If you are ever Sprayed with Pepper Spray...

I believe the ingredient of choice is fat.

BTW, welcome!

Try baby shampoo. They sell tiny little travel-sized bottles for your carrying convenience.

...unless you're a bad guy; then I've heard of great results with a mixture of 2 parts sand - 1 parts salt.


Howdy2

I believe the ingredient of choice is fat.

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Correct. The active ingredient in pepper spray, capsaicin, is hydrophobic and so it is not soluble in water.

Use of anything oily or greasy to remove pepper spray will only spread it and help it penetrate the skin. Washing quickly, and several times, with soap is a better idea.

494thSpecialOps said: Wash your eyes out with milk.

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And where is it you learned this tip?

Try freeze +P then wash your face with water.

I've received the same tip from folks in the corrections training program I'm about to do--they assure me milk is the ticket, though I don't know this yet from personal experience. When I got sprayed a couple months back for our local reserve program at the Sheriff's office, we used baby shampoo. It was better than nothing, but fell well short of the miraculous I'll report back after being sprayed again (with a very similar OC product) to let the THR community know what works better IME!

If you eat something spicy and get one of those "vurps" (vomit burb), milk always does the trick. Pepper spray is just spice, so I can logically buy that this would work.

I heard it's the protein casein?

Being interested in spraying myself with pepper spray again and my roommate, I've done research in the last week on this issue. I've found quite a few sources that say milk has the protein casein. For example, one of the sources is http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/taste9.html

Scientists now believe that casein in the milk is responsible for its cooling effects. According to Robert Henkin of The Taste and Smell Clinic in Washington, D.C., casein is a phosphoprotein that acts as a detergent and strips the capsaicin from the nerve receptor binding sites in the mouth which are contained in the taste papilli. The casein in milk is in the form of calcium caseinate, which constitutes about three percent of milk. Other possible cool-downs containing casein include milk chocolate and some beans and nuts.

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Also
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/features/capsaicin.shtml

One expects that the long hydrocarbon tail will make capsaicin less water soluble than vanillin. This is indeed the case. Capsaicin is insoluble in cold water, but freely soluble in alcohol and vegetable oils. This is why drinking water after munching an habanero pepper won't stop the burning. A cold beer is the traditional remedy, but the small percentage of alcohol will not wash away much capsaicin. For relief from a chile burn, drink milk. Milk contains casein, a lipophilic (fat-loving) substance that surrounds and washes away the fatty capsaicin molecules in much the same way that soap washes away grease.

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Another http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php?cat=385

i agree with the milk thing

i'd know, my wife & inlaws introduced me to using habanero in just about everything they cook.

Is it the calcium? Like TUMS?

No, it's a protien that interacts well with the capsacin molecules, just as described.

Most pepper sprays are overrated. Yes, they make you wish you were somewhere else, but a disciplined mind can easily fight through the effects with experience.

Yes, they make you wish you were somewhere else, but a disciplined mind can easily fight through the effects with experience.

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True. I would not count on OC to give me anything but a momentary advantage in a fight--so I would use it with a plan in mind for how to use that moment of opportunity.

On the 'Milk' episode of Good Eats I watched tonight, a sidebar claimed that Milk's spice-neutralizing power comes from the protein casein, and I believe more or less everything Alton Brown says (I mean come on; he uses Shun knives!), so I'm gonna throw in with GuyWithQuestions (above).

Bio Shield.

Milk nono

Anything with Fat is bad as well as warm water will open your pores more to the capsicum oil.

The best is flush with cold water and air out. No magic juju other than don't get sprayed

Bioshield decontaminant available in wipes and spray: do you have personal experience with this stuff, amoredman?

The only thing I've ever heard being effective is baby shampoo. That's what Alaska LE agencies use. I just stood in the shower for 45 minutes.

Baby shampoo, Dawn, or decon wipes work best. Anything oil based like lotions or creams will trap the stuff between it and your skin and make it burn more.

Pepper Spray

I have been sprayed along with hundreds of other police cadets in the academy. We were invited to try whatever we heard of. Fact is, the only thing that works is water and time. Many methods have been touted over the years, we have not found one that did work. One thing we have found to be effective against OC or Pepper Spray is a drug crazed idiot.

Fact is, the only thing that works is water and time.

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Working in the ER on the rez I have seen a bunch of people sprayed with pepper spray. The only thing that works for sure is time.

I took pity on one guy and let him wash, use ice packs and got a fan to blow air across his upper body. He said it helped a little, but not much.

Another guy spit at me, I got him a nice warm towel to cover his face with.

bob

I experienced a small dose once. It took about 45 minutes to completely wear off. It felt oily so I doubt water would have much if any effect at removing it. I would guess that milk may help to neutralize the acidity which I would guess is the source of the pain. I would think that for something to actually be able to remove it it would have to have a degreaser quality.
I do know from my experience that the stuff is a potent weapon.

When the stuff was first made legal for us citizens to carry I got some for my wife. Not wanting her to simply enrage an attacker, I decided to try it on myself to see how effective it was. I only put a couple of drops on my finger and then rubbed it into my eye. It hurt a lot. More than that, it made my eye water so profusely for about a half an hour that I couldn't see out of it. I concluded that even if someone were so doped up they were numb, the stuff will definitely take away someones eyesight and if they can't see, they can't chase you.

& thats the truth

One thing we have found to be effective against OC or Pepper Spray is a drug crazed idiot.

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Pfft.
For us manly men, we wash pepper spray out with tobasco sauce and lemon juice (some salt helps too), then we dry everything off with a cheese grater.