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Connoisseurs of spicy food know everything about the cayenne pepper. The little red pepper packs an intense punch and includes four-alarm zip to everything from stir-fry to Creole sauce– and it can save your life.

A Modern Twist on an Ancient Technique

Cayenne pepper, likewise understood scientifically as oleoresin capsicum (OR), is the cornerstone in most commercially offered pepper sprays. Cayenne has been made use of for thousands of years as a method of self-defense. Armies in ancient China covered ground, dried cayenne pepper in rice paper and tossed it at the faces of their challengers to stun them. Around the exact same time, the Japanese designed a little box used to blow cayenne into the face of an enemy.

Today’s pepper spray was initially developed in the 1960s as an animal repellent. It was a big hit among mail carriers who needed to compete with unfriendly area canines. Portable and simple to use, it has turneded into one of the most popular kinds of individual self-defense.

Enlivening Self-defense

If you’ve ever felt the burn of spicy food on your tongue, you can most likely imagine why pepper spray is so efficient. Pepper spray is much more concentrated than your typical spicy meal, and when aimed at the eyes and face of an opponent it produces a number of undesirable effects:

• Difficulty breathing
• Extreme eye inflammation
• Temporary blindness or inability to open the eyes
• An agonizing burning sensation on the skin
• Coughing and runny nose

These results are short-lived– some last about 30-45 minutes. But the knowledgeable use of pepper spray can buy you enough time to obtain from a dangerous scenario and call for help. Pepper spray is a reliable, non-lethal way to secure yourself from a prospective assaulter.

Pepper sprays are available in a variety of kinds, including lots of that are little enough to fit inside a handbag or pocket. Whether you select a big spray canister or a lipstick-sized spray that fits on a crucial ring, it is necessary that you use pepper spray properly and follow some fundamental guidelines:

• Check with your state laws concerning pepper spray. Some states only allow certain sizes and concentrations, and some states prohibit Internet sales of pepper spray– understand the guidelines before you buy.

• Keep your pepper spray in the same location at all times. You ought to be able to access your pepper spray as soon as you need it– in a harmful situation, you do not have time to dig through your handbag to find it.

• Test your pepper spray periodically. It’s a great idea to (thoroughly) test out your pepper spray to make sure it still works. It’s also excellent practice so you understand ways to utilize it if you need to.

• Keep pepper spray from the reach of children. Although it’s not lethal, pepper spray can be painful. Don’t leave it where your kids can have fun with it.