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But a better way to prevent it from getting there is pool goggles ! (and not ski goggles. Those have vents !)
At a store like harbor freight you can get safety goggles, like safety glasses but goggles. They probably fit both issues.
Safety goggles are not airtight, they won't do shit for gas.
On the flip side, ski goggles will probably fair a lot better against paintballs
That's why you wear both pool goggles and impact rated goggles over them.
Or get actual safety goggles instead of something made for a different purpose?
They don't make safety goggles for gas, those are called gas masks and if you have an extra 600 bucks or so kicking around for a respirator with an impact rated face shield that is absolutely the best tool for the job. For the rest of us $20 for swim goggles, safety glasses, and an N95 is likely to be "good enough".
N95 is probably better than nothing, but for these purposes it's probably far from good enough
Most pepper sprays and such are oil based, and n-rated respirators are not oil resistant. For that you really want an R-, or even better P-rated mask for oily mists.
Disposable masks suitable for that do exist, but more often you're going to find reusable cartridge-based ones which will have some additional ratings that probably aren't relevant to specifically pepper spray but could maybe be relevant for other
White labeled cartridges are suitable for acid gases like chlorine
Black labeled are suitable for organic vapors like from paint thinners and other solvents
Yellow are suitable for both
Green are rated for ammonia and methylamine
They don't make safety goggles for gas, those are called gas masks
I mean, sure, the cheap safety googles (like this, not this) aren't going to be perfect against a tear gas canister or something like that, but I assume they'd at least help some (buying you time to act before it starts seeping in), and be half-decent against directed sprays. I guess if you really wanted to wear swimming goggles under them you could, but it almost seems like overkill unless you plan to be right up on the front line, goading the ICE goons to mace you.
My first inclination would've been to just grab the PPE I already have for home DIY (spray painting and such), which are googles like above, paired with a reusable half-face respirator with P100 cartridges (a 3M 65021, I think). If cobbling together sports equipment really is better than that, I want to understand why and I'm not sure I do yet.
Also, even if we are talking about a full face respirator, where'd you come up with the $600 figure? What's wrong with something like a 3M 6800 for $125?
Watered down milk of magnesia or Pepto is a great solution. Well used in past protests.
The issue with milk, according to the ophtalmologist's video, is that when you got pepper sprayed there's a chance your cornea has been damaged, so that milk can give you an infection.
Milk of Magnesia is not dairy milk. It's an over the counter medication with antacid properties similar to Pepto bismol. Although taken orally they are not used in all the same instances.
There's been a few studies on this, and most of the supposed remedies have been found to be little or no more effective than just rinsing with water or saline.
That said, in theory, I feel like baby shampoo is probably a pretty good bet, it makes sense on paper. Most pepper sprays are oil-based, soap/shampoo is a surfactant so it helps to rinse out those oily substances with water, and baby shampoo in particular is non-irritating to the eyes.
There's a few purpose-made products for this, I've seen a few recommendations for sudecon wipes from first-responder types. I have no recommendations about how to best get your hands on those sorts of products in case you're worried about leaving a paper trail.
For my own personal kit (that I just try to keep well-stacked for any eventuality, I have pepper spray on my dog's leash so I figured I should know what to do if I even accidentally mace myself) I've settled on sterile saline eye wash and baby shampoo. Haven't had to use it yet, so I can't attest to the effectiveness, but I figure it's gotta be better than nothing
And it makes enough sense on paper that I figure if nothing else maybe I'll be able to placebo effect myself into believing it did something.
If the stuff is oil based, dousing your face with cream, which is full of oil would get the crap out of your eyes faster, then you douse with water to disperse what's left of the oil/lipid. Edit: Just did some more reading and milk cream is not better as it can spoil and introduce bacteria into your eyes.
this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
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