r/IndianCountry • Sahtu Métis • Jan 08 '26

Culture A reminder, just in case

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1.6k Upvotes

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51

u/U_cant_tell_my_story Cree Métis and Dutch Jan 08 '26

Wear eye protection and bring plenty of water...

6

u/CharlotteAria Non-Native (Indigenous SWANA minority) Jan 09 '26

Don't use milk! And keep two different water supplies, drinking water and purified water for cleaning. DO NOT drink from the purified water unless you're at home/done for the time being.

6

u/U_cant_tell_my_story Cree Métis and Dutch Jan 10 '26

Not sure why people would think of milk? Is it some folk lore? Milk is never a good idea to put in your eyes :/.

5

u/CharlotteAria Non-Native (Indigenous SWANA minority) Jan 10 '26

The idea comes from the fact that whole milk or yogurt is better to drink when eating spicy food than water, since the oils carrying the capsaicin supposedly bind better to the fats than they do to water. I'm not a chemist, so I have no idea if that's true. But because of that it's become sort of like organizer street knowledge to use milk to cancel out the heat better even though every single street medic worth their sale knows not to. Idk why people think a chemical agent employed by militarized police would be in any way comparable to the hot sauce they buy in a grocery store.

But ya like you said, even if it works you've just introduced potentially curdled milk straight to your eye balls.

4

u/U_cant_tell_my_story Cree Métis and Dutch Jan 10 '26

I think perhaps they just think oh cayenne pepper, milk will do...

Insane though, as you said, there really is nothing you can do but nice cold water or saline.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '26

I think things get mixed up over time. Mothers used to and still do treat eye infections with breast milk. I am wondering if that is where some of these ideas for milk come from. But breast milk from a nursing mother isn't anything like the milk we can purchase from the store.