How Do You Stop the Chili Pepper Burn? (2024)

Eat one or two green unripe bananas. I learnt this tip from a Keralite Indian more than three decades ago and it works every time. Green bananas are rich in resistant starch and pectin, which are filling, improve digestive health, and help lower blood sugar levels. If I’m enjoying a very hot curry I always have a bunch of green bananas on hand.

I have found that lime juice works really well when handling hot peppers. If I get the oil from peppers on my skin I pour lime juice on the area and the pain goes away quickly. I have gone so far as to use it near my eyes if I make the mistake of touching my skin near the eyes. I include Carolina Reapers, Ghost peppers, Thai peppers, cayenne, habanero, jalafuego in my salsa. Needless to say, it is VERY HOT!!!

I've been a pepper head since the late seventies, when all you could find were jalapeno, cayanne, and a few other similar peppers.
I've grown over 100 varieties of hot peppers over the years. Reapers, Scorpions,
Ghost and many more.
The one thing that I've found to help with the burn when eating them is to simply find a isolated spot (bathroom toilet works well). Then lean you head over the bowl and open your mouth. Breathe through your mouth and you will start to salivate like crazy. In about 30 to 60 seconds the heat should be cut by roughly half. This isn't a pretty way to deal with the heat, but it works!

a slice of raw potato on your skin or tongue will help cool it off, you'll want to have some bread with the dairy to help cool your mouth water will just swish the oil around, burning more of your mouth, so as tempting as it is, try to avoid it until after you've had some dairy!

Let’s look at all the chemical composition of all the solutions to capsaicin burning. I myself am not a chemical engineer, but I would suggest that because sugar has a high concentration of carbon. That is the reason why sugar is good for the burn.

The only really the best antidote for pepper burn and it works on ALL hot peppers all the time every time and that is plain table salt! Depending on the pepper you may have to put it in the mouth and wallow it around and spit it out from one or more times But it works and it never fails. If it is the lips that burn than put a little water or you can spit in it instead and then add a little salt, take your finger from your other hand and stir to dissolved the salt. Then take your finger into the salt water and paint your lips. In almost instantly the burn goes away. ( again you may have to reapply depending on the pepper)
If it is your hands... first off put your hands in cold cold water, then wash your hands using nothing but table salt to wash them with, rinse with cold water and reapply the salt and wash, (again depending on the pepper it will depend on the wash times) NEVER,NEVER use warm or any hot water to wash the hands!! Always use cold and the colder the better, The cold water closes the pores of the hand, Hot or warm water opens the pores. I always before I work with hot peppers put my hands in ice cold water before working with peppers, I have never had to use any gloves. I have raised and sold or processed just about every hot pepper there are and have ate the same and these is the only way I do it!
Using table salt washes and naturalizes the captain in both the mouth and the hands. Using milk or ice cream only covers up the hot it does not stop the damage. Besides the fact is table salt is every where, if in a restaurant take the salt shaker go to the restroom use the water salt. IT WORKS. When I sold hot peppers in the famers market I always took a box of salt and water as well as a empty glass to the customers could stop the burn. And to stop the children if and when they touch the peppers. I used the glass to put water and salt in mixed it up and slowly washed the eyes if needed.
I got this from a older Hispanic man a long long time ago, to prove him right I took the hottest peppers I had and put 4 or 5 of them all in my mouth (I do not recommend any one to do this) and chewed them, the burn was worse then terrible. But I wanted to see if what this man had told me was true, if it was then I would take table salt with to the market. I throwed some salt in my mouth and spit, I did this for three times and it worked like a charm even on the Carolina!!!

We have used bread dipped in honey. Not for sure if it really works, but we always believed it cut the heat

I have eaten bread to help stop the tongue/mouth burning. I was cutting peppers to pickle one year and my hands were in so much pain for hours one of my Aunts suggested Preparation H to stop the burning, it worked. I had already tried everything else.

My father-in-law told me that he had been told that rubbing an overripe banana on your skin will help. Even though I was wearing gloves, I got juices between the glove and my hand. My hands were still burning when I went to bed that night, so I got up and smashed a banana on them. Left it on a couple minutes and the heat was gone, so went back to bed.
I use cheese, yogurt or sour cream to help ease mouth pain when I need it.

Try eating a cucumber slice or two. This will help kill the burn in your mouth. This is where cool as a cuc came from.

