fingertips faintly burn. I’ve chopped jalapenos before (not in the bulk that some of these people have!!) and have not had close to the pain as tonight!
I went thru every suggestion on this list that I had available: ice water first–until my hands were burning IN the ice water, then on to lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, warm (HOT!) water, stainless steel, astringent, listerine (I thought, hey, there is alcohol in this)…. nothing provided anything more than temporary relief. Did not have baby powder, baking soda or hand sanitizer. Then I tried honey and i thought it was my miracle, until about 5 mins later. Burn was less, but still there. Then talked to a friend who said milk was the answer. soaked in that a bit, it helped. something about countering ph levels? not sure. anyway, i shall live to see another day–oh yeah i also tried mayo after i read about the woman who stuck her hands in a tub of margarine which cracked me up… but desperate times… !! Didn’t become desperate enough to try the pee though. I guess also wasnt desperate enough to run to walgreens to get calamine lotion. But i did walk around my house at one point with my arms above my head to drain the blood from my fingertips, yeah that doesn’t work a bit. Good luck everyone, glad we all have a support system, haha!
Advil probably is a good idea.
Oh yeah also please don’t let your poor dog get a burning tongue from licking your fingers! If you want to try the saliva option, lick your own fingers.
What an evening. I went over to my boyfriend’s house after eating some pizza and relaxing (cheese pizza that I put tomatoes, chunks of cheddar and hardboiled eggs on… surprisingly good actually) thinking I would chill with him and play some video games while eating some ice cream (yum), but we decide to get a head start on the party we are helping with tomorrow. So he pulls out the 3 lbs of jalapeño peppers and we start on them. We have to stuff them for the party. At first, I wasn’t even helping, but then I felt bad so I jumped in to help. He and I both cut off the top part of it, he de-seeded it, and I stuck a hole in the end for the oils to drip out of while they cooked. The vapors/smell alone got into the air and I couldn’t breath it. He was fine, but I had to keep my mouth CLOSED or start hacking up a lung. After we finished ALL of the peppers, I noticed I had a cut on the back of my hand. I figured it would hurt, but I never realized the whole hand would burn as if it was directly in a fireplace with a very lively fire. I have tried calamine lotion, baking powder, milk, olive oil, honey, hot water (very painful, not helpful), face wash, toner, bactine, a hand sanitizer wipe, alcoholic beverages (for drinking of course), benadryl (the med kind), stainless steel, cold water, ice, baby oil, and a variety of soaps… nothing really worked. My latest endeavor was the spit… which didn’t help either. Next I am going to try milk in a bowl with ice, though this is mostly just to deal with the pain. I have been letting it go for a while now (trying the let it burn itself out approach), which hurts, but since I have to deal with it anyway, I am just trying to distract myself with all these strange remedies. My boyfriend, who actually seeded them, has no pain whatsoever so far and is completely shrugging off the burning I feel. Thank you all for your comments, and hang in whoever is reading this… try everything because apparently different things work for different people. And do something IMMEDIATELY because I think waiting is the worst idea. I think Jonathon’s suggestion (#100) about oil repellent soap sounds intriguing, but it is too late for me now. I still have my contacts in too o.o Good luck to you and maybe just try to sleep. lol.
So normally, I always have food prep gloves in my kitchen for everyday use. Tonight, after making and setting out all of my various “stuffings” for my freshly grown jalapenos I realized I was out of gloves. My husband works nights and my 4 year old son was sleeping. I promised my brother bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos for his pool party tomorrow. 40 jalapenos later, I regret not stopping at 20! I’ve tried the cold water, the lemon juice, the ice, etc. I’m just about to locate my lysol kitchen cleaner as one poster suggests – I’m a bit fearful of this, but what else is there? Thanks for the posts!
THE BURN………….
I helped my sister-in-law make those yummy jalapenos with cream cheese and bacon. Well I figured I would help her cut them. As soon a we got done I went outside and started rubbing my mouth and face……and it started to burn. At first I couldn’t figure out why. So I run screaming into the house looking for my mom. For some reason not matter what, I think my mom knows a unknown cure. Well told me to try and wash my hands and face really good. The cold water felt good. But it didn’t really help. Then she gave me some anti-itch cream. That help a bunch. I just didn’t put any on my hands……will next time. The funny thing is my sister-in-law was not in pain like me either and she did it the same as me. WTF!!!!!!
I am so glad I came across this site. Stupidly, I did not wear gloves when cleaning out about 20 peppers and within 30 minutes I experienced pain like I had never before. I have had 2 children, surgeries, tattoo, all kinds of stuff, but the burning sensation I had in my fingers was like none other. I thought I was going to go insane from the pain. I tried milk, vinegar, oral benedryl, topical benedryl, ice packs, soaking hands in water, but nothing worked. Finally 12 hours later at 3 a.m. I somehow fell asleep. I was so relieved when I woke up that the pain was gone. I just called my husband about this site to let him know that I was not crazy!
one day when i was cutting jalepenos for a big batch o’ salsa i had to postpone my prep work for a little jaunt to the loo. now of course i always wash my hands after taking care of business, but not so regularly do i think to lather up prior to doing the deed. anyway, i’m sure you’ve figured out where this is going. i peed, standing, holding and aiming my business per usual and without much thought. finish up. wash my hands. back to the kitchen and my pico. fast-forward twenty minutes. i start to feel a little tingle of discomfort down below. within a matter of minutes that tingle turned to burning turned to flames – pure torcher!! thanks god it was a fairly isolated problem and only lasted about half an hour. and needless to say, i definitely learned a valuable lesson.
at any rate, dear CD, i sho do sympathize and feel your pain, my brother!
I cut up one jalepeno last night for my husbands favourite dish. I had done the same before many times without gloves and never had felt a burning like this before. This morning the burning is still there and was ten times worse while blow drying my hair. I am an esthetician and am on my way to work and am worried to work on my clients concidering I do waxing in some private areas and would hate to pass the burning on to them! I had some topical cream left from a skin irritation and put it on and so far the burning has subsided substancially. The cream I used is a Cortisteroid cream and am not sure if it is safe to use in this situation but it sure helped for me.
I was in terrible pain from jalapeno chopping last night. I tried some of the remedies posted here. Lemon juice made the pain worse, cold water didn’t help, I was ready to go to the hospital I couldn’t stand the pain, then being somewhat of a hypochondriac I started thinking maybe it wasn’t the jalapenos, maybe I was having a stroke!!!
