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wear earplugs.
(Also, search for other posts on same topic.)
Found the answers I was looking for on http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/10471.html
If you get water in your ears, dry them thoroughly. First, turn your head to the side and pull the earlobe in different directions to help the water run out. Gently dry the opening to the ear canal. Then use a hair dryer briefly on its lowest setting held at arm’s length to dry the rest of the canal.
Do not use cotton swabs to clean your ears because they can cause trauma to ear canals, making them more susceptible to infection. In addition, swabs usually push wax deeper into the ear canal, and water can get trapped behind wax buildup.
Do not use earplugs unless they are designed specifically to keep water out because water gets trapped behind most earplugs. They also tend to push wax back into your ear canal.
Make your own preventive eardrops by mixing equal parts white vinegar and rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol. The vinegar restores the natural acidity of the ear canal, making it less susceptible to infection while the alcohol dries out the ear. Use three to four drops in each ear after swimming.
Good stuff, thanks Adrian! I once had the stupidest injury ever, when I got water in my ear, and then rocked my torso up and down so violently trying to shake it loose that my back hurt for several days. I didn’t feel too smart.
-Colin
If the water is in your right ear, lean head to the right, stand up, lift your left foot from the ground and jump up and down on your right leg.
Auro-Dri…you can find it in any drug store and it fits in your bag. A couple of drops and within a second you are water-free.
A simple method. You will look silly but it really works.
jaretj
That feeling you have in your ear might be caused by excessive ear wax. The wax gets waterlogged and takes hours to dry. I remember a trip to North Georgia where I spent the day swimming in Lake Burton and the entire evening trying to get what I thought was water out of my ear. It turned out to be a huge gob of wax that had gotten waterlogged!
I now clean my ears out with the elphant ear washer every two months.