The best solution that I have found works better than dish soap, or milk is cottage cheese...I have used cottage cheese not only on mouth burn but I have also used it on my hands...this works on the hottest peppers and it works well

potato salad, macaroni salad, etc. Just hold the salad in your mouth awhile.

I and a friend decided one day to do a test on how to reduce or stop the burn from eating a habanero pepper. We assembled all of the common items that are supposed to help, milk, soda pop, soda crackers, water, etc.
After trial and error we found that nothing really worked. They all had some effect while you consumed them but as soon as you stopped the burn came back.
Then we tried a solution of backing soda and water. That really worked it killed the burn by 70%.
So I vote for backing soda and water mix.

I have had luck washing my hands with lemon juice to stop the burn. The acid cuts through the oils of the pepper, then just wash your hands with soap and water.

My favorite "burn barrier" when being surprised by an intense pepper is full-fat chocolate ice cream. The combo of casein and cacao seems to act like a magic eraser, though time is still the healer.

I have grown a variety of hot peppers for years. I rarely wear gloves anymore but found that to stop the burn on the hands and prevent it making my eyes burn if accidentally wiping my eyes later on is to , cup my hand and fill it with white vinegar and dash of dawn detergent rub together for few minute and then wash my hands. the vinegar and dawn somehow neutralizes the hot oils on my hands. works great.

When My son, who was about 5 or 6, tasted the pepper flakes made for pizza and we were eating out, milk and applesauce did NOT help. However, eating an apple cut the heat right away.

I did know dairy is a great solution for eating hot peppers. However I didn't have any at my finger tips in Cancun.
Hubby and I were in Cancun at a buffet, gent sat 3 dishes of salsa on our table and left-1 large dish, 2 tiny. Yum I though, I grabbed a chip and dunked. OMGosh. I love hot spicy food, but this hot..My face turned scarlet, tears were streaming down my face, I couldn't breath, my breath was just gone. I grabbed my hubby's arm and squeezed. He was clearly scared. Was I making noises...oh my dignity...the entire restaurant was looking. The waiter came running over. Gasping for air I ran for the washroom. "Eventually" I recover. A scared waiter is at the table waiting with sour cream and apologizing for not telling us about the heat factor which he admits was suppose to tell everyone. Apparently the 2 dishes were for us to mix with the larger dish if we wanted to make our salsa hot. Yeah, that would have been good info to have before the chip got dunked.
Now I carry sour cream around with me...no I don't, I'm just kidding. Once recovered, the buffet was delicious!!

I've noticed that restaurants that serve hot peppers orhot food always have doughnuts or cup cakes on the counter.

For mouth burn, I have found that good ol' Cherry co*ke does a good job of reducing, and eventually, removing the burn.
I wouldn't try it in the eyes though.

After not getting complete relief by repeated washings with milk, baking soda & dawn dish soap, an application of Lanacaine sunburn spray finally worked.

I tried several of the remedies including Voltaren Gel after waking with burning hands at 2:00 am after seeding and skinning roasted hot Hatch chiles. So far Benedryl cream has worked the best. But it takes about 15 minutes to stop the pain and after showering, I needed to re-apply it. I have roasted similar chiles for years and this was the first time I’ve had a problem.

My hands were burning from making jalapeno poppers. I tried the cornstarch paste and it worked like a charm! I had already washed my hands with a soap and salt paste- which usually works. Thank you for the help!

Ouch! Why are so many tasty good things also sometimes painful? Chili peppers anyone? Love your website! Just signed up last night. I'm a mild/sweet/tasty/medium pepper person, but I'll give any new food a try. Ouch again! My spouse like you LOVES hot stuff especially peppers such as the Hawaiian and Piri Piri Peppers. I've learned a few tricks such as above when after handling peppers, we "got the skin burn". I found that using white flour worked great. Rub some in your hands to remove the oil and then, wash hands thoroughly with soap and cold water. Not hot. Hot will open the pores to your skin. Ouch again! The hotter the pepper the more flour and handwashing but it'll work. Thanks again for such an informative amusing and "hot" site!

The best I have found to kill the heat is to take milk and baking soda and make a slightly liquid paste. I then clean the area that is burning. Rinse off and redo until heat is gone or it is at a tolerable level.

Cloee,I know it’s hard to just leave it alone but it works. After reading most of the comments and article it was completely better and didn’t hurt again.

