February 6, 2021 • 36 mins
Despite tons of people using cotton swabs each day to clean the earwax from their ears, cerumen (as earwax is clinically known) is actually quite beneficial to the health of your ears - and even kind of ingenious as your body's defense goes. Learn more in this classic episode.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, folks. Ear Wax colon Live with It is your
Saturday Select this week. This is from March Boy. This
was a good one. There's a lot of a lot
of things people don't understand about ear wax and what
you should do with it and what you shouldn't do
with it. So this was very instructive for both of
us and should be for you as well. So enjoy
(00:22):
and don't ear candle for God's sake. Welcome to Stuff
You Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles
(00:44):
w Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry Uh. Yeah, that's stuff you
should know. He just shrugged, like, what are we gonna do?
That's what we are, episode number seven something. Yeah, I
have no idea. I don't either. In the seven hundreds
of folks. If you think there's only three hundred because
(01:05):
you're on iTunes, you're in for to be doubly surprised. Yeah. Well,
somebody um tweeted recently, I've just found the How Stuff
Works app and there's way more stuff you should knows
than there is on iTunes. I hate you guys. Now. Wait,
I was cool with three one. But that's it. I
had someone aska the other day if we feel like
(01:26):
we're running out of things topics, clearly we are, because
we're recording on your way exactly what you tell him.
Look for boogers in the near future. Um no, I
said no that Sometimes it feels a little like, oh
my gosh, what are gonna do? But there's gazillions of
topics in the world at least, and gazillions of scientific
(01:47):
that's right. What is that? How many zeros? Is that
a real number? I don't know. I don't think it is.
Let's say it's a real number if you're eight years old,
but watch it probably is a real number. Yeah, I think, Um,
a jillian is a real number. A bazillion jillian definitely is.
(02:08):
I would guess gazillion is by now I might actually
look that up. I mean, there's just like a handful
of mathematicians who are in charge of naming that kind
of stuff, you know, So chuckers. While you're looking that up,
do you have ear wax? Um? Do you have a a
problem you're wax? None? No, I don't either. No, I
(02:29):
wouldn't say so. Um. It is a little distressing though,
even though we will find out it is awesome and
exactly how it's supposed to work when it just sort
of falls out of your ear onto your shoulder. Yeah,
that's that's ideal. Actually, yeah, because ear wax and your
physiology in general doesn't care about what social group you're
(02:50):
a part of. Nope, it's just like, here's some ear
wax on your shoulder. Deal with it. Although and I
didn't look up why this is true. Apparently in northeast
are in Asian countries like Korea and China, um they
there ear wax is a little different. They're more likely
to have the dry ear wax um, which can be
hard and red to black in color, which sounds gross
(03:12):
and flaky or pale yellow, whereas over here we have
that um nasty, guey orange e mess. Wet ear wax
is what it's called. Yes, And the reason why actually
is because of the ABC leveng gene. Oh is that why? Yeah,
they isolated the gene that causes the type of ear
(03:32):
wax that you get. And it turns out that they
say the w UM mutation is um or the D
mutation dry ear wax is recessive. So the only way
to get dry ear waxes of both of your parents
have dry ear wax. Both carry the D gene or
D mutation or the ABC leven gene. Well, I have both.
(03:56):
Most people have our w D. Say yeah, so you
have to get too D alleles to dry ear wax
alleles to have dry ear wax yourself. If you have
a W and a D or two ws, you're gonna
have wet and for some read I have both, can't
you like one year is dry and the other's wet. No, Like,
(04:16):
sometimes you know, if I get the old cotton swab out,
which now you're introducing something way beyond genetics. That's not
even apo genetics. That's human intervention. The point is, if
I get the cotton swab out, that's when I'll get
out the orange e wax wet stuff. But um, I'll
also have the dry, flicky stuff that falls out sometimes probably,
I would guess. And I'm no seremon expert, I'm no seaminas.
(04:40):
Now what's the what's the word? Uh? Actually looked it
up for someone who studies this. It has to have
to do with ceremon m. I can't find it now.
It's so Seamonius doesn't ringing a bell, No, it's wrong.
I can't find what it is. Sorry, okay, well the
person who still I'm not a person who studies ear wax,
(05:03):
but what I would guess is that when you're when
you're digging in there, you're getting to the fresher ear wax,
That's what I think. And then as it works itself
further and further out your ear, which is the natural process,
it's exposed to drier air, that ambient air, and it
drives out and flakes off, which is what it's supposed
(05:23):
to do. So I don't think you have both. I
think if you have both, the stuff inside your ear
would be drying, would be dry as well. Yeah, okay,
all right, well that makes sense. Um, So what ear
waxes or uh ceramon c E r U M E
N is the scientific name, but I'm sure they call
it wax. It's the third chubby angel. Now that's ceremum.
(05:47):
Oh yeah, um. It is made up of secretions of
a couple of little specialized glands uh in the skin
on the outer third of the ear canal. Yes, so
you have your sebaceous glands and they're gonna secrete and
these names all sounds so growth really, but they're perfect
for describing what they are. Yeah. Yeah, um. They secrete
(06:09):
sebum A S E V him uh, and then you
have um, an apocrine sweat gland that's modified that produces uh,
it's kind of hem. Yeah, it combine, it combines with
the sebum, and that's where you get your ceremony. And
so seebam in and of itself is fairly normal. If
you like, take your fingertip and rub it alongside where
(06:32):
your nose folds into your face. Yeah, I get a
little dry in there. That's well if if your stuff
is at all oily, the oil is seebam. So apparently
it mixes in in your ear with the m the
that kind of apocrine gland, like you said, to form ceramon,
which is its own thing. It's not just see them, right,
But all of it is basically fatty, oily lipid e
(06:57):
UM compound that's secreted by these glands in the skin cells,
specialized glands. Yeah, about six caratin, which is a protein.