Finally after reading more posts I decided I had to do something to absorb the oils from the jalapenos. I sprinkled some Summer’s Eve Feminine Powder on my hands & rubbed it in. It was like a miracle the pain subsided immediately!!!!
Alright heres how it is! DON’T resort to covering your hands with random household bullshit like milk, honey, bleach, baking soda, or stroking the stainless steel water faucet like a 13 year old boy who just figured out he could masturbate! All u need to do is get a good soap and run your hands under HOT water numerous times, while washing them with the soap. Repeat until the pain is gone. This method hurts like a bitch, And is not for those who can’t handle pain. but it has always worked for me. Also, refrain from handling your personal areas until your sure all the oil is gone. Test this by rubbing a finger on an area not affected by the oil. If it doesn’t get irritated then it’s probably gone. Good luck! And remember that a few minutes of immense pain is better than dealing with this for multiple hours!
I was smart enough to wash my hands after I cut a jalapeno, but I guess I pushed my eye glasses up before I did. My hands didn’t burn, but my face did. Water and hairspray (something I read from here) did nothing, although the hairspray made my eyelashes stick together. I used my wife’s cosmetic removers to make the pain go away. I used an Origins’ charcoal face mask and that worked awsome, and finsihed up with a Pond’s pore clenser, and some Clean and Clear face wash. I don’t know if it would help on hands or under your nails, but it really helped my face. Good luck.
I’ve been thinking about how there should have been some sort of DISCLAIMER at the grocery store about jalapeno hands. Or perhaps a special about it on the food network because I feel like I watch that religiously. Where were my parents, or grandparents to teach me these words of wisdom “Use gloves to prevent massive discomfort when playing with jalapenos”.
I cut up 73 peppers. 73. If I could make those numbers any bigger I would. I can barely think it hurts so much. I tried milk. I have no rubbing alcohol or calamine lotion, or any of these other solutions. Milk helps but I feel that it only helps because its cold. I’ve been doing alot of reading and found out that alot of home remedies apparently aren’t good for neutralizing the burns bt something in milk does the trick. Well it’s 2am, and I swear these people b etter loves these things because I may just cut my hand off for relief.
From now on, I shall PREACH the message of jalapeno hands!!! Please do the same!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of all the time i’ve spent in the kitchens with my family… why has this never come up?!?!
Ok I made it to post 53. I too have had a case of jalapeno hands since yesterday. I bought two packs of “Bell Pepper” plants and put them in the garden they grew into cute little jalapeno’s LOL I can’t waste them so I’ve been chopping them in small batches and freezing them. Well it got ahead of me and I had a large bowl.
I can’t believe how the heat grew, last night it was tolerable but this morning after washing dishes I was starting to squirm. I’m almost pain free now. Here’s the ones I tried. I washed with backing soda water, milk (good for a bit) vinager, alcohol. Then tried the hotwater, soap and some face astringent and I’m feeling much better.
I’m double gloving from now on! and also spreading the glove gospel!!!
Thanks everyone.
I’m glad to have found this site so that I now know that I wasn’t crazy. I only cut up ONE jalapeno, which I’ve done many times before. I remove the seeds so the gazpacho I was making wouldn’t be *that* hot. My fingers on both hands burned all yesterday even though I soaked them in milk and washed them any times. The pain kept me up at night and were still hurting this morning so I did the baking soda paste thing and that did seem to help.
My question is this: is it OK to eat the gazpacho I made? I mean the severity of the reaction I got seemed to indicate an allergic reaction and I don’t want to trigger that again.
(I did take a dose of benadryl though it was the kind for a cold and sneezing…and it didn’t help.)
So…if anyone can tell me about *eating* the pepper that caused the burn, I’d like to know.
Thank you so much for this page – I thought I was dying last night. I made a simple batch of mango black bean salsa and cut up 1 little jalapeno. About an hour later, my hand started burning and it was intense. It felt as if I had put my hand in a fire!!! At first, I was able to fall asleep with a bag of ice on it, but about 15 min later, I woke up in extreme pain and was up all night. I tried ice, hand sanitizer, stainless steel, hot water, cortaid, honey and finally mylanta (I read in an earlier post about pepto bismol – this was the closest thing I had). I figured that mylanta helps soothe your stomach, so maybe it would work for my hands. It took a little bit of the edge off, and that, combined with a bag of ice to numb my hand, seemed to work. It’s now the morning and my hand is still burning, but just not as much. Needless to say, I will NEVER EVER cut a jalapeno again!!!
Thanks for the hand sanitizer suggestion. It worked great! I will use gloves from now on.
I just want to start off by saying, I’m glad I’m not the only idiot to not think about wearing gloves before dicing jalapenos. The pain is immense…Today I cut up about 2 pounds of jalapenos for a pico…and my hands feel like they’re ON FIRE!!! I have tried yogurt, milk, cold water, hot water, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, aloe gel, dish soap, and caladryl, and nothing seems to be working. I guess I’ll try taking some aleve and just wait it out. If i find something works…I’ll let everyone know.
I wish I was dead. I cut up one pepper. Just one, now my right arm is on fire up to my elbow. I would punch my own mother in the face if that would make it stop. I tried all the stupid “cures” on this and some other websites, no luck.
Something like this happened before, but never this bad. I am contemplating cutting my arm off, running into the street, and slapping the first person I see with it.
Holy shit.
I knew capsaicin was an oil like poison ivy oil, so I used Dawn to wash my hands after cutting up 1 1/2 jalapenos. I did get some burn under my nails and on the hand I held the pepper with, so I sucked on my fingers until it burned my tongue. I then tried the vinegar soak/rinse followed by the calamine lotion and finally hydrocortisone. It wasn’t unbearable, but I worried it would get worse. But maybe 20 minutes after I tried the various remedies, it went away when I just stopped fussing with it and left it alone. Maybe one of the remedies worked. Maybe I’m not that sensitive, maybe the soap prevented major exposure. Or maybe it hurts worse when you focus on it. Whatever the case, learned my lesson– gloves next time.
I know there are a lot of remedies posted here, but I would imagine that doing anything to really aggravate the skin when it’s worked up over peppers is not a good plan. That’s why I stuck to more soothing options and something seems to have worked.
Haha. I’m loving this website (not laughing at you, but with you I hope).