I find citrus cuts it perfectly. Ever wonder why the thai restaurants serve an orange slice with a meal? There ya go.

I have used baking soda effectively to cool burning from hot peppers. Many Years ago, I saw for the first time, some habanero peppers in a grocery store. Oddly enough, they had a really huge bin of them and I had no idea how hot they are. The amount that the grocer had would have been enough to make an incandescent hot chili con carne for half of California. I took a bite into one and, suddenly I was heading for the door, got into my car with the window down spitting as fast as the fire built up in my mouth on my way home. I put a couple of tablespoonfulls of baking soda in a half glass of water, slashed it around in my mouth and decided that I really didn't need to go to ER after all. Boy those babies are HOT! About 10 minutes later, I returned to the grocery store, found my cart with groceries in it, payed for my groceries and went home now knowing what an habanero is.

I love hot food, but unfortunately, it doesn't like me anymore. So what peppers do you recommend cooking with that are medium spice? Also is it true that the heat in a pepper comes from the membrane and not the seeds?

I'm reading this article when I'm in a real trouble with chili pepper extremely burning my nose. But the fact is that during reading the full article the burning has already been dissipated. This was too helpful. Read my comment and your burn gets more time to cool down. This is a great solution

I discovered this. Saltine crackers, and Corn chips absorb all the saliva, and wetness in your mouth, which contains the capsaicin. Chew crackers, or chips slowly, helping them to absorb the liquid in your mouth. It may take more than one cracker, or chip. The burn goes away almost, instantly. You can then eat more peppers, and repeat this process, as many times as as you want. It works every time.

Nothing worked, the milk made the pain subside for 45 minutes. But then it came back full force. I applied Manuka honey (the one I have is strength/MGO 400). The pain almost immediately went away completely. I’m talking 100% healed up. Amazing.

When I was last in Mexico, I ran into some seriously hot serano’s (?!)… the server gave me a plate of sliced cucumbers, with salt sprinkled on top. Placing the salt side onto my tongue, it took 39 sec for the burn to die…. It was amazing. The beer didn’t help (was within reach) but neither did dairy… this did it, and fast!

My daughter cut and de-seeded a load of jalapeños to make sriracha sauce, without gloves. Her hands were burning like mad afterwards.
We tried all the usual things: oil, soapy water, alcohol, milk; had no effect. Mechanics´ hand cleaner made it slightly better but only for a short time.
Then my eye fell on the bottle of DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide). I first tested it on my own hand: I cut a trinidad scorpion open, rubbed it on a patch of skin, waited until it was burning and then put some DMSO on it. At first it made the burning sensation even worse for like 30 seconds but then the burning completely disappeared, really quickly. Rubbed it on my daughter´s hands and same effect. Amazing.
DMSO is a transparent non-toxic solvent that has the property of taking whatever is on your skin, through your skin into the bloodstream. I use it in homemade medicinal oils and creams.
Of course it´s not something everyone has at home, but if you do and you have chili burn on your skin, you´re in luck.

Hi. Had a very bad Chilli burn and the only thing that worked instantly was ALOE VERA GEL. tried everything else and toothpaste made it worse. Others were temporary solutions. AV gel was MAGIC.

Try avocado!! I cut a wedge off so it still had skin on the outside to use for grip as I rubbed it back and forth on my affected hand for several minutes — periodically I flipped it over and used the texture of the peel to gently work the avocado into every nook and cranny. Then I rinsed in warm (not hot) water and repeated. I did this several times (using dish soap maybe every-other rinse) and it has cut the pain to a level I can cope with. Before this Hail Mary gamble, I tried dish soap, cooking oil, lotion, rubbing alcohol, bleach bath, baking soda paste, honey, oil-based make-up remover, alcohol-based bug bite salve, shampoo. I thought the avocado might work because of its natural oils while being thick enough I could keep it in contact with my skin long enough to break down the capsaicin from the chilis. Not a total cure but at least I can finally think straight! Like many of the other remedies that have worked for others, I expect I’ll need to repeat the process, but this is the most relief I have felt in about 18 hours. Hope it works for someone else out there!

Gordon Ramsay said to squeeze lemon juice on your burn. I can’t wrap my head around that one but the man has more experience than me.

My hand was burning after cuting chili. I tried to put my hand in milk and it didn't work. I tried with olive oil, with nail polish remover, with body scrub....nothing worked. Than i washed my hands with shampoo twice. And it seems to be ok for now. Hope pain doesn't return.