And then like you said, the fatty acids, you've got
dead skin cells, you've got um, hair follicles, dead bugs,
little bugs. Yeah, lots of stuff that comes out in
(07:20):
this and like you like you said dust it probably
dust mites then too, And like you said, um, it's
produced in the inner third of the outer ear outer
one third of the ear canal, okay um. And when
it's produced in there, it's migrates outward thanks to um,
(07:40):
the motion of the ocean, right and you talking and chewing. Oh,
is that what it is? Yeah, I couldn't figure out,
like how does your ear wax move? But it's just
from jaw movement. Normal jaw movement moves the old or
the newer stuff outward and as it's coming out, all
the gunk and stuff that's protected did your ear from
(08:00):
are moved out with it. So this stuff that flakes
off and falls on your shoulder, uh, that everybody points
and laughs at at the at the party, Um, that
is filled with all the stuff that your ear wax
caught along the way. It's a it's a beautiful, elegant process.
Probably it was beautiful, um, aspect of the entire human experience. Well,
(08:22):
I think you're making a joke, but I really do
think that, Like it's the little things like that about
Like I'm amazed about the function of the brain and
of course the organs and all that. But just something
as simple as that, mechanical talking and chewing will work
ear wax out of your ear. It's just so basic
in I think it's awesome and I think it's really cool.
(08:42):
Actually I know. To me, I agree with you. Um,
so some people produce a lot of this. Um, I
was gonna say gross stuff. But have you seen Paddington
the movie? Yeah? No, I heard it was really good.
It's very good, super super cute, really well done. Why
did you see that? Just because it's a cute movie?
Really yeah? Um, sold in theaters and everything. Um, please
(09:06):
tell me you took you me? Yeah, And as a
matter of fact, it was just me and you, me
in the whole theater. But if it's just you and
no kids, you, then it's like somebody you might want
to call that security, and they did. I'm just a
Paddington fan, um, but I am now. So anyway, Um,
there is a part where there's a part featuring ear
wax in Paddington and it's it does not celebrate the
(09:29):
beauty of ear wax. It's the exact opposite. And actually,
you me was like, god, it was really gross, but
just awesome. So anyway, Gussie, Gussie Paddington. Is that a spoiler? Okay,
I don't think so. Maybe for like a five year
old you know. Um. So, like I said, some people
(09:50):
produce a lot of the stuff. Um, some people don't
produce as much, and they don't really know why, but
they do know that sometimes stress an anxiety, um can
increase production of ear wax, which makes interesting hormones Sure,
hormones affected your glands go off. It also said that
some drugs can increase your ear wax production. And I
(10:13):
looked all over and did you find the drugs? But
if stress and anxiety does hiahuasca, I imagine, yeah, cocaine
would probably make you produce more ear wax or something
oh yeah, when you put that stuff in your ear, yeah,
or something that makes you like cheer your jaw a lot.
Oh sure, that could probably get more ear wax out. Yeah. Interesting,
(10:34):
I never thought about that. I couldn't find any anything else.
Um is gross as you might think. Ear waxes, though,
it actually is a great thing for your body. And
there's a very good reason, uh why you have it,
because there are four main functions that your ear wax
is going to serve. My friend, Uh, one of them
is it creates an acidic environment. That's great. That kills
(10:57):
helps kill bacteria and fung gi. Oh even better. Number two,
um it is, well that's that's a big deal too,
because your ear, your inner ear, like that is really
a place where fungus in bacteria would thrive because it's
moist and dark. And you know what we always say
about moist dark places, fun Guy thrives. That's right. Um.
(11:19):
The thing is is, it doesn't seem like that be
a big problem to have fun Guy in your ear,
but it would because it would affect things like your balance, nausea,
ear aches. Um, it just wouldn't be good. So the
fact that earwax produces in a city environment alone makes
your wax a beautiful thing and to be celebrated. So
(11:39):
if we did, we could just stop there. We could,
but you can go on. Like you said, there's four
and that was just one quarter of these these benefits
that your x pistos. Uh. Secondly, it is a lube. Um.
It lubricates your ear canal basically to keep it from
drying out. And um, you know you don't want the
inner ear become all like itchy and dry and craggedy,
(12:04):
and you want to hear something weird that I've a
new personal hygiene thing I have to do as of yesterday,
starting yesterday, something I'll probably have to do my whole
lot hair. I have to moisturize my ears. Now. I
thought you're gonna say hair inside the ear. I was like,
I have been doing that for a while. It's getting
I got a little fro inside ear fro. Yeah, but no,
(12:25):
like taking moisturizer and like rubbing on my ears because
I got a haircat yesterday and like my ears were
exposed and all of a sudden, I'm like, wait, why
is like there a streak of white on my ear
and they're bright red? And I realized, like my ears
are chapped and that is brand new or else I
just noticed it. So I'm an ear moisturizer. Now, Yeah,
you had that seventies uh ear muff hairstyle cut off
(12:48):
of your ears so your ears were exposed. Yeah, it
was pretty seventies, wasn't well. I was growing my hair
out to to create like a blank slate of you
know that could be worked with. It was kind of
longish for you. I was really long, and it it
was that seventies, like your muff thing wasn't quite it
was getting there. It looks good, very nice. Thanks. Did
(13:08):
that make you uncomfortable? No, I was fishing for that
the whole reason I brought that story. You looked either
sheepish or really uncomfortable with a little bit both. Alright, gotcha? Alright?
Number three on top four things that earwax does. Uh
is your ceremon and your hair just like let him exactly, Um,
(13:28):
it's gonna discouraged. Uh. Everyone's worst nightmare, which is a
spider crawling in there, which I covered. Uh, you know
that happened to Emily. I think I talked about that
on one of the shows. That was genuinely one of
the most awesome things that I've ever experienced, because it
did not happen to me. Wasn't there a picture? Didn't
(13:49):
you post a picture of it or something like that? Um? No,
but there I think I I posted a picture of
a happening to one woman in China. I think that
was rightening, and it was a picture of a spider
looking out of the woman's ear. Canal right, Yeah, yeah,
but Emily's If people haven't heard this story, it was
I think it was in the middle of the night
(14:10):
or something. She was like, I got this weird fluttering
in my ear and I don't know what's going on
in there. And I was like, well, you know. It
took her in the bathroom and shined a light and
I was like, holy crap, and the spider I think work,
didn't it with the flashlight? Remember, like, if you look
at your I don't know, did the very saying yes, yes, okay,
so there you go. Well, all I remember thinking is Emily,
(14:32):
I don't want to have to break this to you,
but you have the spider in your ear. You didn't
like chloroformer first? I should have. Yeah. She was not
excited about that. She was not pumped. But so, well,
what was the process for getting it out? Well, I've
looked on the internet super quickly, um to see how
and they said to flush it out and um just
(14:53):
like a little warm. Oh my gosh, you did use tweezers. Yeah,
And I put the water in there and it kind
of um loosened it up. And went in there and
got the tweet sers and I was like, look at this.
