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A friend of mine has recently got into the holistic health scene, and has been trying to get me to try earcandling. She swears by it, but I am a little leary of them...I have heard of hot wax burning the inner ear and that sounds painful.

 

Has anyone tried these things? Pros? Cons??

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Some roommates of mine did this on acid a few years ago. They liked the effect. I look at the candles every time I go to our co-op, and think about it. Someday I'll try.

 

 

shit. now I gotta score some Vitamin A

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one of my yoga instructors has a practice where she, or someone that works with her, does ear candling. never tried it myself. I too am curious about the pros and cons. how do they make sure it doesn't get to far into the ear and thus never gets out. :unsure

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I've done it. It's kind of a long process, and the ear candles are not so much "candles" like you light when the dog is farting. They look like they're made out of athletic tape and the have a hollow core and are only slightly waxy. When I did it, I got them from Wild Oats market -- an organic and "earthy" chain of grocery stores where I live. They were relatively expensive too. I think like $20 for four of them.

 

So, you get a paper plate and punch a hole in it, sticking an inch or so of the candle thru the hole. You light the end of the candle that is farthest from the paper plate, lie down, put the end that's stuck throught the plate in your ear and just stay really still until the candle has burned all the way down. It burns and smokes more than a typical candle and sounds really weird in your ear as it is burning. When it burns down to the plate, you're left with the hollow core and a bunch of earwax inside. Seemed kinda cool.

 

Unfortunately, the package said you need to do 4 or 5 candles in each ear for a thorough cleaning, and at ~$20 a pack, I couldn't afford it.

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When it burns down to the plate, you're left with the hollow core and a bunch of earwax inside. Seemed kinda cool.

 

Unfortunately, the package said you need to do 4 or 5 candles in each ear for a thorough cleaning, and at ~$20 a pack, I couldn't afford it.

 

Yeah, from what I've read, it creates a vacuum that draws the wax out of your ear and does not dump more wax in.

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You light the end of the candle that is farthest from the paper plate, lie down, put the end that's stuck throught the plate in your ear and just stay really still until the candle has burned all the way down. It burns and smokes more than a typical candle and sounds really weird in your ear as it is burning. When it burns down to the plate, you're left with the hollow core and a bunch of earwax inside.

Do they make you sign a waiver when you buy this stuff? I'm pretty sure my paper plate would catch fire and I'd be in the hospital with no hair, bad scalp burns, and I'd probably be deaf. But that's just me...

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I've done these things a bunch. It's easy as long as you have someone holding/lighting the candle. All it does is create a vacuum to pull the wax out of your ears. They work well and it feels cool when it's happening. Totally safe to use them, too. Some of that wax gets pushed down in there when you use a standard Q-tip/whatever and the candles safely draw that extra stuff out. I've had ear issues all my life so these things work well for me.

 

I've never used a paper plate with them but I guess it could help.

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I might try these. I play drums, so I wear earplugs a lot. Sometimes the plugs compact the wax into my ear. Ear drops work, but I have to use it three or four days in a row. From what I uderstand, the candle method clears it up in one use.

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I don't like putting drops in my ear as that's part of the problem I have: water getting in and not coming out. Where does the wax go once the Murine breaks it up?

 

You blast the wax out with a water sqeezer.

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Wikipedia is handy, but it is not God. I could go in there and change to say, "Ear candling is the greatest thing of all time, every doctor on Earth agrees." That said, I don't like fire that close to me, so I'll stick to the other way of removing earwax - employing small bats to use their long tongues to scrape it out.

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