I know for a fact that hornet spray will deter a dog that gets pissed off at a feller. And the 'hiss' of it coming out of the can intimidates some dogs. As for spraying a person in the face, I have no doubts that they'd quit whatever they were doing.

The hornet spray that we used have at work was water based. It wouldn't stain nor leave an oily residue.

Now we use this stuff...

http://www.crcindustries.com/ei/product_detail.aspx?id=14010

I think we all agree it's better than nothing.

Probably buy her a can of bear spray. Wasp spray for now. Talked to chief. He said he'd put in the computer so his guys would know to watch that corner. I asked if it was okay for her to carry wasp spray and he said "you can use up to and including deadly force if someone is coming into your car." Daughter a little high faluting now that she's 16 but this girl is smart, 6-0 tall and usually carries a knife in her purse when we take trips "in case something happens." Her brother and I can tell you she punches like a damn mule. Gonna get her a 38 and a cc permit as soon as she's old enough.

I've been hit in the eyes with 3 painful things in the past.

1. Gasoline. I was filling up the lawn mower when I was in highschool, spider crawled up my leg, I commenced to squealing and dancing around like a scared girl, the flexible tube on the gas can flew out of the gas tank and tossed gasoline into both eye. At that point, I couldn't care less about that dang spider. Burned and hurt for hours. Couldn't see.

2. Wasp Spray. I was on a ladder about 20 feet up trying to check a window. Red wasp nest on top of window opening were getting mad I was close. Always carry wasp spray on my harness rig that I carry my moisture meter and testing equipment on. Sprayed the wasps, gust of wind brought half of it back into my face, lost my balance, half fell off ladder, then fully fell from about 8 feet into an azalea bush. Hurt real bad, but not as bad as the gasoline experience.

3. Pepper Spray. At Ole Miss around 1990, there was this rape incident tht made all the girls kind o panic. So my future wife bought her some pepper spray. I was out in the yard of her rental house grilling some burgers, it was windy. She came out and showed me her spray, proceeded to point...I tried to tell her "Noooooo!, watch the wind", but before I could get the words out she shot a stream...that stream did a right turn and hit be directly in the face from like 8 feet away. My Lord...I was blind, on fire and couldn't breathe. I may have cussed more than the most vile creature on the face of the earth.

Order of pain:
1. Pepper Spray
2. Gasoline in the eyes
3. Wasp Spray

Whether true or not, I've heard law enforcement officers say that they'd rather take a taser than to be hit with pepper spray.

for what is's worth, in my experience of using pepper spray in the real world...it knocks the crap out of 99% of the folks that get sprayed, most just yell and hit the ground screaming and thrashing. It dosen't work on EVERYONE to the same degree, just like bullets don't. So have a backup plan B...

Thanks Bham Fred. You're a trusted no BS source on here in my view.

I retired before I had to be tasered, but from what I hear that is probably true. From the description and what I've experienced with pepper spray, if I were given a choice, I would probably go with the taser. Very short, very intense pain that you recover from very quickly. The people that make pepper spray say it lasts 15 minutes. BS! It may start subsiding in 15 minutes, but the pain lasts for hours on some level.

We once had a guy with no shirt run from the officers on a summer day and then fight with them when caught. They doused him good with spray and then got him cuffed and stood up. All the sweat and OC spray ran down his front and saturated his mostly exposed underdrawers. After a couple of minutes all he could do was scream like a banshee "my #!*&'s on fire!" He must've been a terror in the neighborhood because the screaming brought the little old lady's out to see what was going on and they all just chuckled at him as he kept with the "my #@*%'s on fire". That stuff will set the thick skin on my arm on fire so imagine when it hits all the little exposed nerves of the end of a manhood. The dude wasn't exaggerating, it was on fire, or at least he thought. Since he had fought officers, he had to be cuffed in the rear and just had to deal with it for the ride to the station. Then he was escorted by two officers into the bathroom where he was allowed to decontaminate himself. The officers laugh everytime they tell the story. They said getting naked and splashing water from the sink wasn't getting the job done fast enough, so the guy raised the toilet seat, flushed it while straddling it and tried to squat low enough to drop his Johnson in the swirling water. All the while he's crying in pain and screaming "my %*&$'s on fire!"

Everyone is affected differently by pepper spray. Of 12 guys that got sprayed in my academy class years ago all except 2 couldn't see, burned like crazy, and had problems breathing for 20-30 minutes even after a dunk in clear cool water. One guy laughed and was red as a tomato but no worse for wear. The last guy felt some effects for 5 minutes and was fine. Everyone different but it works on most people. The funniest part was years later as a firearms instructor drawing straws to see who would play the attacker to elicit the correct response from the troopers in the class. Even though they aimed at a target the wind always blew the spray in the instructor's face which turned as red as his shirt.

Only in that taser is over quick. Still not pleasant but pepper lasts longer unless your that guy that isn't affected and just has red skin. He will tell you the taser is worse.

What about Bear Spray? How well would it work?

I read an article awhile back that bear spray can actually harm humans like cause damage. I don't know how true this is and don't remember exactly what damage. I just remember reading not to use bear spray for self defense against people

Bear Spray is pepper spray, just in a bigger canister.

I dont really care about it Harming Humans, My daughter has a can AND a dept. issued taser.

A buddy of mine had a sister with a boyfriend who was borderline crazy. So he gave his sister a can of bear mace .she got to use it one night when he tried to break in the front door. It sent him to the hospital with burns to his face.

Keep in mind when considering this that MACE and pepper spray are different. More people are not affected by MACE than OC spray, plus others are more adversely affected (reactions causing death). Plus OC is all natural so it sounds nicer when explaining its use to a jury. MACE is a harsh chemical. Which sounds nicer?

I only want what is most likly to stop an attacker. Since my 16 year old can legally carry a pistol, I have choosen to arm her with Bear Spray and a X26 LEO taser. IF she has to use them , I WILL deal with the results. The way I look at it IF you are attacking someone you get what you deserve~

Apparently it could harm the human trying to use it for self defense because it's weaker. Bear spray has a much lower concentration of oleoresin capsicum, and should only be used as a bear deterrent. Pepper spray is a self defense weapon intended to incapacitate human threats, and it is very effective at doing this due to its higher concentration of oleoresin capsicum.

Wasp spray may not be as quick working as pepper spray......but a direct hit to the eyes without flushing it fairly quick could mean some serious...permanent eye damage.