Many people are considering carrying pepper spray as a first line of defense against attackers. Many women, including college students, have found carrying these small canisters to be a worthwhile investment. But what is pepper spray, and where can you buy it.

First, let's be clear on what we are carrying. For years when people thought about carrying personal protection products, they thought of MACE. Mace is not used as much as it used to be for personal products, it still finds a home in large crowd control. Pepper spray, on the other hand, is a relatively natural product. The natural substance that makes peppers hot to humans and other mammals is capsicum. The specific form of it used in pepper sprays is usually oleoresin capsicum, which is often abbreviated as OC, which you see in pepper spray solutions of all sorts. This is very hot to humans, and in the eyes of nasal passages is disabling (ironically, while many mammals like squirrels and cats are affects, some other animals like birds are totally oblivious to pepper.)

There is a sweet spot of concentration when looking at the strength of a pepper spray.  They are rated by concentration of OC, and you would assume that more is better.  While this is the case for lower concentration levels (for example don't even consider less than a 1% concentration) there is a concern that at concentrations above 5% it won't atomize and spray as effectively.  If you buy the very high concentrations of OC be sure that it will do what you want.

Many hardware stores carry pepper spray, and there are a number of specialty stores that carry it as well. Many online vendors like Amazon or or specialty stores like ResistAttack are a good place to buy pepper spray as well. As of this writing, pepper sprays are illegal or have restrictions in New York, Massachusetts, Michigan or Wisconsin. Be sure to check the laws in your state and town. You may not be able to find it locally because it's not legal. Some areas also have restrictions on the types and how you can carry them.

In addition to determining where to buy pepper spray, you need to consider how you want to carry it.  You can find pepper spray in several different packaging styles.  There are some that are disguised as mini lipstick cases, some that look like stun guns.  Others visible on a belt loop.  Specialty sprays come with a UV dye, so the attacker can be tracked later on.

If you plan to keep it for a while, and expect to test the pepper spray occasionally, you may want to invest in one that has replaceable canisters.

There are three basic types of sprays to consider.  Some are stream sprayers, which can deliver the spray several feet, sometimes up to 20 feet away.  The disadvantage is that you need to be a pretty good shot with a stream sprayer, which may be difficult under duress.

Mist sprayers put out more of a cloud of spray, which has a much shorter range, but is broader in impact.  Outdoors any of there sprays can have their effectiveness reduced by rain or wind.

A fogger is the same basic idea, but with a larger cloud.  This can create a whole area of effectiveness, and is sometimes favored for home defense as it can create a larger "safety" zone.

Read the Manual

Whatever type of pepper spray you choose, be familiar with it before you put it in your purse or glove box.  When the time arrives to use it, you aren't going to be in a position to read the manual.  Get to know it, and test fire you pepper spray ahead of time so the right person is disabled by it.