I grew a Dragon’s Breath plant last year, and the peppers were so hot that I had burning hands even with nitrile gloves. I found that wiping them with medicated hemorrhoid wipes worked. Probably the Aloe Vera and witch hazel among other ingredients. (The hot sauce was excellent, but I made a pepper relish with them that was out of this world)!

The best way that I have found to stop the burn on skin is to use Fast Orange hand cleaner for mechanics followed by washing area with hand soap works very well for me. I would think any hand cleaner for mechanics would work as they are made to remove oil and grease.

Potato salad or macaroni salad works quickly

after handling juiced peppers, I tried everything in the house and on this page including yogurt without the gloves; still nothing stopped the agony; until, I got to my wife's feminine wash: ahhhh-- instant relief.

I dont mean to be a super man - but I wonder why people are really sensitive to the effects of cutting up chili pepps. I can do with no problem slice up habeneros and there is no burn - I am growing and sliced ghost and I will use gloves. I just have to be mindful that when I do any slicing of chili pepps is no touching of eyes or in the male sense well...No 1 is so to speak touchy:)

I have found that the mouth and hands are filled with tiny buckets. Drinking anything just takes the top of the bucket. Once you stop, the burn comes right back. The trick is replacing the contents of the bucket or neutralizing it. An old saying says that when people quit smoking food tastes better. Why? They emptied their buckets full of garbage. To neutralize the burn to a livable level bit an Orange or Lime and swish it around. For those that smoke. inhale and hold the smoke in your mouth. Takes about 2 times. This will replace the contents of the bucket. I haven't tried the honey or sanitizer tricks but you will know if it worked on the hands when you get into a warm shower.

My hands are burning because i cut pepper with my bear hands I don’t have alcohol or honey but I have sugar and vegetable oil what should I do

Honey worked for me! I tried dairy, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, oil, and make up remover. I saw in the comments that people where using honey and keeping it on for at least 30 minutes... and yup it worked! I used latex gloves and filled them up with honey. I felt the pain subside at the 30 minute mark but went on for another 15-20 minutes just to make sure the burning went completely away.

Honey really works! Everyone should try it!
Just apply it on the burn skin for at least 30 minutes. Highly recommend it : )

Try SUGAR and dishwashing liquid rubbed to the affected area for 10mins. It worked with me! I think any color will do. I my case I used brown but not necessary for you to utilize.

When I used to have access to fresh chillies more regularly I found I had a burning sensation all over my fingers and over other parts of my hands. It was constant cause I prepared most of my meals with the spiciest raw fresh chillies I could find. A few years in a row the skin on my fingers formed bumps of varying sizes, looking a little like verucas, only they were not, some of them fell out leaving conical holes in my skin, and my red burning fingers hurt and looked terrible. I tried all sorts of things to relieve the burning and nothing helped much at all. Just when I had given up I saw my almost empty can of hemp oil and though f*ck it, why not, so I rubbed it into my hands covering the entire surface area of my fingers thoroughly as well as the rest of my hands. I couldn't believe it. Within 5 minutes the burning sensation had almost completely gone, after 2 or 3 days the redness was gone and healing was happening, and after about 2 weeks you wouldn't have known that there were holes and bumps all up and down all my fingers and skin and little chunks of flesh falling off. I rubbed hemp oil in a few times a day each day, my skin was really falling apart. It was organic cold pressed extra virgin hemp oil FWIW. I hope this helps anyone going through the same thing.

After a hell of a day with burning fingers, trying every single hack to stop the immense pain, the only thing that worked was bi-phase makeup remover (the one oily+watery that women use for waterproof makeup).
Nothing else worked for me, as I understand it is very personal.
Just adding this to the conversation as I didn’t read it anywhere. I tried after reading about the micellar water, and it helped reducing immediately the pain, lasted much longer than any other product tried and even if a little burning keeps coming out now and then even the day after, that remedy saved my evening and night. At least I could sleep.

I had horrendous chilli burn, redness and swelling. I tried everything including anti-histamines and pain killers. Eventually thought ‘I need to neutralise the acid’. Made a paste out of dishwasher powder and water. It helped significantly but not totally. Eventually went to bed with rubber gloves filled with yoghurt taped at my wrists so it wouldn’t leak and a sleeping tablet. Woke in the morning with beautiful well nourished smooth hands. I have some Reapers growing this year and don’t plan to touch them.

