How to Get Rid of Hot Pepper Oils on the Hands

Eating hot peppers can be hard on your tongue, but cooking with them can be even harder on your hands. When you cut into a hot pepper, powerful chemicals called capsaicinoids are released. They can cause burning and stinging on your hands. Capsaicinoids are not water-soluble, so washing your hands with water just spreads the burning sensation around.

Things You'll Need

• Vegetable oil or fatty dairy products

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Instructions

Oil Method

• 1

  Pour vegetable oil over your hands and rub it in. Capsaicinoids are lipophilic, which means they dissolve in fats.

• 2

  Continue rubbing more oil into your hands until the burning stops.

• 3

  Rinse the oil off your hands and then wash them thoroughly with soap and water.

Dairy Method

• 4

  Take whatever creamy, fatty dairy product you have in the refrigerator and pour it into a bowl. Whole milk, yogurt, sour cream, mayonnaise and even ice cream all work well.

• 5

  Soak or coat your hands in the dairy product.

• 6

  Wash your hands when you no longer feel a burning sensation.