It’s called the Q-spot.
The reason not to do it isn’t about being careful. It’s about pushing wax deeper into your ear canal where it impacts the eardrum.
Q-tips suck at cleaning ear canals. All they do is push the damn ear wax further up inside, worsening my already bad tendency to get impacted wax in the first place. I can only imagine that people who use q-tips to clean have these cavernous canals that make family guy’s ear-sex joke actually possible.
It’s why I use those meant-for-glasses tiny screwdrivers.
I have a big head and have never understood this impacted wax you normies are always complaining about, so this Cavernous Canal Hypothesis actually makes a lot of sense to me.
Grampa tore his ear drum by using a metal screw…
My grandpa would just use the temples/end parts of his glasses to clean his ears…
So did mine! It’s a worldwide old people thing
Or your grandpa had a secret other family.
They’re actually shaped like the things you’re supposed to use instead of Q-tips
This statement is upsetting.
Have you tried hydrogen peroxide?
It’s much, much quicker, simpler, and easier to reach into the ear canal and gently scrape out the wax. The few times I used any fluid, it was a tiresome affair, and it never really got out all of the wax that could start to build. You would have to do it every other day to prevent real buildup, and that would be a gigantic pain.
Oh, I don’t disagree regarding regular use being a pain. I used 3 q-tips after every shower (one per ear for the various crevasses, then the opposite ends of a shared one to - as you say - scoop from the main canal). For at least two reasons I wouldn’t want to use peroxide that way every day.
However, twice in my life I’ve gotten my ears clogged to the point that q-tips just made it worse. In both of those cases, peroxide worked miracles.
The peroxide didn’t work for me once the wax became impacted. Maybe if I had repeated it several times in the course of a day, but it was easier to just repeat the trip to the doctor to have them get it out. Losing your hearing absolutely sucks, and I didn’t want to delay getting it back.
For me, the impaction was only mitigated after leaving the peroxide in for an extended period.
I did have a pool-related impaction one other time before I started using q-tips regularly. I went to the doctor for that and they pushed it out using some kind of manual water pump. It worked and the obstruction came out of my ear, but until that happened it felt like earwax (and water) were going to come out of my nose. I don’t know if that’s normal, but it was unpleasant.
One last mostly unrelated (and entirely unprompted) aside: my first encounter (that I remember, at least) with q-tips was right when I was a boy approaching puberty. My mother cleaned my ears with wet q-tips and I complained of the unpleasant feeling. She told me “if you don’t keep your ears clean, no girl will ever stick her tongue down your ear!” At the time it sounded nice just to have any contact with a girl, but now that I’m an adult I have to avoid wondering about that sentence that my mother said to me.
I had a girlfriend when I was 16 that started licking my ear then tongued my ear hole while I was on the phone with my mom lying about where I was.
I’m 41 now and no one has ever done that again. It was unique.
I have licked an ear in an intimate situation. It wasn’t too uncomfortable for me, and it was something they enjoyed the sensation of.
Tongue-ing the ear hole though??? That’s fuckin evil.
When I was in my early twenties, a girl I had a crush on but who was dating my friend came up behind me and scritched my head. I’m married to a different woman now and have a kid, but I still wonder about that interaction. I can relate.
BTW if you end up with an impacted ear drum or you just want to deeply clean your ears: peroxide. Just tilt your head sideways and pour it in. Let it sit for a while and it will break up enough wax to dislodge it. You might find that you can hear much better after.
I leave it sit for 23 seconds, then hit it with 1 Tbsp of baking soda and plug the hole.
Glad I don’t have ear wax build up, never even thought to stick something in my ears, seems scary
It is, I hurt my ears several times every year, had to put medicine on it and everything, now I just go to a doctor once a year to do a professional clean up and it’s all good.