How big was it? Oh? I mean it wasn't huge,
but it was it was enough spider for her taste. Yeah,
more than enough, right, dude, it was. I can't imagine
that some people like sleep with vaseline in their ears
(15:17):
to keep bugs from crawling in. Yeah, like that is
a thing. Yeah, I mean people don't want bugs in
their ears. No, but that's taken. I mean, that's just parent.
It's severe paranois. I think if you're sleeping with your
muff or vaselly in your ears, you know your muffs.
Idn't thought about that, so you all right? And number
four finally is um, your ear wax is gonna trap
(15:38):
some dead skin and hair cells and basically all of
that junk to carry it back out to keep it clean.
So it sounds sort of counterintuitive to trap that stuff,
but it's trapping it so it can carry it out.
And if you didn't have the ear wax, it would
just go in there, right, And if you chew things
like celery and you talk, then that your wax is
(15:59):
going to work its way out in a slow process
where all this stuff is cleaned out and you don't
ever have to do anything with it under ideal circumstances.
Not always are circumstances ideal. And we'll talk about how
things can go wrong after this, Okay, chuck. So ideally
(16:32):
you don't have to ever think about ear wax or
anything like they except to brush it off your shoulder. Right.
But um, for some people, ear wax can build up
and become impacted a lot of times it's because people
mess with it, like with cotton swabs on a stick.
You know, you may have seen the advertisement the Big Game.
You're just called cotton swabs, right yeah, okay, Um, so
(16:56):
when uh if you use that, a lot of people
use those to clear out their ear wax, right Yeah,
you're not supposed to know it's doing the exact opposite,
because your ear wax is um created and moves from
the outside third of your inner ear um. When you
rub a cotton swab on it, you're actually pushing it
(17:18):
in further than it's supposed to be, and it it
can't get out is easily there. So what you're going
to do eventually is have ear wax build up. Yeah,
And it's it's so hard to get people to not
do that because it's so um rewarding. When you get
out of the shower and you use that swab and
you get that orange kunk and you're like, oh man,
I'm so glad that's out of my body. But it's
(17:40):
it's got a purpose. Leave it there. You're supposed to
leave it there. Plus there's I mean, using cotton swabs
can lead to other kinds of dangers, like you can
push too hard and prefer your ear drums. You're I
think it really is true. You're not supposed to put
anything larger than the end of a football in your
ear um. You can all so clean it too much. Yeah,
(18:03):
it can result in something called swimmer's ear. We're basically
for people who spend a lot of time in the pool.
Their ears are constantly irrigated and the canal becomes basically
free of um of ear wax, and as a result,
bad things can happen. Yeah, And they say, if you
do have swimmers ear, um, put a few drops of
(18:25):
an acidic slightly acidic, not acid like hydrochloric. Let's put
a gallondrome, a hydrocord. What is a slightly acidic fluid?
I wonder, Uh, mayby lemon juice. That's what I would guess,
That's probably what I would do. I hope we're not
advising something that's really nat As a matter of fact,
maybe you should go look up what you should put
(18:46):
in there or go to your doctor. Yes, but they
advise some slightly acidic fluid in the ear after you swim,
and that established re establishes what should be a normal
acidic environment. Yeah, because you when you strip out that
ear wax, you lose those big four benefits and all
of a sudden, your ear is dry and cracky, and
you've got fungus and bacteria growing in there, and you
(19:06):
get ear infections and it's not fun. The big four um.
You and back to creating a build up of ear wax,
you get what's called ceramon impaction. And that is when
like you have a bunch of ear wax pressed against
your ear drum and it can result in all sorts
of stuff like headaches, nausea, ear aches, coughing for some reason. Um.
(19:32):
And that can be from using Q tips. People who
use hearing aids run into this a lot. Uh. And
when your ceramon becomes impacted, you have to go to
the doctor. That's right. Which my sweet wife had to
go to the doctor when she was a little girl
because ear wax impaction. Yeah, and uh she said it sucked. Well,
(19:52):
when you go to the doctor if it comes to that, Um,
they're gonna have quite a few techniques they could use. Um,
ear syringing is one of them, and then comes painful.
It does. I don't think it is, though. I bet
it's actually quite a relief. Yeah, that's not how I
hear it. Really is it painful? Yeah? Umi says it
really is not fun. Well I didn't know if that
(20:13):
was like a five year old Umi or well yeah, yeah,
but even as an adult she remembers it as not
being very fun. Is Paddington, Umi, Maybe that's why she
had such a reaction. Um, they'll use other instruments. Sometimes
you'll use a microphone or I'm sorry, a microscope would
be weird. To magnify the ear canal, they shout into
(20:33):
it to shatter your ear wax. Um, and some people
have a more narrow ear canal. Or if you have
a perforated ear drum or something that can be a problem. Um,
basically you want to go to a doctor. You could
try some home methods like peroxide or maybe mineral oil. Yeah,
apparently warm mineral oil kind of breaks it up a
(20:56):
little bit. Yeah, I used to. That's one of my
most pleasing memories as a kid, when I had ear aches.
As my mom would like heat up mineral oil and
put in my arrows. But that was nice, really nice.
It's very warm and when for some reason, I like
the feeling of water closing my ear, like when I
get into a pool. Oh yeah, but probably because of that,
(21:17):
yeah maybe, so I didn't think about that. Do you
like that or is it what I just you just
like crawling into the field. Why is chuck just floating
in the pool like the baby? Um? I know, I've
never had much of an affinity for water in my
ears because some people hate it. I don't hate it.