I feel bad for those of you who have much worse stories than me. We had a fajitas party last night and I cut up three fresh jalapeños and punched all the seeds out with my thumb. It didn’t really hurt for a long time, but like others, I splashed some water on my face shortly after. Thus began my fear that I would join some long and unknown list of people blinded by jalapeño. My nostrils, lips, and eyes were all on fire. I just kept my eyes under cool running water for about 5 minutes, dried off, and took it like a man for the hour and a half or so that it was bad. I just have an annoying stinging in my fingers this morning.
I’d be careful with trying too much stuff. Seems to me the more you mess with it (trying different stuff) the longer the pain persists. Try to keep pressure off the hurting areas and try the sanitizer (I’m about to give this a shot) or hot water (things that make sense to remove oil). Don’t use acids. You want to absorb the oil.
Here’s hoping that you guys find some comfort and that Josh’s mother and neighbors recover from their beatings.
AV is proud to be burn victim 133.
Oh man
I pretty much tried everything on this site….except for the peeing. My hands are still on fire. It is only on the tops of my hands because I guess my palms have enough natural oils to repel the jalepeno oils. I cut 3 with my bare hands and took out all the seeds as well. I felt a slight burning but not I can barely do anything without having to wave them in the air like a bird or put them in ice water (which really helps numb the pain)…..I tried, alcohol, hot water and soap, hydrogen peroxide, hand sanitizer, aloe, stainless steel, drinking lots o wine
, calamine lotion….nothing is helping AT ALL, it is reeeeeeeeeeeeeally hard for me to even write this comment. This SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess I’m sleeping with my contacts in tonite!!
I’ve cut jalepenos before and have never had this happen.
Next time GLOOOOOOOOOOOVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh and ps….I ate the food (with one hand in an ice water bowl and the other hand holding the fork….alternating frequently)….and it was delicious. So I guess no worries to this happening to the insides of you!! ONly the hands and wherever else you touched on the skin.
I had the same experience with one small jalapeno, We took lidocane spray and sprayed my hands thoroughly that numbed the burning sensation, later that night I washed my hands with peroxide rinsed them with it several times until there was no more bubbles, and then sprayed them again. They were much better the next day
I cut a jalapeno for salsa, and my left hand was on fire! I have done this many times before and never had any trouble. I tried lime juice, hot water and Dawn, lemon juice, and corn starch. Then I stuck my fingers in my mouth. IT WORKED! Thanks for the suggestion!
I made salsa this morning and cut 3 fresh jalapenos. I’ve done this before and never experienced anything like this. My fingers were burning so bad for over 6 hours. I read all of these home remedies and did them all, milk, hand sanitizer, astringent, vinegar, washed with hot water & soap, aloe, alchohal, hair spray. Then I saw the post about the person that pee’d on their hands. I was so desperate I did it and OMG it worked instantly! I know this sounds very nasty but when your that desperate, what the heck. After I did it I washed my hands thoroughly with warm water and soap. That was a little over an hour ago and my hands and fingers feel no pain! What a relief!
So far I have tried cold water, lemon juice, hot water and soap, hand sanitizer, baking soda (which actually worked for about an hour), honey (made it worse), saliva, milk, peroxide (OH MY..don’t do that!), sucked on my fingers, and even peed on them. Through all of this it is down to a moderate burn instead of hands on fire. Alcohol and hand sanitizer are the only things I keep coming back too….I wish there was an antidote for this. The pain is on my left hand. I’m a guitar player, I need these fingers to get better soon.
I helped my mom this evening make cream cheese jalapenos and after I cut four jalapenos and “gutted” them (3pm) .. my hands (12:30 am) were still burning until i came upon this website.. i didnt have lemon juice or any of the other things but I tried mustard.. and i am telling you it worked!! Just make sure to wash all the mustard off or it will stain your hands.. i used dish soap and water afterwards and surprisingly it worked!! The moral of the day for me is to always wear gloves or use a spoon when “gutting” jalapenos!!
I was making chicken breast w/ jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon for my mothers birthday party. Holy Crap! This is the most horrible thing ever! I felt as if my fingers were laying on a hot burner on the stove. I started cooking around 11 a.m. today and it is now 9:30 p.m. and the burn is finally, slowly going anyway. I’ve taken so much advice from this page. I alternated between rubbing alcohol, soaking my hands in a bowl of milk, washing them numerous times w/ warm water and dish soap, and hand sanitizer. I tried the honey. It made it worse. It trapped the heat in. I also tried the urine thing. Didn’t work for me. But it seemed after I started using the hand sanitizer (Purell w/ Aloe) it started to take some of the burn out. And if I apply any pressure to my fingers it starts the burn back up. So I am being very careful to not use my hands much. I will never touch another Jalapeno! Ugh…. what a miserable, painful day! The chicken was good but NOT WORTH IT!
This is strange but the one person who suggested rubbing your hand on stainless steel is right. I rub them on the sink until I felt the burning go away. Don’t get it.
Fresh squeezed lemon juice works. You might have to do it, wait and do it again, but the relief is instant. I just had to do it from a batch of Hatch chilies. Thank goodness for Lemon.
My gf and I made a jalapeno cheese squares and cut and de-seeded 4-jalapenos, after 20 min or so I itched my eye and it started burning. Soon we both noticed our hands were burning as well. I flushed out my eye and in aboot 15 min. the pain was bearable. My gf wears contacts and figured washing with soap and water would be fine… it wasn’t! her eyes started to burn and the only remedy we found was to soak hands in milk or clean them using lemon juice and alittle salt. The lemon didn’t work, the milk helped somewhat. Time has worked the best. I soaked my gf’s contacts in milk for alittle bit and it still burned when she put them in (after rinsing of course), but in time burning went away. It’s now the next day and our hands are tingling, but listening to these stories made us feel much better, lol.