Hey guys thx for the suggestions, my wife was making chili paste with durban chillies without gloves, afterwards she put on rubber gloves, the kitchen yellow ones,to clean prawns...huge mistake, they where rubbing the chilly oils more into her hands...found this site and tried everything...only honey seems to be working now after25-30 mins (10-01-2020)...

Thank you so much, Sasha for your comment. I tried everything on the website but nothing was making the burn go away until I read your post and tried honey. I only used the smallest amount and submerged my hands in it for 20-30minutes and it all went away. Thank you again!

6 hours of burning stopped after i applied hand sanitizer and some coconut oil over my burning fingers.

Dipping hands for about 10-15 minutes in cold milk helped - although it was lactose free (but there was probably casein in it)

After extreme burning sensation from cutting scotch bonnet on my fingers, I dipped them in vodka and then made a paste with the baking soda and vodka covered my fingers in it. Finally relief, a full day later.!!!

Miscellar water solves it! Soak yr hand for 30 mins and you are burn-free!

I tried milk and dish soap to no success and then eventually tried salt, olive oil and hot water which was all I had available. It was a painful method and after scrubbing the pain came back but then subsided after about 40 minutes. My skin feels raw after being in pain for so many hours but now thankfully it's gone.

Hey I also did the same experiment You all did without gloves so next time be careful and my hands are burning ohhhhhhhhhhhhh ...

Mustard, if that doesn't work smash opposite finger with hammer. ,

Well, I just had experience this and tried alcohol and cold compression but didn't work, I even squeezed tomatoes on my freaking hand cause of one of the comments here suggested that lol but it didn't change anything, still felt like my hand is literally burning from the inside, so I just soak my hands in water to cool it down but even that didn't help much cause the cooling effect wears off when I'd raise it out the water and I know I can't be like that forever, I was already kinda feeling desperate for solution when I went out to buy milk and that micellar water they're saying was working wonders when on the way my hand just gradually felt okay... I went home with the milk but my hand was already back to normal... I think the burning sensation only lasted for 30 minutes or so and I was just freaking out, in the end the solution could've been just to endure it... On my experience it didn't last hours unlike what I've read here, that's actually what kept me worried that it'll stay there for so long but it didn't... So yea, just make sure next time to wear gloves so you don't have to endure anything or had to suffer everything.

The way I dealt with mine was by using Garnier micellar water! It works, at least for me. I tried using alcohol, dishwashing liquid, ice pack, and milk, but none of them worked. I poured some of the micellar water onto a cotton pad, rubbed it on my fingers and let it cool down in front of an ac. After it dried up, I dabbed some on my fingers again and repeated the process a few times. In about 30 minutes, my fingers don't feel the burn nor pain anymore.

It was very helpful.

Had a worse experience today for several hours after cleaning a basket full of thai chili without glove. Tried almost every remedy mentioned above...alcohol, olive oil, corn starch, cold water, ice etc without success until I read about the honey.
And it finally worked!!! I massaged every crevice with honey and in 15min burning sensation started to subside so I continued for another 15mins and it finally stopped burning completely.
I eat thai chili with my meals regularly and never had this problem so I never thought of wearing a glove. Big mistake!
Hope my experience will help you!

I’m so thankful for all of these comments up here. I’m from India and spicy foods are our specialty. I never realised I had a small cut right beside my thumb nail until This morning while chopping green chillies I started feeling utter burning in that small area, I tried washing my hand with shampoo and then ignored it for like 2 hours until it started burning my thumb, my index and the middle finger. I soaked my hand in cold milk it seemed to work for a while but not for so long, I washed my hands thoroughly with alcohol based sanitiser which we have in abundance due to corona, it didn’t seem to work for long either, I mixed some baking soda with sanitiser and formed a paste soaked my fingers into it for 30 minutes and it was a whole lot better. I then coated my hand with desi ghee and BAM it’s gone!

I tried most of the suggested remedies like the yogurt and baking soda and olive oil but the burn didnt go away till I cut open fresh tomatoes and applied the juice all over my hands. I applied about 2 whole tomatoes and allowed it sit on my skin for about 20 minutes. The burn started to cool off

This works on my kids lips to! Thanks!