I don't like it, and like, you know, I'll bang
(21:38):
on the side of my head if it feels like
there's like a drop of water in there. Does that work? Uh?
It can not always? I think normally the water just
has to dry right. Sometimes I get dizzy in my head.
I used to see when I lifeguarded. I would see
swim team members do that, though, and I was always like,
I don't know if that just doesn't seem right. Once
in a while it does and it just goes and
(22:01):
all of a sudden you can hear normally again. Interesting.
I didn't see the reason for this though, But they
did UM in this one article I saw have caution
people against ear irrigation if you had diabetes. What? Yeah, why,
I have no idea. I meant to follow up on that.
(22:21):
So we don't know what drugs cause an increase in
ear wax build up, and we don't know why if
you have diabetes you shouldn't do your canal irrigation. I
don't know. They said not to use irrigation if you
have a perforated ear drum, get that tube in the
ear drum a weekend immune system or diabetes. Huh. I
(22:42):
have no idea. I don't have to follow up on
social media and let people know UM. But they do
say if you do want to clean your ear, it's
not like you can't clean your ears, but just wash
your external ear with a cloth. But you should never
stick something into your ear canal Right, it's just good.
But it's interesting that the cotton swab businesses huge. I mean,
(23:04):
they've made a if you think about it, they made
I don't want to say it's they shouldn't be selling
these things now, I know what you mean, though, you know. Yeah,
apparently that I couldn't find out how much UM people
spend on cotton swabs every year or how many are produced.
We couldn't find out that either, But for two thousand
and eleven, apparently Americans spent sixty three million dollars on
(23:28):
ear cleaning stuff, home ear cleaning stuff, and I imagine
a lot of that went to cotton swabs, but also
like home irrigation kits and stuff like that. Yeah, because
you can get those at the drug store, right, and
those are fine, I guess, Yeah, I don't know. I mean,
everything is upside down right now. Well, no, I think
the irrigation is fine if you don't fall into one
(23:49):
of those categories that I mentioned, because you're not sticking
an object in your ear that and then if you
don't do it too frequently to where you're stripping the
ear wax out of your ear, because it's not like
that thing just replenishes overnight. Guys, I know, and you know,
I used the cotton swabs, not a lot, but occasionally.
But I'm not gonna do it anymore. But it is,
(24:10):
like I said, it's it feels so good to get
a big hunk of that stuff out. Yeah, I've never
been into those. Yeah, I'm not gonna do it anymore.
I'm gonna tell the only two. I'm gonna burn all
that stuff. All I do is I take some soap
and lather at my hands, do the outside of my ears,
and then, like I guess, I just kind of follow
the contours the inside of my ears. And I'm trying
to remember, like do I go into my ear canals?
(24:32):
And I think I intuitively stop with your fingers, Yeah,
at about the outside, so I don't really go into
the ear canal. And then rinse it out and get
off and get out of the shower. And then now I, um,
I moisturized my ears afterward, is the last step. That's great. Um.
The other thing too, that they, of course, you should
(24:53):
never ever do like cotton swabs is one thing, but
like a car key or bobby pin or like a toothpick,
what is wrong with you? I don't know that you
should never ever stick something like that in your ear,
because you're just asking for trouble, big trouble. Um. All right, Well,
after this break, we are going to talk about ear candling.
(25:27):
All right, So, Chuck, you teased everybody with ear candling.
Why don't you tell everyone with that is it's hokem okay,
describe the HOKEM well ear candling, and a lot of
people don't know this. I think. I think a lot
of folks say, like, oh my gosh, it's the best
thing ever. Um. It is also known as auricular candling
or coning, and it is a procedure when you put
(25:48):
a cone shaped um waxy cone shaped device in the
ear canal um and it's got usually a plate underneath
it between the cone in your ear, and you light
it on fire air. And supposedly what it does is
that you stick the thing in your ear and then
light it on fire. Yeah. Supposedly, what it does is
(26:08):
it creates a vacuum to pull out um impurities, right
because the flame supposedly needs oxygen while the flame definitely
needs oxygen to burn, and it's getting its oxygen by
sucking it out of the ear canal through the cone,
hence creating a vacuum. And as it does, like you said,
it sucks out impurities and ear wax and supposedly also
(26:30):
clears your sinuses, UM, clears the the plaque out of
your um dendrites and all sorts of stuff like that. Yeah.
This one article by Lisa Roe uh Rosen, m D.
Said that she went to and this was in the nineties,
but she went to a Discovery expo in Atlanta and
said that they had ear candlers there and one of
the exhibitions and the lady said that ran the booth
(26:53):
quote it cleans the whole head, brains and all they're
all connected. You know is that quote in there? Oh? Yeah,
end quote? Um, And of course it was in Atlanta.
I'm like, oh great, Although that doesn't necessarily mean that
could be anyway, but um, there is. There are a
lot of people that think, you know, it's um, it's
a cleanse for your ear, and it does connect to
(27:15):
your brain, and it clears your head and it's a
spiritual thing and that you know. They don't know where
exactly it came from, but uh, China and ancient Tibet
and yeah, pre Columbian South America, Atlantis. Yeah, they all
are cited as places where it might have happened. Yeah,
no one has any idea where this stuff originated. Could
have been created in the US and the seventies for
(27:37):
all anybody knows. Should we read some of the things
that supposedly helps, Yeah, we should probably also say if
you haven't been able to tell by now, um science
is thoroughly debunked. Ear candling, that's right, um. And this
is from that article. There's something that Dr Rosen and
some of our colleagues got together and kind of step
by step took down the idea. Yeah, there's a list
(27:59):
of like forty things. We won't go to them all,
but release vertigo, clears the eyes, purifies the blood, UM,
aids sinusitis, relieves ear aches, opens and aligns your chakra,
releases blocked energy, reduces stress, intention stabilizes your emotions. Um.
(28:20):
It does none of that because it is it is
just been proven to be an outright not only fraud
but dangerous right. So, and here's why so. Um. The
first one is that you can't pass liquids and gases
through an ear drum that isn't perforated or ruptured. UM.
(28:41):
So it's not sucking anything out of your inner ear,
or your um lymph system, or your sinuses or your brain.
