7 Ways to Get Pepper Spray Out of Your Eyes

When it comes to self-defense, pepper spray is one of the very best and tragically most underrated options out there for citizens. It can go virtually everywhere, is legal almost everywhere, and is extremely effective.

Judicious applications of pepper spray, or OC, can stop a confrontation before it starts. This stuff is awesome, and I wish more defensively-minded citizens would carry it.

However, it has a downside. Pepper spray is indiscriminate, and if you’re spraying into a headwind or if you make contact with someone that you’ve already sprayed, you might be cross-contaminated. Unfriendly fire, let’s say!

If that happens, or if a criminal actor uses pepper spray on you or a loved one, you could be in for hours of agony. It doesn’t last forever, but it will sure feel like forever!

It pays to know how to properly and safely get pepper spray out of your eyes so you can get on the road to recovery.

How to Get Pepper Spray Out of Eyes

Remove Eyewear and Contact Lenses at Once

The very first thing you must do if pepper spray gets into your eyes is remove any eyewear and contact lenses you may be wearing.

This is because either, and contact lenses particularly, can trap this nasty stuff against the tissue of your eye.

Worse yet, it isn’t out of the question that the solvent or other ingredients in the spray could negatively react with a contact lens and degrade it, causing even worse damage.

Now, eyewear like sunglasses and prescription glasses might seem like a benefit in this case because they could afford you a degree of protection from a mist or stream of OC striking the eye dead-on.

That’s true, to a point, and you might decide to keep them on if pepper spray is actively being deployed around you. However, pepper spray that clings to the glasses can then drip or get into your eyes, and that’s no good.

If you get hit with pepper spray and are wearing glasses of any kind, remove them ASAP.

Immediate Action: Blink Furiously

If you get tagged with spicy stuff and you’re still in danger and have to fight, drive or run you aren’t going to have time to try and decontaminate your eyes and face. I won’t lie to you; you’re going to be in for a very bad time in the meantime.

That said, there’s still something you can do that will help, to a degree: blink your eyes as hard and as fast as you can. This is an old trick that lots of cops, pepper spray instructors, and clever citizens know about.

When I say blink hard and fast, basically I mean to say that you should close your eyes with as much strength as you can and then open them with as much strength as you can and do that as quickly as you can.

This will help to promote the formation and movement of tears, and also allow your eyelids to clear more of the spray from your eyeball so that you can function more effectively.

It’s going to hurt like hell the whole time. But if you’ve still got work to put in before you can start rinsing, this trick might keep you alive.

Fight the Feeling: Don’t Rub Your Eyes!

One thing you must never do, or at least do your best to avoid doing, if you’ve been pepper sprayed is rub your eyes.

It’s instinctive, I know. And in this case that instinct is going to be totally overwhelming. It will almost feel like some other force has taken control of your body and is moving your arms and hands of their own volition.

But don’t give in! Rubbing your eyes is not going to provide any relief whatsoever. In fact, doing so will grind the pepper spray chemicals into the tissues of your eye and surrounding area, and make things way worse.

That, and because the OC is now on your fingertips for sure everywhere else you touch is going to get a hotspot.

Keep your hands and fingers off of your eyes!

The Best Way: Use Mild Soap and Water

There’s one ideal way to decontaminate yourself if you’ve been sprayed. All you need is water and, if you’ve got it handy, some mild soap. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you or anyone else has OC on their face or any other part of their body, follow these instructions to the letter and you’ll be on your way to recovery…

Step 1: Remove Contaminated Clothing

Before you do anything else, you’ll want to remove clothing that has been directly hit by the pepper spray or exposed to significant quantities.

This will track the spray against the skin, causing prolonged irritation, and also serve as a secondary source of contamination that can re-contaminate a person exposed to OC.

Take off the clothing, ditch it, and move away from it, or place it carefully in a plastic bag and tie it off if you can. This will cut down on area contamination.

Caution: DO NOT Shower!

Before you go crazy and take off all your clothes, even if you’re in the comfort of your own home, resist the temptation to strip and jump in the shower. This is the very last thing you want to do even though it seems the most sensible and the best way to get relief!

Keep in mind that pepper spray, whether it has an alcohol- or water-based formula, is ultimately a type of oil. Oil and water don’t mix, and oil won’t really be diluted by water.

When you jump under that stream of water in the shower and rinse your face in your eyes off, all of that oil is going to run down your body straight to your private regions and then you really will be on fire.

You’ll be so on fire that you might wish for death. Ask me how I know…

Only take off clothing that has been directly contaminated and then set about rinsing your eyes and skin.

