Ear We Go

What is this thing? A water-powered ear cleaner. But maybe the more important question is: why should you buy one?

The answer, for some of you, might be that you actually shouldn’t. For others, though, this thing might be an absolute lifesaver.

To help you decide which category you fit into, we’ll start at the beginning. Full disclosure: some (if not most) of you already know some (if not most) of what we’re about to tell you, but we’re going to go through it anyway in case you don’t.

First off, you shouldn’t use Q-tips to clean your inner ear. This is something you might have read in such medical journals as: the box Q-tips come in. Dr. Yu-Tung Wong, an otologist (aka ear specialist) at Cedar Sinai, explains further on the hospital’s blog:

Using a cotton swab like a plunger in the ear canal pushes earwax deeper and deeper in. One problem is that if you push the wax deeper inside, there’s no way for the wax to get swept out of the ear. Also, cotton swabs can cause punctured ear drums and hearing loss. In severe cases, the cotton swab can damage many sensitive structures behind the ear canal and cause complete deafness, prolonged vertigo with nausea and vomiting, loss of taste function, and even facial paralysis.

Wow, yikes.

So what does Dr. Wong suggest you use to clean out your ears? This nifty product called… your ear:

You usually don’t need to ever clean wax out of your ears because there’s a natural cleaning system in the ear canal that sweeps earwax out like a conveyor belt. Even if there is a lot of wax, you can have up to 90% of your ear canal blocked and still be able to hear clearly, since you only need a small pinhole for sound to travel through.

Doesn’t sound super fast, does it? And that might be a good thing. Because earwax itself is a good thing:

Earwax, also known as cerumen, is a natural substance that your body makes and has many beneficial properties—it is slightly acidic, which helps fight bacteria and fungus in the ear, and it’s slightly oily, which provides a waterproof barrier for the ear canal skin.

Which again, brings us back to our initial point: a lot of you won’t need this thing.

But you know who could use it? ME!

Even though I swore off Q-tips years ago, I still experience semi-frequent blockages. I don’t know why. My ears just seem to churn out a lot of the stuff. The result? Muffled hearing and discomfort. And I don’t want to have to book an appointment every time I need my canals cleared, especially when they’re going to use something just like this. Or, actually, they’ll probably use something much simpler, a spritz bottle, essentially, with a long tip.

With this thing, meanwhile, you can choose a pressure setting and then just hold the button down and let it do the pumping. Oh, and we’re selling it for just about the same price as the aforementioned basic spritz bottle version.

So, if you’re someone who deals with frequent or semi-frequent blockages, consider getting this. And if you don’t, dear god, keep those damn Q-tips out of your damn ears!