I cut up a jalapeno for chili con carne last night. the pain started at ten oclock. The only relief came from sticking my hand in a bowl of ice water. I tried the stainless steel suggestion and as I had no hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol I just poured vodka on it. I would have been better off drinking it! Natural youghurt worked until the burn warmed it up. My advice is to try everything but if nothing works then just wait it out with your hand in icy water while watching a good movie and drinking some vodka. After a few hours I took the icy water to bed along with ice in a tea towel and managed some sleep. Woke up with no burn and a wet duvet and matress – ice melts! Good luck to everyone. I am going to buy kitchen gloves for everyone I know! Never again will I chop a jalapeno without a glove x
I am victim 146. Last night I offered to help my friend make some jalapeno poppers from jalapenos she had grown in her garden. (Let me first say that I’ve never handled or cleaned jalapenos before). I would say I probably cleaned and took the seeds out of at least 15-20 jalapenos while she made the filling for them. After I finished cleaning them up, I washed my hands twice. And apparently..I must have touched my face afterwards because before my friend even had any of the jalapenos stuffed–my face was on FIRE. It felt like the worst sunburn I ever had in my life. And I’m Irish so I’ve had many sunburns. I looked into the mirror and my face was red all over. I went to bed awhile later with my face still hurting. My hands didn’t start hurting until this morning. And they are on FIRE! I first tried the lemon juice and then the hand sanitizer. I then (stupidly) decided to take a shower…and had to turn it on cold because my hands hurt too bad. I tried the astringent while in the shower. It didn’t work. I also tried the stainless steel which didn’t work. I’ve tried probably everything and nothing is working. I’m waiting for the need to pee and I will try that. I don’t care. I will try ANYTHING to make this pain go away. I gave birth to my daughter with NO pain medicine or anything. And this is somehow WORSE!
I’m glad I found “Jalapeno Hands!” And I will extend words of warning to anyone about it. The pain is just unbearable. And I’m hoping it doesn’t last too much longer.
my hand stopped burning finally after 6 hours.. i tried everything but nothing worked. the cure for me was to dip my hand in a bowl of water and bleach didnt really work so i put baby powder on i think that did the trick 30 mins later pain free
It hurt, so i got drunk. That works!
*BIG SMILE*… you guys RawK !! I too have been attacted by
“THE JALAPENO FROM HELL”. I am a collector of swords and knives so I tried the stainless steel rubbing on one of my knife blades….
*deep sigh* NO WORKIE… now I am to the point that I may as well just cut my fingers off and call it a day !
My poor hubby chopped the jalapenos for our salsa and rubbed his face. We tried a milk soaked washcloth first which didn’t do much. I had some plain yogurt though which he rubbed all over his face and that did the trick. Definitely will use gloves next time!! Thanks all for your tips.
Tried everything – Tecnu, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, benadryl
cream, hot water (ouch), cold water, but what finally worked was
Gold Bond Powder. Instant & continuing relief. Hallelujah!
im living in italy right now and i grew jalapenos in my garden because they dont grow jalapenos here. after letting my husband’s family have a taste of them.. his cousin felt the burn and immediately went to the kitchen and used lemon juice. i guess it worked for her. i wish i had a lemon with me know because my hands dont burn but i touched the corner of my eye and i feel the heat.
Thanks for all your tips. I tried milk, alcohol, and lotion, none worked for me. Then, I sprayed my hands with Lanacane, and that really, really helped. But, you have to reapply after awhile.
Well, Halleileuh for Technu!!! After about 4 really vigorous handwashing sessions and alot of praying I have finally felt some miraculous relief!
After letting spew forth a stream of loud profanity, I found you site via the Goog. Just one pepper…my hands are fine, but I just rubbed my eye in a late night attempt to stay awake for the extra innings baseball game, and OW!
Sadly, there’s nothing here I’d put in my eye…and my dog is avoiding my hands for some reason after a very short “fetch” session…
Im so glad to find this thread….i thought i was the only one!
My question: has anyone investigated if this is an internal reaction vs a topical external one? The burning in my hands is far widerspread than any contact and im questioning if its some kind of alergic reaction??
I seeded two jalapenos today and tonight my hands are burning. I slathered hand sanitizer, no luck. Same with caladryl, minimal short relief. Since people said the oils in the jalapenos is the problem so I washed my hands with Sol-u-mel a product by Melaleuca, like tea tree oil. It worked great on my hands. I still have a little burning under my nails but the reileif is great!
Rub a spoon or two of sugar onto damp hands, gently massage for a minute or so, then rinse with cool water.
Also soothing is a slice of bread soaked in milk or water, held against the skin.
Buena suerte.
I found this thread for the same reason everyone else did, sadly. I was making salsa and I DID wear gloves and only chopped 4 peppers (albeit the most freakishly hot Jaapenos I’ve ever had)! I must have cross-contaminated my left hand sometime after I took the gloves off though, cause about an hour later my hand started to burn like hell! WOW!
What worked for me? I scrubbed my hand with handfuls of baking soda and the hottest water I could tolerate 5 times….in between washings I sprayed and massaged my hand with generous amounts of “Goo-Gone” (it’s a cleaner/sticker and crayon remover/degreaser product…it smells like orange-oil and it’s not at all harsh). After that, I was left with only a warmish tingle for the rest of the night, which was almost pleasant (whereas earlier I couldn’t take the ice pack off of my hand for more than 30 seconds and had tried alcohol, lidocaine spray, hand soap and aloe vera gel to no avail).
I cannot IMAGINE what those of you who chopped pounds of the little bastards with no gloves went through because my hand was on FIRE!!!
I recommend the baking-soda/Goo-Gone (or likely any degreaser product). Hope it helps somebody!!!
My hands were on fire after cutting fresh jalepenos and tried many of the above suggestions except for the poop and urine. I did try milk, washing vigorously, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, first aid burn cream, aloe vera after sun gel, lotion, honey, epsom salt, THEN I used a first aid atiseptic and anesthetic pain relieving cleansing spray that actually worked. After a couple minutes of waiting, the fire was gone. This is a Walgreens brand that is compared to Bactine. After the trial and errors I found something that worked so you may have to do the same. Good Luck!
161! My husband and I made jalapenos with cream cheese and bacon. We did this two nights in a row. The first night was fine. Last night, surprisingly, was fine too. I got up, started my morning, took and shower, got out and realized my hands were burning. I thought I had turned the water up to hot! I tried aloe which did nothing at all. After finding this site, I rubbed a few pots, which brought the pain down from “gnaw your hand off” to “this is seriously freaking annoying.” I just coated my fingers with a face mask. I’ve had it on for about 20 min and the pain has stopped completely. Good luck!
