Can you make a mistake when using a pepper spray?  After all, it seems quite straightforward and instructions do come with every purchase.  But for the same reason that warnings of ‘Do not swallow’ are printed on labels of products such as shampoos, rubber slippers and toy trains, manufacturers of pepper sprays want you — the consumer — to know that there are indeed some strange ways your trusted can of pepper spray could turn against you.  Here are 5 ways on how to NOT use a pepper spray (and don’t say you weren’t warned):

Do NOT point the nozzle in your direction
This is akin to taking a gun and shooting your foot with it.  Pepper spray can sting — a LOT.  So much so that it even stops those tough police officers during training.  Have a good tactile memory of your weapon so you know exactly where the nozzle is facing when you whip it out to protect yourself.  Otherwise, you’ll risk becoming the butt of jokes at the office water cooler and during family reunions… for years to come.

Do NOT use on an attacker that’s more than 20 feet away
Most pepper sprays do not work at certain distances.  If the situation calls for you to spray, wait till an attacker is at a much closer range.  Otherwise, the air will simply disperse the spray and render it ineffective.  Spraying someone from a good distance away is like spraying someone who’s behind a glass partition — it simply won’t work and will only make you look silly.

Do NOT spray when the wind is blowing in your direction
The wind can be your friend but it can sometimes play tricks on you.  When using the pepper spray, try to be at the more advantageous spot and that’s with the wind on your back.

Do NOT use on yourself just to prove that it works
It does.  It really does.  Pepper sprays are formulated to register their stopping power in SHUs.  That’s short for Scoville Heat Units, which is the unit of measurement used to rate the level of pungency of the substance contained in certain types of pepper sprays.

Furthermore, what you’ll be up against is a substance that, although manipulated and manufacture by man, is made by Nature.  And you know what happens when man battles against Nature… Nature eventually wins.

Don’t be influenced by those grainy night-vision videos of episodes of ‘Cops’ that you saw on TV where some guy got sprayed but merely blinked off the irritant like it were raindrops on his cheeks.  For your own sake, do not believe everything you see on TV.  Pepper sprays are very irritating, so take our word for it and spray it on someone else, like that guy who’s about to rob you or give you a black eye.

Running out of pepper spray?  Don’t pry open your can
Whatever you do, do not attempt to open your pepper spray can.  It could explode or the substance could leak and cause irritation on your skin.  Don’t think you could save more by using your pepper spray to the last drop because you won’t.

Tags: pepper spray, personal weapon, tips, weapon

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 6:28 am and is filed under Cool Gadgets, Women's Self Defense. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.