Follow our expert advice to keep your ears healthy and avoid damaging them with unsafe cleaning practices.
Putting anything in your ear canal can push wax and other debris inwards. This can prevent sound from reaching your eardrum effectively. Wax is produced in the outer ear canal and naturally works its way outwards. But if you push it further in, it goes in deeper than it is supposed to.
Although cotton buds may look soft, they are actually abrasive on the sensitive skin deep in your ear canal. By putting anything long and thin in your ear canal, you risk rupturing your fragile eardrum.
One of the main purposes of earwax is to capture anything foreign and invasive, and then come out of your ear canal with it. It is a vital part of your ear’s self-cleaning process, which works like a conveyor belt.
Sometimes our ears produce more wax:
In general, our ears make the amount of wax they need. Earwax creates a sticky barrier that prevents foreign objects from entering.