Hey guys! Thank you for all of the suggestions in the comments. It kept my mind off of the EXTREME pain my hands were in. I tried literally ALL of the suggestions and nothing worked 🙁 what finally worked was running my hands under hot water (the most painful thing I have every experienced-so be prepared) and alternated between washing with Dawn dish soap and olive oil and I used our dish scrubber to scrub the oils off of my hands. The hot water opens the pores of the skin and the dawn cuts the pepper oils and the olive oil binds to the pepper oils while the scrubber scrapes it off. It was honestly the most painful thing I have experienced but I feel sooo much better! Hope this helps!

Thanks for your suggestions. I had a severe burn from red chili peppers. I was about to go to the hospital, because pain was unbearable. Baking soda with oil really worked for me. I had to apply many times, but finally the pain disappeared. Thanks again!

i was enduring the pain until i saw my hand starts getting redder...tried putting my hands in the freezer only to make it worse when my hands went out of it ....i washed it and it made it even worse....so i tried garnier micellar water and voila it went away just like that...so mad that i didn't try it sooner

Omg.. while my hands is burning like boiling into something I was reading all comments and try all the suggestions but nothing works I was just cooking a green chilli for dynamite for me and my husband but I was excited to cook and to eat I forgot to use a remedy for my hands before I take off the seeds of the pepper and while cooking I can already feel some heat until it grows and go through my whole hands
I keep ignoring the pain I entertain myself play a phone and watch movie but gosh.. I already watch 3 kinds of movie and it is already 4:30 in the morning nothing happens what I did for the last time I slept with my frozen hotdog and I used all the iced and the towels are not yet cold so I just get the frozen one ahhahah it relives
I need to lay down because my baby wants to drink milk from me so I have no choice and I am sleepy so I sleep
When I wake up.. I can't even feel my fingers and there is no pain ...
By the way thanks for all your suggestions

Manduka honey seemed to settle the hot burning sensation on my upper lip and under my nose i thought i had washed my hands well enough before touching my face after planting some seeds from a fresh pepper . Big mistake it’s been 20 mins and colloidal silver helped a lot but only when i held it on there as soon as you wipe it away the burn comes back . Hope this helps

I made my favorite hot sauce today. 70 serrano peppers (most seeds removed) 30 Jalapeno peppers with a few chared ancho pepper (pureed with 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 lime juiced, and salt). Love this stuff :). I forgot to wear gloves....again. I tried all of the listed things to do in the article. All of which helped for a very very short time and you had to stand over the sink. although it may have reduced the severity in the long run. What did help me a lot and wasn't too awkward to keep up with was holding a cold washcloth. I started by wetting 2 cloths and putting them in the freezer. once frozen.....I used just one. I would cup the cloth, wipe, hold it, etc. Once cloth got warm I put it back into the freezer and took out the other. When my hands were cold, the pain dissipated. you can run your hands under cold water or hold an ice cube but it's too messy or you have to stand at the sink. It takes a few hrs for the pain to subside, Hope this helps someone. Cheers

What is puzzling with me - never was unlucky when I chopped \ diced chili peppers. Even when I am slicing habeneros I dont suffer from it (the burning) and I even take a slice or 3 and chew them. I love the taste of orange peppers, But now after I eat a slice or a few of those and take some tequila - now you got pain. I always thought that the oil from the peppers spreads it with alcohol, Maybe I'm wrong? How can alcohol actually relieve the pain on the hands but light you up in your mouth? (I know its the taste bud thing - but the alcohol has to dissolve the oil and spread it around making it worse)

Tried face scrubs, milk, vinegar, hot water, toothpaste, sugar, dish soap, alcohol, aloe, and none of them worked for me. I was cutting up some fresh serrano peppers for dinner and an hour later the back and palm of my hands, including fingers, were burning HOT!! nothing worked. scratched my face and it was also burning applied milk and that went away but my hands were still on fire. I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to sleep last night... but something worked wonders!!! My hands were burning so bad, I managed to take a cold shower. While getting ready for bed my hands were still on fire. I grabbed a plastic container and filled it up with tons of ice, a little bit of water and grabbed a rag. This, even though i knew it was going to give me a little hard time, actually WORKED!! Cold compress gave me a relief of around 5 mins. Each time I would continue to wet my hands and “hug” the rag with my hands, and put it back to cool again. I also had a fan in front of me while sleeping and my hands toward the edge of the bed allowing my hands to cool off with the wind of the fan. Pain and burning disappeared within an hour while I fell asleep. Would recommend trying!!

