Mace Versus Pepper Spray, What Is The Difference?

By Author: Steven Phoenix
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There is a common misperception that the name Mace is a type of defense spray. Mace is actually a registered brand name for a company that sells defensive pepper sprays. When Mace (legally known as Mace Security International) was first developed, it consisted of CS and CN type riot control gases that were used by the military, re-formulated to be used by police departments and civilians for personal defense. They have since change the types of sprays that they carry and include regular pepper spray and a product with pepper spray and some CS and CN mixed in. This is primarily due to the fact that CS and CN are irritants and pepper spray is an inflammatory.



What that means to you is, as an irritant, CS and CN can take longer to enter the pores and start working. CS and CN can also have their effects "washed", by removing the irritant from your skin, you loose the effect. Also, people have different levels of pain management. So what might irritate one person dramatically, may not effect another as severely. This can lead to different effects from your spray, and possibly not disabling an attacker.

OC ...
... Pepper spray is an inflammatory agent which enters the pores and causes an inflammation of the tissue. It can't be "washed" once is enters the pores, as an irritant can, which allows it to continue to work. When an individual has an inflammation of mucus tissue, they get the "feeling" of suffocation along with the burning of the pepper. There is no pain management involved.

Some brands ( Sabre and Mace are a few ) have many different products in their sales line. They carry products that only contain pepper spray and also some that use a bit of CS and CN in them to get a more volatile mix. Some also ad dye to identify an attacker later.



The delivery method will dictate the speed in which an spray works. The finer the particles, the faster it enters the pores. This is a double edged sword. A stream has a longer effective reach but takes longer to work, a fogger is finer and works faster, but will not travel as far and can be effected by the softest breeze (in a house this is best to just spray into the hallway and stop any movement down the hall). Some companies even produce a "foam" type spray that is difficult to wipe away and results in the pepper being ground into the pores of the skin. These types of sprays are very effective in a windy environment or possibly in a store or office area where you would not want to risk spraying a bystander.

Many animal sprays (Bear and Dog/K9) have slight differences in the mixture, but are basically the same ingredients as pepper sprays, they just have the requirement of being certified by the EPA as safe for the environment.



Remember that when using anything for self defense, other than items that are designed for self defense, you may have to defend yourself in court at to why you chose that particular item. If it is an item that you KNOW might kill or maim, you may be held negligent by a jury of your peers. Pepper Sprays have consistently been approved for non-lethal self defense.