There’s bleeding and then there’s BLEEDING! For minor cuts and scratches there are lots of strategies that can work. Readers have been reporting for decades that black pepper can be helpful for minor cuts. When it comes to serious bleeding…say from a gun shot, a stabbing or a vehicular accident, there’s a new medical treatment that first responders and emergency medical teams can use. It’s called Traumagel and it is derived from algae! The FDA cleared this treatment for moderate-to-severe bleeding on August 15, 2024.
Black Pepper for Minor Kitchen Cuts:
Readers have been sharing this remedy for decades:
Q. You have written about a drugstore product to stop bleeding. Instead of WoundSeal, we use finely ground black pepper on bleeding cuts. My old friends tell me that is what they used in World War II. It is cheap and handy and we have used it to great effect.
First Aid First:
A. Don’t forget first aid: apply direct pressure on the cut for several minutes. After that, black pepper makes a surprisingly effective home remedy. Of course, not all black pepper is the same. We are told that the finer the grind the more effective the remedy.
Some health care professionals have cautioned about contaminated black pepper. They warn about infections. We have never seen any research on this problem, but we do recognize that not all spice suppliers are scrupulous about cleanliness.
An NPR report from 2013 was titled:
“A Spice Buyer on Why Pepper is Dirty, And How It Gets Clean”
Spices are harvested all around the world. According to the NPR report, they are often laid on the ground to dry. That’s how they can become contaminated. NPR contacted Al Goetze, a spice buyer for McCormick for more than 30 years.
He described the McCormick system:
“We test for pathogens, but not at the source. We know that there are pathogens in almost all spices. How can there not be, considering the environment in which they’re grown and how they’re handled? The farms haven’t changed a lot since I first started — it’s a multitude of small farmers. In India, I’ve heard estimates of 150,000 pepper farmers.
“What happens once that pepper gets to McCormick?”
“We may clean it first, and then it goes into a steam sterilization process. It’s pasteurization. We do that with all of our spices. You can test a lot; you can take 10 different samples, 50 different samples, but there can still be hot spots in the lot where salmonella can be.”
So it seems as if McCormick tries very hard to prevent bacterial contamination of its spices…but we cannot tell you what other spice makers are doing to prevent problems.
Black Pepper Enthusiasts:
We have heard from a number of people who use this remedy.
One reader suggests:
“The little packages of black pepper from the fast food stores are easy to carry with you and will stop bleeding. All are easy to wash off if you have to go to the doctor.”
Still another comments:
“Either black or red pepper works very well too. I keep some in my auto first aid kit. Every workshop should have some pepper to stop bleeding and some soy sauce for burns in it. I have used both at times during my work. Oil of oregano is another must. It works wonders to neutralize stings. One drop does it.”
Here is yet another great black pepper story, this one from a cabinet maker:
Cabinet Maker Appreciates Black Pepper:
Q. Black pepper works great to stop bleeding! I build cabinets. While moving a large cabinet on rollers across a gap in my concrete floor, the cabinet slipped back into the gap and onto my middle finger, just as I was standing up. Not only did it bust open, but the action of standing up almost ripped it in two.
I bandaged the finger, but the next morning it was still bleeding. My cousin told me about your suggestion of black pepper on cuts, so I tried it. It stopped the bleeding. Thanks for this simple remedy.
A. We first heard about using black pepper to control bleeding from an RV camper in 1996. Her brother-in-law Wendall was a woodcarver and had learned from his carving buddies to put black pepper on minor cuts. During a road trip a coffee cup fell out of a cupboard and hit him on the head. It bled profusely, but the bleeding stopped when they applied ground black pepper.
We have subsequently heard from many other readers who have tried this remedy successfully. We have even used it ourselves. Of course, a serious injury requires medical attention rather than a home remedy. That’s not always readily available as the following stories demonstrate:
An even more amazing black pepper story recently caught our attention. Stephen writes:
“Once I was working alone in wintertime in a church. I was pushing a duct together and my hand slipped. The raw edge of the metal cut my hand open.
“Picture the cut you would need if you were removing a thumb–about three inches long and right to the bone at the joint.
“Pressure wasn’t working, there was no telephone, and it was about ten degrees outside. I had been dropped off there and had no idea where I was.
Mom’s Advice Comes to Mind:
“I remembered my mother telling me that either black pepper or cobwebs would stop bleeding. I found some pepper in the church kitchen, and after applying great pressure, I opened my hand and the wound, and I dumped about a half shaker of pepper directly into the gaping cut. I pushed it shut again, put a potholder over it and secured it with some electrical tape.
“The bleeding stopped immediately, and in a matter of minutes there was no pain. After about twenty minutes I got bored and went back to work. I finished out the day, but when I got home, my wife started screaming for me to rush to the hospital.
“When I got to the emergency room there was more screaming. The doctor and nurses thought I was an idiot for putting pepper in the cut and insisted that every bit be washed out. Of course, as they fiddled with it, large amounts of blood began pouring out and it hurt like hell again.
“Finally, my patience ran out and I held some gauze over the cut and left. I immediately went down to the cafeteria, opened a bunch of those little pepper packages, poured the wound full again, and drove myself home. My wife complained that I was stupid and unreasonable, but the entire unstitched, un-doctored, bone-deep wound healed without a scar. I have used black pepper to heal cuts ever since.”
We don’t recommend using black pepper on serious cuts that need medical attention, but we are astonished and delighted with Stephen’s success. Sometimes emergency home remedies work wonders when nothing else is available.
Did Black Pepper Save a Life?
We’re not sure whether pepper saved Stephen’s life, but a woman wrote to us to say that this remedy saved her husband’s life. Without the pepper he might have bled to death. That’s because they were traveling in Mongolia, far from medical help. He was taking a blood thinner called warfarin when he had an accident and gashed his leg.
She related that
“The blood was pouring down his leg like a faucet. Thank you for saving his life. I’m sure he could have bled to death.”
For those who don’t respond to black pepper on a cut, WoundSeal is a good choice. Some blood thinning medicines (including aspirin) or supplements may make it harder to stop bleeding. Even people on such pills can benefit from WoundSeal.
Traumagel Is New and Intriguing:
As mentioned in the introduction, Traumagel is derived from algae. It comes in pre-filled syringes to be squirted on to traumatic wounds during an emergency such as a stabbing, gunshot wound or a vehicular accident. It helps blood clot within seconds of application which gives it an edge over more conventional therapies.
The U.S. military will presumably be interested in this product for life-threatening bleeding episodes in combat situations. Emergency medical teams may also find it helpful. In theory, the manufacturer, Cresilon Inc., got clearance from the FDA over a year ago for Cresilon Hemostatic Gel (CHG) to stop bleeding from abrasions, lacerations and minor cuts. Vetigel is available for veterinarians.
Do You Enjoy Home Remedies?
If you find suggestions such as black pepper for household cuts both intriguing and helpful, you may want to buy our book, The People’s Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies. It has hundreds of stories from readers with practical suggestions for everything from arthritis and constipation to headaches and insomnia. Here’s a link.