162 and I’m laughing SO HARD after reading 161 posts on jalap hands that I can almost recommend a LARGE glass of red wine and reading this list as a way to take your mind off your fiery fingies. As a veteran of pretty much toasted everthing, from privates to contacts, I can only suck it up since I clearly know better. Ditto to the wearing of two pairs of gloves, oils seem to march right through one. and of course, I had none on tonight for roasting those little devils that just needed to picked, roasted and skinned. I clearly deserve a high ranking position in the idiotic rankings of hot-pepper-hand-hood. Just to make it even more fun, I washed a bunch of dishes in hot soapy water which as many have noted elevates your short term misery. LOL ~ thanks to all my fellow sufferers ~ misery LOVES company ~ : )
without this website, I don’t think my husband would have believed me when I said my hands were about to combust. Tried several things (washing, alcohol; hand sanitizer; aloe); each seemed to work for a few minutes, then burning would come back. Strangest (from perspective of husband, who was trying to get some sleep during all of this) was my coming to bed clutching a large stainless steel mixing bowl and periodically rubbing my hands on it. Finally, 1:30 AM, I went downstairs and made a gloppy mixture of flour and milk, smeared it on my hands. Instant success. Left it on all night (slept with hands folded neatly on chest on a towel) but oddly, when removed the flour in the morning (by soaking in warm water and then rubbing with washcloth), the pain returned. I’m going to the drug store to try the Lanacane/Bactine suggestions! My sympathies for those of you who touched your eyes/noses!
I’m experiencing Jalapeno Hands for the first time after cutting some up to make salsa. We had a bumper crop from 3 plants and I figured salsa was a great way to use some of them up. Arrggghhhh! My hands have been burning for about 3 hours now, and *really* burning. Rubbing the stainless steel does give immediate relief, but for me, it hasn’t lasted. I’ve tried alcohol, olive oil, dish soap, milk/cream and ice. All give temporary relief for about 5 mins and then the burning is back. I’ve learned my lesson!
I chopped ONE SINGLE jalepeno for chili I was making at 11am today. It is now 10:10pm and I am in agony with this burning and tingling. I have tried all of the “cures” mentioned here and so far have only found slight relief dipping my hands in tomato sauce. I usually have a very high pain tolerance but this is crazy! (did I mention I am a psych nurse in a hospital???) I am thinking about calling every doctor I know for some kind of relief! I have spoken with 2- they both say “ice & time”. I say the heck with that- I am going to the store to buy booze– TO DRINK MYSELF STUPID)
I cut one jalapeno from my garden and my thumb is on FIRE! I found this site, and the hand sanitizer helped a bit. I also tried some Rescue Remedy (the liquid, not the cream) and that helps a bit too. I’ve never had this happen before, and I don’t know if I will ever ever cut jalapenos again – even with gloves! Thank goodness I wasn’t wearing my contacts!
I love the great tips on here!!
I baked 2 jalapenos, and peeled them for a recipe. My nose was running all afternoon so at some point I rubbed my nose and got the oil on my upper lip. 3 hours later, I’m not so happy.
Now I have tried hot water and soap, calamine, tomato sauce, rubbing my hands on stainless steel. The oil in my knuckles still burns. I live in a very small town, and there is no way to buy any of that fancy stuff people mention this late. But after all the washing and other things, it’s not so bad and I think I’ll just try to sleep it off.
Love all the input though!
I tried one last thing that worked! The note about tea tree oil was excellent. I read that one after my original post #167, and thought….”hey, I have some of that in a foot wash” so I tried it. Instant relief! I don’t understand why it worked, but I’m quite pleased!
Ha ha ha…. Yep, I’m like 169 and I’m feeling the pain right now so bad it feels like I shoved my fingers into a vat of acid. And I only cut and cleaned one! And minced it. And moved it. With my bare hands. I didn’t know about Jalapeno burn, but I thought it was the cuts on my hand reacting but this is horrid! And it’s all over! I’m about to go try more things…. Anyway, thanks for the laughs and suggestions!
OMG! I have never felt more stupid in my life. I was given a bag of fresh jalapenos by my friend. I had heard of a great recipe for creme cheese stuffed jalapenos and I thought I would try it out. I wash, slice, and de-seed the peppers and stuff them with creme cheese. About half way through the 20 min cook cycle my hands are ablaze. I have never felt any pain like this in my life. When I was a child I actually had a third degree burn on my arm from a camp fire and this ” jalapeno hands” hurts 10 times as bad as that. I have tried everything. What I did that helps is to take a pumice stone and gently exfoliate your hands while running them under cold water. The pumice stone helps to remove dead skin saturated with the oils from the pepper. I swear by God almighty I will never EVER cut another pepper without gloves so long as I live …..Good Luck to all of those with JALAPENO HANDS ~
I’m so glad to know there are so many unfortunate souls out there such as myself! I’ve cut many raw peppers before without experiencing too much pain, but not tonight! I’m not sure if it is because I’m on accutane and my body soaks up every drop of oil it can find or what. But MY GOD! Excruciating! I only diced up one jalapeno and de-seeded it using my left thumb (seems to be a popular way to do it based on these responses!) only to have the most God awful burning sensation under my nails. I was making fajitas, so I immediately dunked my fingers into the sour cream… made it feel better until I washed it off. Then I tried regular hand soap and a nail brush, scrubbing like crazy even though it was so painful. Genius I am, I decided to put on some Neosporin “Pain Relief” type cream… OMG, do NOT attempt this… it is Pain Maximizing! So then I came online and started reading these posts. Tried Goo Gone, which made it much more tolerable for a few minutes. Then I tried Dawn, which calmed it a little more. I also have a Rub Away bar which is just a stainless steel bar of “soap” and that seemed to help the most at this point. But it started coming back about 10 minutes later, so I dunked my fingers in honey for about 10 minutes and wa-la. That seems to have finished the trick. Of course, my hands look like I’ve been in the Sahara for a month, but at least I’m not biting my tongue in pain. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to remove my contacts just to be on the safe side!
I joined the jalapeno hand club tonight! Fortunately, I only de-seeded four and diced them. That was all it took. My hands are very “warm” now: even after multiple hand washings and TWO scrubbings with that really expensive soap for poison ivy (and a couple of stainless steel rubbings). I was making a paste for chicken from a recipe I found in a spin-off from the Joy of Cooking. Of course, no warning re jalapeno hands. Anyway, tomorrow when I actually apply the paste to the chicken I’ll be wearing gloves.
i JOINED THE JALAPENO HANDS CLUB TODAY, I WAS MAKING PICKLES AND SLICED 1 IN HALF AND SEEDED IT. WITHOUT THINKING I WIPED MY FACE, HOLY CRAP!! DID IT BURN, I EQUATE THE PAIN TO THAT OF BEING PEPPER SPRAYED. I WANTED TO RIP MY FACE OFF. I RAN IT UNDER COLD WATER AND SAT INFRONT OF A FAN, WHICH HELPS A LOT, BUT ONCE YOU LEAVE THE FAN, THE PAIN COMES RIGHT BACK. THE WHOLE TIME MY BOYFRIEND IS LAUGHING HIS *SS OFF AT ME, GOSH DARN IT HURTS! GOOD LUCK ALL!
