sneezing powder

[Gruft]

Nothing you buy in a joke shop (in the US or Europe at least) is likely to be dangerous. Modern prepackaged sneezing powder is almost always pepper, and may contain other spices or similar material, but will not contain suspected carcinogens or dangerous chemicals. Hard to believe perhaps, but the content of sneezing powder is controlled by law.

If you manage to find some old packets (more than about 10-20 years old), then they *may* contain chemicals or plant extracts (hellebore root) which could be considered non-safe, but seriously even then unless you a lot the risks are tiny. There has only ever been a tiny number of people harmed by sneezing powder http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6862477 and all of the cases I have found evidence for were from hellebore poisoning rather than the chemicals we have previously discussed here.

Seriously, be sensible, think of peoples eyes (pepper isnt nice in your eye), and think of peoples rights before throwing it around. But dont get into a panic about the dangers, we are nearly half a century too late for it to be anything to worry about.

[count tiszula]

Thank you, Gruft, for a wonderful link! Hellebore! Is it not Shakespearian; and now a fashionable garden plant?

[bballgirl86]

my bf bought me some sneezing powder... but it didnt really work for me... maybe i did it wrong.... i inhaled and it tickled my nose but made me more stuffy than nething else i dunno....

[Guest 2gunruth]

maybe we should contract out to some joke product manufacturing companies

tell them we'll test their sneeze powder products for a reasonable fee??

we come with pretty good credentials

might even say we're overqualified.

::talk show sidekick points and says, "HEY OOOOO"::

[r]

Well I have a pharmacist friend who claims that acetylsalicylic acid makes him sneeze every time he handles it. That's aspirin, so it might be worth a try.

There is other evidence supporting this. A home made facial treatment, when it first came in widespread use, used pulverized asprin and water applied to to the face from 20 plus minutes to reduce wrinkles (usually after several sessions). After it dried on the face and startted to flake off, a majority of people using it reported not just sneezing but significant sneezing fits. They used it anyway as it reduces inflammation and seems to work quite well. But now suggestions to reduce the the sneezing have caused many to use a the pulverized aspirin in a gel to keep the dried apirin from flaking and breathing it in.

Of course anyone allergic to aspirin should NOT try this in any form.

[Guest danky]

I have found that baby powder (both talc and corn starch varieties) makes an effective sneezing powder, but I've only used it on myself.

I also have found diatomaceous earth extreemly effective, but on further reaserch of the stuff, found that if you're not carefull it can lead to silicosis, so I can't in good concience recomend it. Inhailant risk aside, it's a really amazing substance, look it up!

The Healing Garden: White Tea Sanctuary body mist also gets me, and I'm not allergic to any of it's ingredients, any other product of that brand, or any other perfumes. But I also am the only one I know who's used the stuff, so it may just be me. If you can get some and want to try it, let me know the results!