What are people supposed to use if not Q-tips? I’m actually wondering cause I use Q-tips after every shower
Edit: I’ve been informed and read up at bit on it (thank you for the links too). I may also need to look into an ENT Dr. Now haha. So long good feeling of Q-tips
In fact, there’s a lot you don’t need to do nearly as frequently or aggressively unless there’s a specific reason for it. A common one is shampoo, where after a few days of letting it go back to normal your hair will be perfectly fine taking care of itself. I just rinse it every day and that’s been more than enough for many years.
but it gets itchy
People say that… And yet, in middle school they did a hearing screening, and said I had reduced hearing. I told my mom “that’s crazy, my hearing is incredible, I just had earwax in my ears”. We went to the doctor anyways, the PA said she couldn’t see any earwax even though I could hear it moving around when she put the scope in my ear
I was adamant I just needed to clean my ears, so my mom grabbed some qtips from the exam room when the PA left, I cleaned my ears, and I passed the test perfectly
In my 30s I can still hear those “teen repellants” that whine at a pitch most lose in their early 20s. People look at me weird when I say I heard someone’s voice on the wind, and yet I can pinpoint individuals talking normally within a half a mile in a forest
I don’t use qtips anymore, I use a metal loop to clean my ears, but for me it’s most certainly necessary to clean them somehow
That’s called an anecdote, and while it’s rad that you’ve got super good hearing it doesn’t mean that cleaning ears is necessary for everyone.
I’m not saying it’s necessary for everyone… Even if most people don’t need it, some do. I do, despite what everyone has told me from childhood
Anecdotes aren’t good science, but they can point out bad science
Do you never use shampoo? I personally only even wet my hair once or twice a week, then wash with shampoo though.
I use shampoo maybe once per month, usually only when necessary to remove products such as bleach/dye. Just rinsing it with water is usually enough, but when my hair starts feeling more greasy (maybe once per week), I just use conditioner to help loosen up the dirt. If you’re curious, look up “cowashing” and “no poo” for more information.
Ohh yeah. I’m currently washing my hair once a week on average, cause it gets greasy, but I forgot about conditioner helping that. I hate the few days after shampooing- my hair is so dry and smooth that it won’t stay in a ponytail for very long. Very frustrating.
I’ve got super straight, fine hair (1A), and it sounds like you might, too. If you’re having trouble keeping your hair in a ponytail, can I ask if you’re brushing it thoroughly? Just because mine holds much better if I finger comb it and use natural bristle brush to smooth it where necessary. That only works for me after shampooing when it’s shorter than my shoulders/I use conditioner or a similar product, though.
Yeah I think I have 1A hair. Even when I brush it, the hairtie doesn’t have enough grip to hold it tight. It loosens up overtime.
I’ve tried cowashing before! I have a lot of hair, but thin individual strands, and it kinda made it too hydrated (idk how else to explain) so I lost my waves.
Bar soap top to bottom. Big Shampoo has played you all for fools
Funny, I use shampoo over my whole body because the equivalent soap doesn’t have the menthol in it that I use to wake me the heck up every morning. That tingly feeling of freshness I get is phenomenal.
No, pretty much never unless I’ve really sweat a bunch after a lot of physical activity. I also did say that I rinse every day and I would definitely feel a little gross if I didn’t, but that’s just water.
hair
Do you notice people keeping their distance from you? Because non-washed hair (with shampoo I mean) is one of the worst smells there is. Never fails to make me gag when I walk behind a person with non-washed hair.
No, and in fact my hair is healthy and people are plenty fine being close to me. I also did say that I rinse it every single day so it’s not dirty.
How on earth would you know for sure that what you’re smelling is specifically unwashed hair, and not someone who simply hasn’t showered at all, and at a sample size big enough to form an opinion? That’s a lot of deep knowledge about the exact cleaning routines of strangers.
Ohh boy I really triggered you there, didn’t I? I never meant to say your hair isn’t “healthy”, just that the oils and fats that build up (and can’t be rinsed with just water) are gag-inducingly smelly.
You probably have very polite friends / family, so congrats.
You literally came out swinging with “your hair smells like ass and I won’t be taking questions”. You can’t just say people are “triggered” when they respond to you being an asshole, that’s not how it works.
Didn’t answer my question as to how you know, every single time, that the smell is their hair.
You just know, meaning you and me both. You don’t sound like someone who’s actually convinced that their own hair care routine is compatible with society.