That's where your ears pop when you're in a plane. Right,
If if you could pass air through there, that wouldn't happen.
There would be no atmospheric pressure going on. Right. So
that means that thinking an ear candle in your outer
(29:01):
ear is not going to suck anything out because it
can't pass through. That's that's point one, right, that's point one.
Point two is oxygen. Uh, well, it will create that
vacuum and and suck out the impurities. Yeah, and that
is just not true. Yeah, apparently and tested it and yeah,
doing trials of ear candles, they weren't able to um
(29:23):
create a vacuum in any of them. So there's no
vacuum created, that's right. Uh, there's also the idea that
if a vacuum were created, it would suck impurities out.
Apparently after ear candling some of these at least one
of the same trials studied the stuff the residue that
(29:45):
was found afterwards, like I guess in the stump of
the ear candle. Well, yeah, and that's what people point
to because there's all this gunk and they're like, look
at all this stuff that came out of my ear.
Oh my god. Right, So what it turns out to
be is ash from the ear candle and left over
wax him that you're candled, but not just the ear candle,
not ear wax, just the candle residue. Yeah, Like they
(30:05):
tested the substance. It is not cerebum in any former fashion. Uh.
The what about the idea that it's safe and effective.
I think we took care of the effective part, but
the safe thing, apparently there's a lot of injuries you
can get from it. Um that you can be burned
is one thing. Um, you can perforate your ear drum,
(30:27):
you can get infections. Um, you can get built up
of the candle wax to replace whatever wax you think
you're getting out. Yeah, it could have the reverse effect exactly.
And then um, one woman actually died from a fire
that was caused two thousand five from ear candling. I
looked it up. She was doing it, I guess, by
herself on her bed and the ear candle fell out
(30:49):
of her ear and caught her bed sheets on fire.
And she made it out of her house fine, but
she was asthmatic and had an asthmatic reaction to the
smoke and died. How that happened that fast, I don't know.
I guess she had some bunch of bed sheets or something, right,
they were made out of like some flammable material. Um.
(31:10):
There is uh a company I won't name the company,
but one company that made it. And if you it
came with a seventy five page manual and a thirty
minute videotape. I guess this is a while ago. It
was a video tape and candles and plate guards and
flame retardant cloths and oil and an uh otoscope. And
(31:30):
if you read the flyer with this kit, it says, quote,
it supplies you with everything you need for a safe
and effective session of entertainment. Right for entertainment purposes only. Yeah,
because apparently I think it says that Canada regulates those things.
Are the US does those medical devices if they make
any health claims? Yeah, I think they're illegal in Canada outright. Um,
(31:52):
or at least they were. I'm not sure they still are,
but um, yeah, the f d A won't even I mean,
you can't make any kind of claim on the box
if you if you get an ear candle at your
little health food store, just read it carefully. They can't
make any claims for entertainment purposes because it's a hoot
to put a candle in your ear and light it
(32:13):
on fire. There was one other thing I came across
in the articles you sent me, um, And I don't
know if it's true, but it sounds fantastic that if
if you could create a vacuum with an ear candle,
the negative pressure created by the vacuum would rupture your
ear drum, right, which sounds pretty awesome. Yeah. I don't
(32:33):
know if it's true. It wasn't backed up with a
source or anything like that. I couldn't find it anywhere else,
but it's pretty hilarious. Yeah, so don't ear candle people.
And if you write in and say no, you should
see the stuff that comes out. It is not your
ear wax. You should put that stuff beneath the gas
chromatograph and see what you said. I mean, it's proven.
This is like what was we talked about recently the
(32:56):
drop circles. Oh man, we got heat from that. To
people like, no, it's not proven. What was it. I
think it was that o Glowa's crop circles. When we're like, no,
they've proven that. These guys came out and said we
made it up. No, I know what they were saying though,
Like it it's just like we were talking about with ESPs.
Because you can disprove right, right, some of it doesn't
(33:18):
mean that disproves all of it. Except with crop circles.
We should come up with the stuff. You should know
a T shirt. Friends, don't let friends at your candle.
That's a good Yeah. Yeah, I just love your ear wax. Yeah.
Let it fall out on your shoulder and let someone
point it out and you say that's nature baby. Yeah,
it's because I eat celery. Uh. If you want to
(33:39):
know more about ear wax, you can type the word
into the search bar at how stuff works dot com.
I think we have it done as one word maybe.
Uh yeah, uh and uh, I said search bar, which
means it's time for listening to mail. I'm gonna call
this ice cream follow up. We got a lot of
good stuff on ice cream. People really like that at
(34:00):
so Hey, guys, I'm a student at the University of
Minnesota Twin Cities. Started listening to your podcast just this
week and I'm officially hooked. I am listening to your
podcast on ice cream. It's really interesting because I've worked
in an ice cream parlor for the last five summers.
Wilson's opened in nineteen o six and is still going
strong today, one of the most famous restaurants in Wisconsin. Uh.
(34:21):
There are definitely different types of vanilla ice cream. We
use two types, French or deluxe vanilla and purple vanilla.
The label on this other vanilla is purple. We use
purple vanilla for shakes and malts because it's less rich
allows for the flavor of the shaker malt to be
more distinguished. You saw French vanilla and ice cream cone
Sundays and floats, and you mentioned having root beer floats.
(34:42):
Reminded me of an interesting thing that I've noticed. People
often get offended when they order a black cow and
we have to ask them what it is. That's because
almost everyone has a different idea of what a black
cow consists of. Some say that it's a root beer float.
Some say that it's a root beer flow with chocolate
ice cream. Some say it's a coke float, some say
(35:03):
it's a blended root beer float, etcetera, etcetera. Somehow they
all got labeled as black cow. Thanks for giving me
more ice cream knowledge. I'll actually be able to answer
customers now when they ask what the difference between ice
cream and frozen yogurt is. And that is from Andrea
Nelson and she says, ps. Those nasty cheap cones with
the flat bottoms are known as cake cones. Yeah, I
(35:25):
saw that afterwards, don't order them ever there. I mean,
if you had Jason's Delhi and that's all they got.