Hello my name is Carmen and I have jalapeno hand. Mother#@%* it hurts like hell! I cannot believe that I didn’t use gloves when I was told to. I sliced, seeded and diced a 2lb bag of jalapenos and I did not anticipate this pain. I Dipped my hand in milk, iced milk, washed with soap, scrubbed with lemons,soaked in rubbing alcohol and even wore those stupid gloves and filled it with calamine lotion(which made it burn more). I have tried just about everything you guys have suggested even the stainless steel idea but the only thing that helped so far is holding a blue ice-pak. I have 4 of them Ive been alternating but they just dont stay frozen long enough I took 800mg of motrin then when that didn’t work, i took some vicodin I’m rollin but i still feel my hand burning from inside out…I’m so angry with myself arrrrrrgh! I just wanna sleep. But I have to say that i never expected there to be a jalapeno-hand epidemic, but i was wrong…Its kinda nice to know that i’m not alone. Nobody understands how much this really hurts. B/c they wouldn’t be laughing if they knew.
After reading all of the comments the following regiment worked for me…witch hazel pad to dry up the oil from the pepper, hot water with soap (10 sec. at a time for a minute), rubbed my hands on the stainless sink 30 seconds, and finally applied cortaid. All of the burning is gone and I will be carefully removing my contacts tonight! Thanks for the tips.
Here I am joining the “Jalapeno Hand” club….WAHHHHHH!!!!!!
That’s all… it hurts to type.
It has been 27 hours since I chopped 3 large peppers and it still hurts. Only cold things relieved the pain at first. I woke up and thought I was fine but no, if I apply any pressure to my fingers it starts all over, then if I don’t touch anything it goes away. It’s getting better but I’m sure I’ll feel it still tomorrow!
P.S. nothing but time helps!
Arrrgghh I’ve cut jalapeno’s before but for some reason the 2 that I chopped and de-seeded tonight left my hands burning
I tried milk, nail polish remover, and proactive solution. I just put some benadryl goup on and it alleviated the pain a little but its definitely coming back. How miserable, never again!
Thanks for the tips, I feel a little less crazy
I wanted to try a new recipe so I tried making stuffed Jalapenos. What a bad mistake I made. I cut up 25 Jalapenos as the recipe called for & the burning did not start immediately….but when the burning sat in, it stayed with me for like 4 to 5 hours. I am a contact wearer too. I tried all the tips listed. I think time is the cure. Someone told me to use sugar…. But when your hands are burning like this you will try anything. I did!
Man, I am always told I get melodramatic about things like this but thank god for this giant post of comments! There should really be a warning label when you buy jalapenos! A HUGE label with gloves on it. Stainless steel and sanitizer are what worked for me. I felt quite silly rubbing my hands on my kitchen sink and kitchenaid bowl lol but it definitely took the burn away. I’m still a bit hesitant about taking my contacts out tonight though.
Me too! Making Christmas tamales for the first time. Didn’t think to use gloves. All was fine until I itched my eye, then my nose, and then my lip. Ouch! I first tried washing it out, but that seemed to worsen the burning. Then I remembered how bread under your tongue helps when cutting onions. So, I took the middle of a slice of bread and smashed it into the corner of my eye. It soothed it, and the burning stopped within a minute. Go figure. I’m glad it worked, but I will now try the rubbing alcohol to get the oils off of my hands! Definitely gloves next time!
Okay, I think I have a story of Jalapeno torture that tops anything here. I made a chili-spiked dish which included Jalapenos and various sorts of other chili peppers. It sent me and my best friend to the hospital with high fevers. For at least a month afterwards, all of my bodily excretions were Jalapeno flavored. The worst symptoms, though, were a weird, trippy feeling, as if I had somehow gotten my brain poisoned. I’m not kidding. This was nearly death by pepper. Turns out, in India, they actually use hot peppers to MURDER people. Thought: maybe people shouldn’t be eating them? Pepper spray, anybody?
Annie here again–so, I can no longer eat Jalapeno, or even Cayenne, without re experiencing a burning sensation and recurrence of the same dizzy spells and gastric burning.
Misery loves company…ha ha ha, I mean seriously, why isn’t there a warning with these things?!?! I blame Rachel Ray…here I am trying to take the mundane out of dinner with one of her famous slider recipes and now my fingers are absolutely on fire!! In addition to my fingers being a-blaze….I also attempted to fetch a stray eyelash out of my eye and now have a burning eyeball!! Thanks for all the suggestions everyone…I am headed to the kitchen with a quick stop by the medicine cabinet for some experimenting!! Happy Holidays…Jalapeno Free Holidays that is!
Fast Orange!!!! that is it! i tried everything, i scrolled and paused to try all the things i saw on this page, fast orange(as in the hand cleaner for mechanics etc.) solved it immediately! good luck all!!
Yeah, I tried vinegar, baking soda, milk, honey, aloe, lavendar oil, paint thinner – and nothing worked – until my husband drove to the store and bought me some Maalox – I had to soak my hands in it for about an hour, but it worked. I don’t ever plan to cook with jalapenos again!
Im going through almost the same thing aside from needing to go to ER.. my sister and I were just preparing dinner together 6 HOURS ago. the strange thing is we were both cutting and removing the jalepeno seeds with our bare hands. So why is it only MY HANDS and FINGERS ARE ON FIRE?!! and she doesn’t feel a thing? Can anybody explain this? we were both handling the same amount. and we’ve been trying milk, aloe vera, yoghurt, sherri vinegar, tar coal shampoo, canola oil, butter, hand soap, dish soap.
I am like everyone else on this post and I made jalapeno poppers for a dinner party and now my hands sre completely on fire. I cut and took out the seeds around 4:00 on Saturday and it is now Sunday at 2:00pm and my hands are still messed up. I really can’t believe it. I tried milk, hand sanitizer, baking powder, detergent, and lotion. The only thing that helped me was holding a bag of frozen vegetables. That helped and I managed to go to sleep. My hands were okay when I woke up, but I did some dishes and took a shower and now they are back to the way they were last night. I really can’t believe this. I may just start drinking. I think that is the only cure.
LOL, its amazing how many people have had this happen! I felt stupid last night, but feel so much better after this site.