I’d ask what gave you that idea but I’m not sure sense factors into your decision. Still, I am curious.
I got my ears vacuumed the other day at the ENT clinic. Unfortunately I’m one of those people that gets a lot of wax build up. Copying the grown ups using cotton buds to clear the wax just meant I was constantly getting ear infections as a kid. As an adult, I’d get wax build up, I’d try olive oil as my GPs would always recommend, only that would make it clog up more and muffle my hearing. Then the only way to get that big plug of soggy wax out was either to fish it out with a bit of screwed up tissue or a cotton bud, or to blast it with the power shower to dislodge it.
I finally perforated my ear drum in September from an infection that went to the middle ear. Anyway, I got my ears vacuum cleaned on Thursday and was told by the ENT doctor to use a pharmaceutical grade olive oil spray (not drops) every day forever to stop the wax clogging. So let’s hope that works.
I think I was given peroxide based ear drops once when I was 12 or so, but it made my jaw swell so much I couldn’t even eat.
You really shouldn’t insert anything into your ear canal unless you are a professional, and even then probably wouldn’t recommend doing it on yourself.
If you need to clean your ears, there are products specifically made for that (no, q tips are not made for that). Hydrogen peroxide also works.
Q tips are wide as fuck to prevent people from injuring themselves easily i think. Really what you need is something thinner that has hook like properties and there are kits with those. Still gotta be really careful with that ofcourse. Make sure no people are around to jump scare you and causing you to accidentally ram that thing into your eardrums.
At some point i just bent a piece of wire into a loop to use that. (toothpick for scale) Thats not stainless steel tho so its gonna corrode.
But going to a professional once a year or so is probably not a bad idea either.
I unfold paperclips and use the smaller end. One caveat that make me realize it’s not the best idea: the point I unfolded can break. I’ve never lost one in my ear, but I could imagine it happening.
You people shouldn’t be trusted with your health.
I just let a goat graze in my ear until it’s not hungry anymore
What… uhh what are you doing with that toothpick?
For scale
Yeah i was expecting someone to be worried about that lol
You jam that into your ear canal in lieu of a q-tip
The cap of Bic pens!
Allows you to scoop and clean without the fear of going too deep (adults only).
I’m not a doctor, but they make ear cleaners that are more of a scoop shape. Imo q tips suck because you are trying to scoop with something that isn’t scoop shaped. The scoop allows you to get the earwax without shoving it deeper into the ear.
One thing to bear in mind is there are two earwax types. I can only speak for my type, which is sticky.
What is the other type?
Dry and flaky I think. I think it’s wet vs dry. Maybe sticky was the wrong word
Thanks for the edification!
I think nothing but if it gets too much get it taken out professionally. I’ll have to recheck tho
I switched to just using toilet paper. Not sure how much safer it is.
I do that too, but I twist it into a screw and then twist it in my ear and it pulls the gunk out.
I wouldn’t take it that far, just as far as my finger can go
Bobby pins.
try dipping the ends in cold water first
I went to Amazon and got an ear wax removal tool. It has an arm with a soft latex scooping tip and a camera and a light. It has wifi and you hook it up to your phone so you can see the camera. I was having custom ear plugs made and I needed to get things squeaky clean. It worked surprisingly well and is the best way to clear things out completely imo. It’s also pretty interesting to see what is going on in there. I also have a little syringe thing I keep in the shower to use on a more regular basis.
Many people insisting on digging out, others on peroxide. You’re both right.
Use earwax softener in your ears to make the job easier. Then, a day or two later, use a disposable ear cleaning stick, using rotary, not pushing motions. The wax will still be soft and come out much more easily.
That’s gotten huge quantities out for me, saving me from the feeling that I’m underwater.
A squeeze bulb and warm water seem to do the trick for me.
For me, water goes in, stays forever. Something that’s happened since I’ve aged. Swam competitively in high school, never had a problem. Now, if I tilt my head wrong in the shower, good luck.
Oo mox
Good friend of mine for a bit of fibre stuck in there from the Q tip, it got infected and blew her ear drum…
one of them anyway
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