Oh they have the free ice cream, right huh yeah,
And that's how it was. Like the day that we
recorded ice cream and I couldn't remember the name of
the cone. I think I ended up going that night
and there was cake cone. I was like, yes, cake cone.
(35:49):
Somebody else called it a wafer cone, but I think
that's just wrong. I see where that would come from,
because it's wafer esque. Yeah, I mean it makes sense,
but I've never seen it called that before, and that's
too close to waffle right, you know, right, it makes
people confused. So thanks to Andrea Nelson for that one.
It thanks Andrea. If you want to get in touch
with us to say hi, or to tell us about
(36:10):
ice cream or anything like that, you can tweet to
us at s y s K podcast. You can join
us on Facebook dot com, slash Stuff you Should Know.
You can send us an email the Stuff podcast at
how Stuffworks dot com, and as always, you can join
us at our home on the web they Luxurious Stuff
you Should Know dot com. Stuff you Should Know is
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts. For
(36:32):
my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hi, folks. Ear Wax colon Live with It is your
Saturday Select this week. This is from March Boy. This
was a good one. There's a lot of a lot
of things people don't understand about ear wax and what
you should do with it and what you shouldn't do
with it. So this was very instructive for both of
us and should be for you as well. So enjoy
(00:22):
and don't ear candle for God's sake. Welcome to Stuff
You Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles
(00:44):
w Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry Uh. Yeah, that's stuff you
should know. He just shrugged, like, what are we gonna do?
That's what we are, episode number seven something. Yeah, I
have no idea. I don't either. In the seven hundreds
of folks. If you think there's only three hundred because
(01:05):
you're on iTunes, you're in for to be doubly surprised. Yeah. Well,
somebody um tweeted recently, I've just found the How Stuff
Works app and there's way more stuff you should knows
than there is on iTunes. I hate you guys. Now. Wait,
I was cool with three one. But that's it. I
had someone aska the other day if we feel like
(01:26):
we're running out of things topics, clearly we are, because
we're recording on your way exactly what you tell him.
Look for boogers in the near future. Um no, I
said no that Sometimes it feels a little like, oh
my gosh, what are gonna do? But there's gazillions of
topics in the world at least, and gazillions of scientific
(01:47):
that's right. What is that? How many zeros? Is that
a real number? I don't know. I don't think it is.
Let's say it's a real number if you're eight years old,
but watch it probably is a real number. Yeah, I think, Um,
a jillian is a real number. A bazillion jillian definitely is.
(02:08):
I would guess gazillion is by now I might actually
look that up. I mean, there's just like a handful
of mathematicians who are in charge of naming that kind
of stuff, you know, So chuckers. While you're looking that up,
do you have ear wax? Um? Do you have a a
problem you're wax? None? No, I don't either. No, I
(02:29):
wouldn't say so. Um. It is a little distressing though,
even though we will find out it is awesome and
exactly how it's supposed to work when it just sort
of falls out of your ear onto your shoulder. Yeah,
that's that's ideal. Actually, yeah, because ear wax and your
physiology in general doesn't care about what social group you're
(02:50):
a part of. Nope, it's just like, here's some ear
wax on your shoulder. Deal with it. Although and I
didn't look up why this is true. Apparently in northeast
are in Asian countries like Korea and China, um they
there ear wax is a little different. They're more likely
to have the dry ear wax um, which can be
hard and red to black in color, which sounds gross
(03:12):
and flaky or pale yellow, whereas over here we have
that um nasty, guey orange e mess. Wet ear wax
is what it's called. Yes, And the reason why actually
is because of the ABC leveng gene. Oh is that why? Yeah,
they isolated the gene that causes the type of ear
(03:32):
wax that you get. And it turns out that they
say the w UM mutation is um or the D
mutation dry ear wax is recessive. So the only way
to get dry ear waxes of both of your parents
have dry ear wax. Both carry the D gene or
D mutation or the ABC leven gene. Well, I have both.
(03:56):
Most people have our w D. Say yeah, so you
have to get too D alleles to dry ear wax
alleles to have dry ear wax yourself. If you have
a W and a D or two ws, you're gonna
have wet and for some read I have both, can't
you like one year is dry and the other's wet. No, Like,
(04:16):
sometimes you know, if I get the old cotton swab out,
which now you're introducing something way beyond genetics. That's not
even apo genetics. That's human intervention. The point is, if
I get the cotton swab out, that's when I'll get
out the orange e wax wet stuff. But um, I'll
also have the dry, flicky stuff that falls out sometimes probably,
I would guess. And I'm no seremon expert, I'm no seaminas.
(04:40):
Now what's the what's the word? Uh? Actually looked it
up for someone who studies this. It has to have
to do with ceremon m. I can't find it now.
It's so Seamonius doesn't ringing a bell, No, it's wrong.
I can't find what it is. Sorry, okay, well the
person who still I'm not a person who studies ear wax,
(05:03):
but what I would guess is that when you're when
you're digging in there, you're getting to the fresher ear wax,
That's what I think. And then as it works itself
further and further out your ear, which is the natural process,
it's exposed to drier air, that ambient air, and it
drives out and flakes off, which is what it's supposed
(05:23):
to do. So I don't think you have both. I
think if you have both, the stuff inside your ear
would be drying, would be dry as well. Yeah, okay,
all right, well that makes sense. Um, So what ear
waxes or uh ceramon c E r U M E
N is the scientific name, but I'm sure they call
it wax. It's the third chubby angel. Now that's ceremum.
(05:47):
Oh yeah, um. It is made up of secretions of
a couple of little specialized glands uh in the skin
on the outer third of the ear canal. Yes, so
you have your sebaceous glands and they're gonna secrete and
these names all sounds so growth really, but they're perfect
for describing what they are. Yeah. Yeah, um. They secrete
(06:09):
sebum A S E V him uh, and then you
have um, an apocrine sweat gland that's modified that produces uh,
it's kind of hem. Yeah, it combine, it combines with
the sebum, and that's where you get your ceremony. And
so seebam in and of itself is fairly normal. If
you like, take your fingertip and rub it alongside where
(06:32):
your nose folds into your face. Yeah, I get a
little dry in there. That's well if if your stuff
is at all oily, the oil is seebam. So apparently
it mixes in in your ear with the m the
that kind of apocrine gland, like you said, to form ceramon,
which is its own thing. It's not just see them, right,
But all of it is basically fatty, oily lipid e
(06:57):
UM compound that's secreted by these glands in the skin cells,
specialized glands. Yeah, about six caratin, which is a protein.
