THIS TIP IS A LIFESAVER FOR BURNS - Almost literally:
Before reading the rest of this, go get your bottle of CAYENNE PEPPER, wet the burned area (so it sticks well), and cover all burned areas in a thick layer of the cayenne... it may not work at this point because it's been so long since the burn, but it could still help reduce blistering and pain.
In the future, the INSTANT you get any kind of burn, do cayenne pepper--nothing else. No cold water (except to rinse off the potato gunk and get your hand clean of debris... but cold water only helps me when my hand is IN it, and my hand hurts like mad again soon as I take it out regardless of how long I left it in), no burn cream... they're not effective, and not necessary (for fun you could give yourself a fresh, scorching burn now that you know about cayenne, and use this trick, and notice how it's completely healed after cayenne......................... just kidding, don't intentionally hurt yourself!!! But DO use the trick for future burns, when they're fresh!). Read on for my story.
I squeezed a potato in the microwave once to see if it was soft yet, and it imploded, shoving right up under my fingernails and everything. When the potato burst, I had my mom and sister with me at the time... I was reminded that CAYENNE PEPPER (remember that: small cuts, burns, everything... it's like a cure-all) works well for burns. For the first time ever, I tried using cayenne on a burn (I'd used it on cuts dozens of times: it removes the infection, and makes it heal almost within hours sometimes, depending on severity).
When You get a burn (of any kind):
Wet the burn area (to allow it to stick). Immediately (within a couple minutes if you can) blanket the burn (ANY surface area that MAY have been burned) in CAYENNE PEPPER. Just leave it on for 10-15 minutes, and don't get impatient. Remember to do it ASAP--the longer you wait, the more chance the burn has to set in.
When I burned my hand (fingertips, actually) on the squished potato, it was crazy-painful--I could hardly stand. Like I said, potato chunk even squished itself down underneath my fingernails. I put cayenne pepper on all burned areas, but didn't get it sufficiently under my nails in time. All areas of my hand/fingertips that were covered with cayenne for a while were 100% healed within minutes (by the time I removed the cayenne) and never had residual pain. The very tip of two fingers, right beneath my fingernails, blistered by the next day and had large, bulbous bubbles on each that were irritating and painful for two weeks. That blistered area was the only burned area I did NOT get cayenne to, and it was the only one to remain unhealed and remind me of my stupidity with the potato (all areas were burned equally... so the tips weren't any worse than lower on my fingers). I've done cold water and other things like everyone else suggested, and NOTHING works as well as Cayenne pepper.
Trust me: Since then, I've now used cayenne a few more times on burns. Most recently, only yesterday, I pulled a hot cup of water from the microwave... but, the cup itself was fairly cool, so I tested the water with my finger... Big mistake! The cup must be heat-absorbent, because the water scorched! It hurt like crazy, and then I remembered cayenne. I wetted my finger, smeared cayenne paste all over it, and just went about making dinner while avoiding touching things with that finger... 10 minutes later, I rinse it off, and my finger felt no pain. I totally forgot I ever burned myself yesterday until responding to your question :)
P.S. If it's REALLY bad, and the cayenne doesn't help cuz it's been so long, go see a doctor! I don't know what the doc could do if even cayenne isn't working... but maybe there's more.
UPDATE:
WARNING - I totally forgot to mention this, but if you do use Cayenne on burns (and especially cuts) it may burn/hurt (not in a lasting-after-you-remove-it-sense , but a hurts-while-it's-on sense). I've never had cayenne burn/hurt (kinda like rubbing alcohol on an infected cut) on a burned area... but when I've used it on cuts, it DOES burn--a lot. Get it on the cut fast (the burn takes 5-10 seconds to set in and be noticeable), slap a bandaid on it (so it's not messy and you can continue doing things), and leave it for a while so it has a chance to extract the stuff. I've left it on as little as 30 minutes or as long as overnight (for cuts)... or as little as 10 minutes to as long as 25 minutes for burns. Don't freak out if it does start hurting, because it's cayenne and therefore is bound to. The hurt will go away once you remove all cayenne, usually within 10-20 minutes for me (if I cleaned it off well enough), and if you had an infection before (and the wound was still open enough to allow penetration when you put cayenne on it), your infection should be totally gone if cayenne was left on long enough... and you could dump gallons of rubbing alcohol on it and feel no pain from that anymore (cayenne has been the only way I've ever found that actually makes rubbing alcohol NOT hurt... because the more infected your cut, the more painful the rubbing alcohol, so when infection is withdrawn by cayenne, it's pain-free... whereas cayenne is more or less indiscriminately painful while it's on a cut). I don't like the feeling of cayenne when it's on, but it sure does help. Oh, and of course, consult your doctor and all that, don't use if you're allergic or suspect you're allergic, etc... I've never had or known anyone to have any problems, complications or worsening of wounds/burns when they use cayenne (it's a natural plant-product, not a concoction, so there's just the one item to consider: cayenne), but I imagine there's always a first time. So.. yeah. Just use with the realization that
A. I'm NOT a doctor, just part of a growing group of people who find cayenne more effective than everything else out there, and B. _I_ have never known anything bad to come of it and have only seen good, but that doesn't mean YOU won't, so maybe consult a doctor/do research/find out if you're allergic, or keep a friend at hand the first time or two you do it (on cuts, anyway).
2006-10-24 13:32:08
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answer #1
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answered by Laius Slain! 2
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Cold water, and plenty of it. No ice, no weird home remedies. No ointments. Ointments are greasy, that'll insulate it and cause the heat that's under your skin to keep burning.
Just water. After that, you can wrap a bandage around it lightly to keep it from getting infected, but don't wrap it too tight.
2006-10-24 10:18:49
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answer #7
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answered by calliope320 4
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