Step 2: Rinse Eyes and Skin with Cool or Tepid Water

Once you get the contaminated clothing off, start applying copious amounts of running water from a hose, sprayer, nozzle, or whatever is convenient.

Don’t use a stream so forceful that it could harm the eyes or forces OC residue deeper into the eye socket. Take care not to wash it into your mouth or nose, either.

The eyes should be blinked at the preference of the person being treated; don’t try to hold them open while rinsing.

Also, don’t use hot water for this. That can make the pepper spray more energetic. Use cold or room-temperature water only.

Step 3: Use Plain Soap or Baby Shampoo Only

After a good initial rinse, grab some plain, unscented soap or baby shampoo, lather, and then rinse again. Soap will help to break down the oil in the pepper spray and carry it away from the skin.

Wash around your eyes with eyes closed, but be cautious to avoid getting soap in your eyes directly; baby shampoo is great for this task because it won’t unduly cause more irritation, making a bad situation even worse!

Never use a scented product if you can avoid it or anything with lotion, other oils, conditioners, and things like that because they have a tendency to “lock” the pepper spray against the skin and onto hair, prolonging misery.

Step 4: Dry and Leave it Alone

After you’ve had a good rinse, with or without shampoo or soap, dry your face and skin with a clean, dry cloth and then leave it alone. Some burning and pain will persist, but it will subside over time. Resist the temptation to wash your face again.

Dry off well, and leave it alone. Be disciplined and stick with it, and most of the pain should be gone within 24 hours.

Don’t Re-Wash

After you’ve washed and dried, trust me, you’re still going to be feeling that burning ring of fire. This is just the way it is. Never, ever will a single wash, no matter how thorough you are, do the job of completely eliminating the pain and discomfort that comes with OC exposure.

The average person will have an urge, naturally, to start washing again. Don’t do this either! All this will do is reactivate the remnants of the OC, spreading them around and generally making things worse for a time.

That said, if you have reason to believe that you missed a spot, or, regrettably, you get dosed again you should go through the decontamination process again from the start.

Use a Decontamination Wash and OC Neutralizer

If you have access to it, don’t hesitate to utilize a specially made OC decontamination wash and accompanying OC neutralizer.

These products are typically made and sold by the same manufacturers that make the pepper spray in the first place, and often their product is specially formulated to get rid of and then neutralize the remnants of their own formulas.

In my experience, the ones that come from major manufacturers like Sabre really do work, but there’s one major downside with them: they’re expensive, and very difficult for civilians to come by.

That’s because most makers of OC products won’t sell them over the counter or via direct purchase because they don’t want them falling into the hands of criminals, rioters, and agitators who might use them to get a leg up on the police, particularly during riot control situations.

If you’re lucky enough to have a cop buddy or amenable law enforcement supply business in your town, they can probably get you hooked up.

And they aren’t illegal to own or anything like that, so if you have pepper spray as part of your defensive plan, it’s well worth tracking some of this stuff down just in case.

They’re also worth their weight in gold if you’re going to a live exposure pepper spray training course!

Never, Ever Use Milk, Antacids, or Anything Else on OC Exposure

To be perfectly clear, never, ever use milk, antacids, milk of magnesia, or any other strange solution on pepper spray. It’s not going to make a positive difference and might well make things worse.

Milk is a popularly recommended so-called “cure” for pepper spray exposure, but the reality is that it’s just no good…

While the proteins in milk do have a sort of detergent and insulating effect on the spicy compounds in hot food, pepper sprays (which contain those same compounds) are many orders of magnitude hotter than a bowl of hot wings or spicy chili.

Not only will milk not do a very good job of decontaminating compared to water, it can actually cause problems by binding the pepper spray to affected tissues and also promote infection in the eyes, sinuses, and elsewhere.

If, whatever the reason, all you’ve got to decontaminate with is milk, then you should use it but don’t go out of your way to do so.

In some cases, negative reactions with various other liquids can occur and inflict genuine harm, particularly in the case of chemicals like bleach, specialty grease-cutting products, and household cleaners.

Just don’t use them!

Use a Cool Pack if Post-Wash Burn is Bothering You

After washing and drying your face, there will still be lingering pain and discomfort as I said. Luckily, there is a way to gain some relief while you wait for it to completely wear off.

Use a flexible cool pack of the kind used for soothing sore muscles and place that over your eyes. The chill will reduce swelling and irritation and give you at least a measure of relief.

Make sure you only do this after properly decontaminating, and not while you still have pepper spray on your face and eyes.