And then like you said, the fatty acids, you've got
dead skin cells, you've got um, hair follicles, dead bugs,
little bugs. Yeah, lots of stuff that comes out in
(07:20):
this and like you like you said dust it probably
dust mites then too, And like you said, um, it's
produced in the inner third of the outer ear outer
one third of the ear canal, okay um. And when
it's produced in there, it's migrates outward thanks to um,
(07:40):
the motion of the ocean, right and you talking and chewing. Oh,
is that what it is? Yeah, I couldn't figure out,
like how does your ear wax move? But it's just
from jaw movement. Normal jaw movement moves the old or
the newer stuff outward and as it's coming out, all
the gunk and stuff that's protected did your ear from
(08:00):
are moved out with it. So this stuff that flakes
off and falls on your shoulder, uh, that everybody points
and laughs at at the at the party, Um, that
is filled with all the stuff that your ear wax
caught along the way. It's a it's a beautiful, elegant process.
Probably it was beautiful, um, aspect of the entire human experience. Well,
(08:22):
I think you're making a joke, but I really do
think that, Like it's the little things like that about
Like I'm amazed about the function of the brain and
of course the organs and all that. But just something
as simple as that, mechanical talking and chewing will work
ear wax out of your ear. It's just so basic
in I think it's awesome and I think it's really cool.
(08:42):
Actually I know. To me, I agree with you. Um,
so some people produce a lot of this. Um, I
was gonna say gross stuff. But have you seen Paddington
the movie? Yeah? No, I heard it was really good.
It's very good, super super cute, really well done. Why
did you see that? Just because it's a cute movie?
Really yeah? Um, sold in theaters and everything. Um, please
(09:06):
tell me you took you me? Yeah, And as a
matter of fact, it was just me and you, me
in the whole theater. But if it's just you and
no kids, you, then it's like somebody you might want
to call that security, and they did. I'm just a
Paddington fan, um, but I am now. So anyway, Um,
there is a part where there's a part featuring ear
wax in Paddington and it's it does not celebrate the
(09:29):
beauty of ear wax. It's the exact opposite. And actually,
you me was like, god, it was really gross, but
just awesome. So anyway, Gussie, Gussie Paddington. Is that a spoiler? Okay,
I don't think so. Maybe for like a five year
old you know. Um. So, like I said, some people
(09:50):
produce a lot of the stuff. Um, some people don't
produce as much, and they don't really know why, but
they do know that sometimes stress an anxiety, um can
increase production of ear wax, which makes interesting hormones Sure,
hormones affected your glands go off. It also said that
some drugs can increase your ear wax production. And I
(10:13):
looked all over and did you find the drugs? But
if stress and anxiety does hiahuasca, I imagine, yeah, cocaine
would probably make you produce more ear wax or something
oh yeah, when you put that stuff in your ear, yeah,
or something that makes you like cheer your jaw a lot.
Oh sure, that could probably get more ear wax out. Yeah. Interesting,
(10:34):
I never thought about that. I couldn't find any anything else.
Um is gross as you might think. Ear waxes, though,
it actually is a great thing for your body. And
there's a very good reason, uh why you have it,
because there are four main functions that your ear wax
is going to serve. My friend, Uh, one of them
is it creates an acidic environment. That's great. That kills
(10:57):
helps kill bacteria and fung gi. Oh even better. Number two,
um it is, well that's that's a big deal too,
because your ear, your inner ear, like that is really
a place where fungus in bacteria would thrive because it's
moist and dark. And you know what we always say
about moist dark places, fun Guy thrives. That's right. Um.
(11:19):
The thing is is, it doesn't seem like that be
a big problem to have fun Guy in your ear,
but it would because it would affect things like your balance, nausea,
ear aches. Um, it just wouldn't be good. So the
fact that earwax produces in a city environment alone makes
your wax a beautiful thing and to be celebrated. So
(11:39):
if we did, we could just stop there. We could,
but you can go on. Like you said, there's four
and that was just one quarter of these these benefits
that your x pistos. Uh. Secondly, it is a lube. Um.
It lubricates your ear canal basically to keep it from
drying out. And um, you know you don't want the
inner ear become all like itchy and dry and craggedy,
(12:04):
and you want to hear something weird that I've a
new personal hygiene thing I have to do as of yesterday,
starting yesterday, something I'll probably have to do my whole
lot hair. I have to moisturize my ears. Now. I
thought you're gonna say hair inside the ear. I was like,
I have been doing that for a while. It's getting
I got a little fro inside ear fro. Yeah, but no,
(12:25):
like taking moisturizer and like rubbing on my ears because
I got a haircat yesterday and like my ears were
exposed and all of a sudden, I'm like, wait, why
is like there a streak of white on my ear
and they're bright red? And I realized, like my ears
are chapped and that is brand new or else I
just noticed it. So I'm an ear moisturizer. Now, Yeah,
you had that seventies uh ear muff hairstyle cut off
(12:48):
of your ears so your ears were exposed. Yeah, it
was pretty seventies, wasn't well. I was growing my hair
out to to create like a blank slate of you
know that could be worked with. It was kind of
longish for you. I was really long, and it it
was that seventies, like your muff thing wasn't quite it
was getting there. It looks good, very nice. Thanks. Did
(13:08):
that make you uncomfortable? No, I was fishing for that
the whole reason I brought that story. You looked either
sheepish or really uncomfortable with a little bit both. Alright, gotcha? Alright?