I had the worst pain ever. I cut up lots of Thai red chilli pepper and after 30 minutes it was painful. I tried , isopropyl alcohol then dipped my hand in yogurt and milk. Rubbed some lemon but it only got worse. So I thought, the only effective cleanser I know is my Garnier Miscellar Water make up remover. I rubbed my hand with cotton rounds soaked with miscellar water and sat in front of a full blast fan. After 30 minutes, miraculously, the pain was gone!

One of the worst pains every. Made just some simple jalapeño poppers
And two or so hours later my hands legit lit on fire it felt like. Try a really strong hand cream and The olive oil treatment because that’s how I fell asleep finally

I used benadryl after trying aloe cut straight from my plant, half n half soak, baking soda/powder paste, and alcohol. I took two benadryl and two advil and broke open two ice packs and fell asleep with them in my hands. This morning my fingers still tingle, but they no longer burn. That was the worst!

Aloe Vera is the best medicine for burns due to super hot chili peppers. It relieves the pain instantly! Apply it on skin or lips its safe and very effective!

Worked with Serrano chilis for dinner. Went to sleep 2-3 h later. Woke up in the middle of the night from pain on my leg that I scratched in my sleep. Gosh.... then my hands began to burn like there is no tomorrow... thanks for advices, alcohol rub seems to help, but I guess it will take a while until it completely stops to burn. What a nightmare.

This site helped me, and the answer was alcohol based hand sanitizer. I used a chili cream for my muscle pain, and it burned my skin at the middle of the night. Used lotion, milk, vinegar and scrub too!

Pickled some lighting Habs and somehow got the capsaicin on the back of my hand..OUCH....but St Ives green tea face scrub for the win...still burns a bit but it's manageable

I processed 35 lbs of Ghost and the like over the past three days to make jellies, hot sauce and dried peppers that I use in my dry rub. Used Latex gloves doubled. Never touched the peppers with bare hands. Still got hand heat from Oils that will migrate thru the gloves especially Latex because they are not made to stop oils, The black gloves that are used by mechanics are made to block oil base from getting to the skin. Know which gloves stop what type of substance. I don't really mind because I use capsaicin for my chronic joint pain so the feeling of the "burn" is a normal feeling. Vinegar 10/1 with water for 10 minutes will quell the bad burn and the rest will subside in time. Maybe this is the "cost" of home made stuff, which we all agree is better than anything you can buy because it is made with love. Enjoy the heat, it's good for you @zepinkpig, follow me.

I tried yoghurt, dish washing soap and milk but none of them helped. Finally I tried vodka (didn’t have rubbing alcohol). I put it in cotton wool and rubbed it all over the burning areas. It didn’t completely go, but got rid of the pain from most of my fingers and improved the pain in my thumbs (the worst affected). Thanks for all the tips.

I went with applying oil, then some cold milk, followed by my nail paint remover and then finally spraying some alcohol based deodorant on my hands. Don't know which of these worked, or maybe all worked in some way or the other. It took about an hour and a half to heal.

I tried all of the remedies and my fingers were still burning. Watkins salve worked the best. First cleaned with rubbing alcohol.

Very grateful to have found this site and all the helpful comments, thank you. After the alcohol and milk only took the edge off I noticed the tea tree oil posts, and suddenly thought my oil make up remover might work too. Worked a treat what a relief after 4hrs! The trick to oil make up remover is to apply the oil to dry skin and then add a small amount of water massaging the skin all the time until you see the mixture turn white. Then rinse off. I'm guessing that is what you would do for vegetable oil to work best too. Hope that helps others.

I had ghost peppers burning my hand after crushing them with my bare hands to make pepper flakes (after drying them). It has been 16 hours and I still feel the burn after remedies as simple as soaking hands in rubbing alcohol then rinsing, or soaking hands in baking soda mixed with water, then rinsing and even after "Wash the skin with warm, soapy water. Rub the skin with vegetable or olive oil and let set a minute. Rinse." My hands are still in agony, and Im stuck on what to do. 🙁

I have found that hand lotion rubbed and well applied will also work well after washing off.

I had jalapeño burn on my face and nothing I tried worked; olive oil, dish soap, and I didn’t have dairy. I ended up putting essential oil on the burn and then put Aquafor on top of that. I let it sit for a few minutes and wiped it up with water. That worked quite well.