I chopped 2 jalepenos last night for my chili..deseeded them, threw them in the pot and everything was fine until i realized i accidently touched my lip before washing my hands…so after drinking vineger, eating baking soda, etc, it finally went away…i washed my hands VERY well after that. Then a few hours later took my contacts out…i have NEVER felt anything like that in my life…and…like everyone else on here, attempted to put them back in this morning…baad idea. I figured i could deal with a little stinging…not so much! within seconds i couldn’t open it and had to pretty much pry it open. wish i would’ve read these posts before!
If anyone is looking on this site for an answer, like I was an hour ago, try this:
Soak your hands in a baking soda paste for 10 – 20 minutes, gently rubbing. This rubs out the oil. Then soak them in cold milk (I had some 2%) for 20 or more minutes. So far this has helped me a lot. I cut up just two (but had dry winter hands, so I believe I absorbed a lot of pepper juice) but now I feel like I have almost no problem. If it comes back I will repeat this. I also had to take out my contacts. My sincere empathy to anyone who is going through this. Hang in there. (Recipes with chopped jalapeno peppers should have a little warning, in my opinion!)
I am so thankful for this website! And thankful for the internet!
Last night, hours after preparing a vegetarian dish from ‘La Dolce Vegan’ which used one serrano pepper, I was just fine. In taking a rather hot bath, I found that when my hands were in the water they BURNED. After I got out I was still in pain. Then I remembered preparing the peppers, and how going to itch my nose actually gave me a nosebleed – I thought maybe it was those peppers.
This helped me – thank you to whoever posted this remedy: rubbing alchohol, rub that oil off your hands. Then wash with soap and water. Then rub hands on a stainless steel sink. Then swathe on cortizone creme.
Again, thankful that I was spared a trip to the ER or many remedies.
My friend told me that peanut butter helps with Asian peppers, do I tried it far my burning jalepeno hands. The pain was lessened. Really rub it in and then rinse your hands under cool water. I will hope for relief for all of you!
OMG!!! I was cutting up a jalapeno and accidentally rubbed my nose! The burning was intense. I found that a combination of shoving an ice cube up my nostril, playing my nose like a violin with a stainless steel spoon (has to be stainless), and swabbing Rite Aid Brand Chloraseptic spray for sore throats into my nose worked quite well. Keep fighting the good fight you all. We will emerge stronger from this.
My husband made us a nice, romantic, shrimp brochette dinner…. Included several jalapeno’s! Being the good wife I am, I wanted to show him how much I appreciated his gesture… Needless to say, I felt the “burn” of his love in a way I’ve never experienced! Bad idea!
I suffered jalapeno hands yesterday and after five hours of intense burning I found this site, and it helped because some of the comments made me laugh and took my mind off the pain!
i tried everything from milk, alcohol, baking powder (which I soon learnt is NOT the same as baking soda – painful mistake), hot water, orange juice (helped a little for only for a short while), honey, face mask, powder. The only relief I got was from cool running water but I was exhausted and had to sleep.
Luckily my bed is right next to the window, so I just stuck my hands out into the freezing cold all night and that helped to numb the pain enough so I could finally sleep. In the morning they are tender but the pain has gone.
Good luck to all the future jalapeno victims, you are not alone!!
Okay! The laughter from the stories on this site have at least made this night somewhat tolerable. My wife is in excruciating pain and we have been running through the list, trying everything. Our coffee table looks like a combination of a pharmacy and a farmers’ market.
My wife wants to be Rachel Ray and cooked a great Jambalaya Pasta dish (despite my skepticism of pasta in jambalaya). The burning on her hands has gotten worse and worse. I’m waiting for her to curse Rachel Ray (”Rachel wasn’t wearing gloves!!”) so that maybe there will be more room on our Tivo for my Daily Show episodes… and maybe even Colbert!
It seems that one of the variables here is whether the oil is on your skin or already into your skin. She’s gotten some relief from hand sanitizer, alcohol and milk, but not much lasting relief. It’s into her skin. A chef friend said there was no cure then laughed and told her to be careful going to the bathroom.
I chopped 1 jalapeno yesterday and experienced the worst pain of my life!!! it killed my eyes/nose/mouth for about half an hour- then that stopped and suddenly my hands were on fire for the next 17 hours. only relief was from ice cubes- nothing else remotely helped. everything’s fine now, I had to sleep with both hands in a bowl of iced water while watching 8 episodes of west wing back to back to distract from pain.
thank god for this website for making me feel less stupid.
I just was cutting jalepenos and rubbed my nose with the back of my hand and had intense escalating burning. I couldnt believe how painful it was! I though we might need to go to the ER it was scary as I am in Mexico. I tried milk, soap and water and Neosporin with pain reliever and nothing really helped. I put lemon juice on it which stopped it from escalating but did not dull the pain. I cut open an Advil Liquid gel and rubbed that on my face and within ten minutes the pain was gone. Be careful not to get the gel in your mouth as it burns a little because it is so concentrated.
THE ONLY GOOD PART THAT CAME FROM MY JALEPENO HANDS WAS READING ALL THESE SIMILAR FUNNY STORIES! GOOD LUCK ALL!
My pain came from an idiotic, albeit innocent, culinary mishap. I was making huevos rancheros when I smashed a bowl w/ a mix cup & had to fish the pottery from the disposal. Lalala. I keep dicing jalapenos. Lalala. Didn’t realize the pottery had sliced up my hands. Lalala. Brunch comes out on time. Yummms… all around. Was the pain considerate or sneaky when it waited till I had loaded the dishwasher to become a red hot flame? Don’t know but I was hoppin’ around doin’ the Hotza Hotza Dance so my guy, him being a scientist, came up with this idea. Realizing jalapenos have lipoxagenaze & cumin has lipoxagenaze inhibitors he suggests I rub a cumin paste on my hand. Didn’t work but I think I’ll keep doing it coz it smells good.
From everyone’s input; relief comes in any sunburn remedy.
Ice & patience works for me. A little wine doesn’t hurt either.
I love to make fresh salsa and made it for my new girlfriend a few weeks ago… It was delicious, no burning hands, no problems that is until later that night when we were getting “frisky”
…
Let’s just say she doesn’t let me anywhere near her after handling jalapenos anymore. Still together though
I don’t know if it’s the fact that is has been 24 hours since i chopped up serrano peppers or if this really did work, but i rubbed a cut piece of tomato all over my finger tips it seems to have worked. By the way I think serranos are worse than jalapenos. Who knows but either way that burns like true hell!!!
