How to Make the World’s Best DIY Topical Pain Relief for under $10

People should use topical cayenne more.

Seriously, they should. It’s cheap, abundant, easy-to-grow, effective as hell, and legal in all 50 states. Cayenne’s effect on pain has been pretty well studied (see here for a look at topical application in non-specific back pain and here for a summary of its biological activities). Of particular interest to us here today is its effect on dampening pain via inhibition of Substance P. Think of substance P like a pain magnifier, a switch that gets flipped on (and then stuck on in the case of chronic pain). Cayenne helps turn that switch off. Speaking from personal experience with chronic neck pain, it’s pretty friggin’ remarkable to feel the pain downshift with an almost audible ‘thunk’ and disappear. 

High summer is in full swing here in the Deep South and for many farmers that means peppers. It especially means a wonton, ridiculous surplus of hot peppers, since you can’t exactly munch on fistfuls of those in a salad. Lots and lots of hot peppers. Like, waaaaaay too many hot peppers. All hot peppers will work for this, but the hotter the better - cayenne is my preferred and the one with the longest and best-studied history of use. Someone PLEASE make ghost pepper liniment and then email me, cuz I would be super curious to hear about it.

Farmers might well beg you to take the oodles and oodles of cayenne surplus off their hands.  

If you know a farmer that’s growing cayenne, I can almost guarantee you they have a surplus, and they’d probably love it so much if you took pounds of them off their hands that they might even give you some for free. 

Which is awesome, because fresh or dried cayenne makes for an excellent topical pain liniment (an alcohol extract that’s applied to the skin). So here’s a recipe that captures the abundance of summer and puts it to good use. And yes, even if you can’t eat cayenne (or other nightshade veggies), you can still use it topically.

*note: this recipe uses a standard Weight: Volume system of grams to milliliters. That means that 1:2 = 1g of cayenne for every 2ml of alcohol.

Ingredients

IF USING FRESH CAYENNE:

  • 1 part fresh cayenne peppers (as cheap a $1 per pound or $free.99 if you’re lucky)

  • 2 parts 99% isopropyl alcohol ($2.59 for 32oz) or Everclear (much more than that)

IF USING DRIED CAYENNE:

  • 1 part dried peppers or powder (~$4 per pound)

  • 5 parts 70% isopropyl ($2.48 for 32oz) or Everclear cut with up to 30% water

Directions

  1. Combine in a mason jar (Buzz it up in a blender beforehand if you dare) 

  2. Place a square of parchment paper under mason jar lid before sealing jar

  3. Soak for 2 weeks, shaking occasionally

  4. Strain *carefully* into bottle(s) - keep the old isopropyl alcohol bottles and just pour it back in. Label accordingly!

  5. Apply as needed to manage pain, avoiding sunburns or areas with broken or sensitive skin. And for the sake of all that is good and sparkly in this world, wash your hands afterwards. 

Keep in mind that It’s much cheaper to make it using isopropyl or rubbing alcohol (you won’t stay under the $10 mark if you use Everclear), and it works just as well topically - you just can’t take it internally. Please don’t drink rubbing alcohol, mmmkay?

Note: don’t take this recipe internally unless you A) make it using alcohol that’s made for human consumption (everclear or other liquor 120 proof or above) and B) consult an herbalist to see if it’s a plant you should be taking internally. 

quick notesAlyssa DalosAlabama Functional Herbalismchronic pain, DIY, recipes, pain management, pain reliefComment