Try lemon juice, just squirt the juice on your hands and the pain goes away, sometimes you have to apply a couple of times, let dry! ❤️

Just wanted to share. I was making pizzas tonight and my husband wanted chilli on his. So I very finely diced 3 really hot birds whe chillis and I sprinkled them with my hands onto the pizza . Long story short, wanted to thank you for the TEA TREE OIL TIP! After using dishwashing liquid, hand soap, bathing hands in milk, bathing hands in baking soda, vinegar, a double coffee body scrub, coconut oil, soap again , milk again, iced peas ... everything. Doused hands in straight tea tree oil (applied with cotton wool) and 20 minutes later the burn has really really subsided to very very nice and milk! Thank goodness it seriously felt like I was holding my hands in a fire place.

Dip ur finger in Sugar+ cold milk mixture.
Then wash it with soap and cold water.
It would surely help u guys.

After wash with shampoo clean with alcohol let my hand in milk with ice for 10 to 15 min and then put the yogurt around my finger or hand and let it dry till the pain go away mine last for 30 min,

My eyes and whole face is burning whith chilly????????????

If none of these work for you like it didn’t for me try using a body scrub or face scrub if you have it in the house. Since the burning sensation is from the oils trapped in the layer of the skin the scrub will peel back the layer and upon rinsing I felt instant relief. I used st Ives apricot scrub! Hope this helps

I came to this site because my mouth was on fire from peepers. After scrolling through the comments i realized the heat was almost gone by the time i was done. I guess focusing on something else helps to.

I was dealing dealing with thie burning sensation from chopping habanerro peppers yesterday and it lasted for about 8 hours. And oh man it was a nightmare. I couldn't sleep,hurt it was terrible. I tried rubbing alcohol before I soaked my hand in to a bowl of yogurt, dishwashing liquid to olive oil, to milk and lotion to shampoo, but none of those things works. Until I get the idea of using TEA TREE OIL, and it works really well and eased my pain in a matter of minutes ahh finally. Thanks Tea tree oil.

My friend dared me To eat a hot pepper seed!!!! It hurt so much but then I just put a washcloth that had water on it and boom ? it was gone

Rubbing alcohol first, then Olive oil (or any cooking oil) then Dawn dish soap. Add the Dawn dish soap to your oily hands and wash thoroughly. That works for me, but get the pepper oil off before going to the bathroom!!! You think it's hot on your hands------that's a different ballgame if you get any oily pepper residue on tender areas----

Don't moan about it, just love the burn!aint that the point after all?

Someone help me!!!!
My fingers are cooking up here!!!

Oh my gosh, rubbing alchohol works so well, thank u so much...pardon my spelling

Chili Sensi:. You have truly thought of everything from how to enjoy to how to deal with them when not handling them properly. I always use gloves now when handling multiple peppers. Thanks!

Plain fat-free Greek yogurt just saved my life!

i tried milk but it only worked for a minute. then i tied an ice cube onto my burned finger with a cotton clothe. It really works and the burning disappeared immediately! but you have to keep ice cube facing the sting area all the time and change the ice cube when the former melts.

A great tip I learned about combating the heat on its way out the next day is to drink a large glass of water immediately after the burning sensation in your mouth goes away. It helps things flush out w/less pain.

I tried milk, cooking oil, soak, vinegar... all failed! But finally i did it!! very easy, just go wash your hair with hair shampoo, use your burn fingers to rub shampoo on hair with soft.

I tried using lotion, but it only worked for about a minute. My best solution was actually moisturizing hair conditioner, and it really dulled and erased the pain.

Rub generously with lotion (i used jergens), then rinse off with soap and water. Repeat if it still burns a little.

If your chili or hot sauce turns out too hot, grind up a carrot and pour that in. It works. Also, Carnation malted milk cuts the hot, and also adds an interesting flavor

Geez. Maybe cook outside on the side burner if you can't handle it.

was told by a cook to use vinager

yoghurt helps

cdFidler, with chili, the best way to tame the heat is to serve it with a dairy product, like sour cream. If you feel that will affect the flavor too much, then try diluting the heat by adding in more of the chili ingredients. You'll wind up with a bigger pot of chili, but the heat will be more dispersed.

Is there a way to chill out the chili dish for dinner?

I tried milk etc but the best solution was hand sanitiser. The alcohol in this probably helped! I didn't car what helped just that it did!!!