So, this isn’t a “jalapeno hands” story, but is pepper related. Late Saturday night the boy and I got tacos from from a taqueria down the street. Half way through my taco, I could no longer taste it because of the extreme burning in my mouth. I tried to scrape off the salsa and a large piece of jalapeno, a little over 2 inches in diameter, plopped on my plate. I assumed I must have eaten another large junk of pepper, drank some soy milk to dull the burn, and then thought nothing of it. The next morning I woke up with the worst allergy attack I have had in years. I had sore spots in my throat, my nose was running uncontrollably, and raw feeling allergy bumps had cropped up all around my cheeks and mouth. I was also unbelievably lethargic and weak. I’m usually pretty spry, getting up early, running up stairs, etc., but I was exhausted! I was winded walking up 2 short flights of stairs, I tried to run errands but felt like I was going to pass out after walking a few blocks. I ended up sleeping for the majority of the day and still feel tired today. Has anyone heard of an allergy attack caused by jalapeno peppers?
Nothing is working for me!! Feel like, I have tried it all. Have been making salsa for 20 years, a little burn a few tims. Not like what I am experiencing right now! The burn has lasted for over 24 hours!! I have gotten a kick out or reading everyones stories!!
I cut my 1st jalapeno today! And I knew not to touch my face blah blah and wash my hands afterwards….but didnt realize how fast the oils can get into your skin and pores. So about an hr later…my hands catch fire. Of course I search the net for helpful pain relieving tips…and try them ALL. None of it worked, but about 3+ hrs later the pain and burning subsided. I was constantly putting something on my hands every time the sensation would come back and finally …I was free! But the most helpful I believe was putting sunburn releif liguid on my hands repeatedly. Gloves for me from now on!
Early today I was cutting and de-seeding jalapenos to make salsa, with my bare hands.. And at first my hand also did not hurt.. but after while the pain was excuricating! I tried ice cold water, milk, vegetable oil, alcohol, vaseline, antibotic ointment and non of it worked! I’ve been having the pain for 5 hours!! My mom told me to use the antibotic ointment and it did no justice. I finally convinced my self to wash my hands and put it back into ice cold water, while washing my hands with DAWN dishwashing soap, the pain INSTANTLY went away. I believe the soap relieves the oil from our skin. But DAWN soap works!! TRY IT!
Tomatoe seems to be working!
i had no idea this could happen!! I’ve made poppers 2 times before and NO problem…. today I cut and cleaned 50 jalapenos and OMG my hands are on fire!! I’ve tried lemon juice…..o.k. for awhile….maybe just wishful thinking… getting scared…. big day tomorrow with daughters grad party.. i’m going to try some of suggestions on the board
ok – I tried everything to get the oils off my skin…but like many, I was too stupid to try anything until about 5 hours in, so I was stuck. Ice water to keep my hand numbed did provide some relief. But – I found the magic at about 2am…Penaten – zinc ointment that is used for diaper rash! It says right on the tin that it’s also good for scalds, sunburn, etc…and as you all know, you will try anything whne your hands are on fire…so I gave it a try. Well, it took a good 15 mins, but suddenly – IT WORKED!!! Complete relief – ahhhhhhh.
I say give it a try if you have it around – it totally worked for me. But I would caution not to try it until you’ve done everything humanly possible to wash the oils out of your skin first – then if you’re like me and it’s just too late, try the zinc cream. worked for me!!
I also read that calamine lotion works well too.
good luck everyone
Omg! I just made 65 stuffed jalapenos for my sis”s wedding reception. I have the burning in my hands, it started at 11am and still going strong. I cant even stand outside, the heat seems to set off the burning worse. This really sucks.
This is HELL!
Cut up only 2 jalapenos for sis’s birthday dinner. They made my eyes smart (which has never happened before)…1.5 hrs later, ,burning hands, under the nails, top lip too.
Have done milk, baking soda, honey, babypowder, ,stainless steel, antiseptic wash , astringent…
Evil.. Evil Evil…
Am holding a frozen watter bottle, pathetically typing. Hoping I have to pee soon…
2.5 hr. car ride ahead, ,oh joy
Haha I thought it would be a great idea to make salsa for my family for burritos. Now my hands are burning but before they started I scratched my eyes lets just say worse pain imaginable. I made my salsa 7 hours ago this is awful. I was trying to find something to make them stop I am off to buy Milk and Lemon juice hopefully that does the trick. Lets just say no matter how good that salsa is I will never be making it I will buy it already made
I put tons of windex on a paper towel and it seems to have relieved the burning, although when I stick my thumb in my mouth, my tongue still feels the burn.
Craig! You are awesome! I tried the hot water with soap and it worked! I am a total chile head and got all excited about this cool Jalapeno popper deal I picked up in Santa Fe. 18 stuffed J’s cooked on the grill. Uber! Anyhoo, in all my excitement to try my cool little dealy, I didn’t think and didn’t wear gloves. A few hours later, the left hand is on fire! I cut the tops off, cored the little beasties and used my left hand to get all the seeds out…tap tap tap. Seeds…the worse part of the chile as far as oil concentration! I tried the rubbing alcohol…worked for a few minutes. Then I moved on to lemon juice…again, only a few minutes of relief. I made a baking soad paste and that worked pretty good until I washed it off. Then came the toothpaste, newp. I came across Craig’s post on the hot water and soap. The water seemed way hotter than it was and it was a few seconds of agony…but, it paid off. My hand feels so much better! Next time I WILL NOT forget the gloves. I am very happy that I didn’t grab the Habs instead…just thinking about that is making me cringe.
Best of luck to all y’all sufferin from Jalapeno hands. Always remember your gloves!
~amanda
anyone else had similar i adjusted my underwear i had cameltoe it burns sooo bad help my privates and my hands burn
My boyfriend has Ja-hands too! He used this stuff called SSD it’s used for burns. It’s 1% silver sulfadiazine cream….whatever that is? He said it helped….
First take the maximum dose of ibuprofin or tylenol. I took ibuprofin in between trying butter, milk, dishsoap, olive oil, hand sanitizer, cortizone cream and anything else I could think of. At first I thought the cortizone cream had done the trick, but when the pain got worse again after for hours and cortizone cream didn’t seem to help as much as before (it did still help some), I realized the refleif had been the ibuprofin kicking in. Definitely try the other stuff (except bleach, which I saw recommended somewhere but which will burn your hands for real) but wash your hands and take an ibuprofin first. It’s quick, it won’t interfere with your other remedies, and it worked best for me.