Jalapeno hands

When was the last time you were thinking of making dishes with jalapenos? Are you the one, who keeps avoiding spicy food, worrying about jalapeno hand skin irritations caused by the hot peppers? This post is exclusively created for you.

Let's learn how to get jalapeno off your hands to avoid the burning sensations with simple techniques of handling the jalapeno or any other hot pepper varieties. Plus, there are a few home remedies if you have encountered and have the burning sensations now.

What are Jalapeno hands?

It's a skin irritation caused by the jalapeno and other hot peppers, colloquially called jalapeno hands. The skin gets a burning sensation, which can be severe or moderate and may last up to 6 hours, and in some cases, it takes up a whole day to return to normal.

The hand-burning sensation is horrible and can transfer from the hands to other skin parts wherever touched. The eyes and nose are vulnerable, and the pain is more severe. It may create skin redness, inflammation, and burning sensations.

Almost everyone might encounter it at least once and might have thought of how to get jalapeno off their hands.

What causes the skin irritation?

Jalapenos belong to the hot pepper variety and measure 5500 SHU on the Scoville scale. It's multiple times hotter than the mild green peppers. Apart from its heat, the peppers hold another important chemical component called Capsaicin.

It's an oil-like component in the white membrane that holds the seeds. Because of its oil-based nature, it is easily spreadable and transferable wherever it touches. And turns more severe on the eyes and nose.

All the above complications can be easily prevented with simple hacks.

How to prevent it?

Wear gloves. If you are a beginner and worrying about How to get jalapeno off your hands? Or prepping a large batch of peppers for preserving? Our first advice would be not never to touch the peppers with bare hands.

I would highly suggest to wear gloves. The burning sensation from the jalapeno hands can spoil our precious hours. And I keep mentioning it whenever possible on our website.

Avoid touching. While chopping, hold the shiny, smooth external side of the pepper. And continue to chop; use the broad side of the knife or the vegetable scraper to scoop them out from the chopping board. And this comes with the practice.

Avoid touching your eyes and nose. These areas are susceptible and highly react when contacted with capsaicin.

Apply oil. Before heading to handle the peppers, apply oil to the hands and thoroughly rub the entire hands, including the back of the hand and between fingers. This oil acts as a barrier between the skin and the capsaicin.

Wash the hands. When the chopping work is completed, wash the hands thoroughly with mild soap and water. This will not take away the capsaicin entirely from the skin. So, avoid touching tender skin areas or children immediately after handling peppers.

Never do these

So, if you have skin exposed to capsaicin oil, your skin gets irritated. First, wash hands with dish soap and water, to stop spreading it to other body parts.

Never touch eyes, ears, or nose. Never try to touch your sensitive body parts like eyes, and ears. The burning sensation could turn severe in these areas.

Never Remove contact lenses. Chili burn hands and the contact lenses are contrarily connected. If you have contact lenses on, never try to remove them. A hard lesson learned by myself.

Never touch toddlers. A baby nearby you to take care of? Jalapeno hands highly irritate them as well. Rinse thoroughly with dish soap with running water and start attending to the kid. Or wear gloves before touching them, another personal lesson from me.

How to deal with burning hands from peppers?

The burning sensation in the hands caused by peppers is initially mild and intensifies as time passes. And the feeling can last up to 6 hours.

These burning sensations do not harm the skin's surface and automatically disappear after a couple of hours. The following remedies may provide instant relief depending on the skin. Repeat the procedure, if it bothers again.

Capsaicin, an oily substance, causes sensitivity. Our primary goal is to remove it as soon as it comes into contact with the skin. The longer it's on the skin, the harder it gets to remove.

Try dish soap and water. Wash the hands thoroughly with soap and warm water immediately. The dish soap helps highly in cutting down and stops spreading capsaicin to other parts of the skin from the hands. And this slightly helps in the initial stages.

This should be the first step before proceeding to other solutions.

Olive oil. Try applying olive oil or vegetable oil all over the hand. Dab for about 3 minutes and rinse it with dish soap and water. if the pain is persistent, try one more time

Honey. Honey is another soothing ingredient, getting positive feedback from online interview reviewers. Gently massage the hands with honey for a couple of minutes and rinse thoroughly. Repeat the step if the sensation returns.

Ice water. This is not a remedy but it lessens the pain for some time.

Rubbing alcohol. I have not tried this, but this remedy works for many. This stops the Capsaicin from spreading beyond the hands.

Aloe Vera gel. Soothes the skin and gives a cooling effect. Reduces the irritations substantially, but reapplies when the pain returns.

Time. Finally, time is the number one healing factor. Wait for 3-4 hours for the skin to return back to normal.