Number three on top four things that earwax does. Uh
is your ceremon and your hair just like let him exactly, Um,
(13:28):
it's gonna discouraged. Uh. Everyone's worst nightmare, which is a
spider crawling in there, which I covered. Uh, you know
that happened to Emily. I think I talked about that
on one of the shows. That was genuinely one of
the most awesome things that I've ever experienced, because it
did not happen to me. Wasn't there a picture? Didn't
(13:49):
you post a picture of it or something like that? Um? No,
but there I think I I posted a picture of
a happening to one woman in China. I think that
was rightening, and it was a picture of a spider
looking out of the woman's ear. Canal right, Yeah, yeah,
but Emily's If people haven't heard this story, it was
I think it was in the middle of the night
(14:10):
or something. She was like, I got this weird fluttering
in my ear and I don't know what's going on
in there. And I was like, well, you know. It
took her in the bathroom and shined a light and
I was like, holy crap, and the spider I think work,
didn't it with the flashlight? Remember, like, if you look
at your I don't know, did the very saying yes, yes, okay,
so there you go. Well, all I remember thinking is Emily,
(14:32):
I don't want to have to break this to you,
but you have the spider in your ear. You didn't
like chloroformer first? I should have. Yeah. She was not
excited about that. She was not pumped. But so, well,
what was the process for getting it out? Well, I've
looked on the internet super quickly, um to see how
and they said to flush it out and um just
(14:53):
like a little warm. Oh my gosh, you did use tweezers. Yeah,
And I put the water in there and it kind
of um loosened it up. And went in there and
got the tweet sers and I was like, look at this.
How big was it? Oh? I mean it wasn't huge,
but it was it was enough spider for her taste. Yeah,
more than enough, right, dude, it was. I can't imagine
that some people like sleep with vaseline in their ears
(15:17):
to keep bugs from crawling in. Yeah, like that is
a thing. Yeah, I mean people don't want bugs in
their ears. No, but that's taken. I mean, that's just parent.
It's severe paranois. I think if you're sleeping with your
muff or vaselly in your ears, you know your muffs.
Idn't thought about that, so you all right? And number
four finally is um, your ear wax is gonna trap
(15:38):
some dead skin and hair cells and basically all of
that junk to carry it back out to keep it clean.
So it sounds sort of counterintuitive to trap that stuff,
but it's trapping it so it can carry it out.
And if you didn't have the ear wax, it would
just go in there, right, And if you chew things
like celery and you talk, then that your wax is
(15:59):
going to work its way out in a slow process
where all this stuff is cleaned out and you don't
ever have to do anything with it under ideal circumstances.
Not always are circumstances ideal. And we'll talk about how
things can go wrong after this, Okay, chuck. So ideally
(16:32):
you don't have to ever think about ear wax or
anything like they except to brush it off your shoulder. Right.
But um, for some people, ear wax can build up
and become impacted a lot of times it's because people
mess with it, like with cotton swabs on a stick.
You know, you may have seen the advertisement the Big Game.
You're just called cotton swabs, right yeah, okay, Um, so
(16:56):
when uh if you use that, a lot of people
use those to clear out their ear wax, right Yeah,
you're not supposed to know it's doing the exact opposite,
because your ear wax is um created and moves from
the outside third of your inner ear um. When you
rub a cotton swab on it, you're actually pushing it
(17:18):
in further than it's supposed to be, and it it
can't get out is easily there. So what you're going
to do eventually is have ear wax build up. Yeah,
And it's it's so hard to get people to not
do that because it's so um rewarding. When you get
out of the shower and you use that swab and
you get that orange kunk and you're like, oh man,
I'm so glad that's out of my body. But it's
(17:40):
it's got a purpose. Leave it there. You're supposed to
leave it there. Plus there's I mean, using cotton swabs
can lead to other kinds of dangers, like you can
push too hard and prefer your ear drums. You're I
think it really is true. You're not supposed to put
anything larger than the end of a football in your
ear um. You can all so clean it too much. Yeah,
(18:03):
it can result in something called swimmer's ear. We're basically
for people who spend a lot of time in the pool.
Their ears are constantly irrigated and the canal becomes basically
free of um of ear wax, and as a result,
bad things can happen. Yeah, And they say, if you
do have swimmers ear, um, put a few drops of
(18:25):
an acidic slightly acidic, not acid like hydrochloric. Let's put
a gallondrome, a hydrocord. What is a slightly acidic fluid?
I wonder, Uh, mayby lemon juice. That's what I would guess,
That's probably what I would do. I hope we're not
advising something that's really nat As a matter of fact,
maybe you should go look up what you should put
(18:46):
in there or go to your doctor. Yes, but they
advise some slightly acidic fluid in the ear after you swim,
and that established re establishes what should be a normal
acidic environment. Yeah, because you when you strip out that
ear wax, you lose those big four benefits and all
of a sudden, your ear is dry and cracky, and
you've got fungus and bacteria growing in there, and you
(19:06):
get ear infections and it's not fun. The big four um.
You and back to creating a build up of ear wax,
you get what's called ceramon impaction. And that is when
like you have a bunch of ear wax pressed against
your ear drum and it can result in all sorts
of stuff like headaches, nausea, ear aches, coughing for some reason. Um.
(19:32):
And that can be from using Q tips. People who
use hearing aids run into this a lot. Uh. And
when your ceramon becomes impacted, you have to go to
the doctor. That's right. Which my sweet wife had to
go to the doctor when she was a little girl
because ear wax impaction. Yeah, and uh she said it sucked. Well,
(19:52):
when you go to the doctor if it comes to that, Um,
they're gonna have quite a few techniques they could use. Um,
ear syringing is one of them, and then comes painful.
It does. I don't think it is, though. I bet
it's actually quite a relief. Yeah, that's not how I
hear it. Really is it painful? Yeah? Umi says it
really is not fun. Well I didn't know if that
(20:13):
was like a five year old Umi or well yeah, yeah,
but even as an adult she remembers it as not
being very fun. Is Paddington, Umi, Maybe that's why she
had such a reaction. Um, they'll use other instruments. Sometimes
you'll use a microphone or I'm sorry, a microscope would
be weird. To magnify the ear canal, they shout into
(20:33):
it to shatter your ear wax. Um, and some people
have a more narrow ear canal. Or if you have
a perforated ear drum or something that can be a problem. Um,
basically you want to go to a doctor. You could
try some home methods like peroxide or maybe mineral oil. Yeah,
apparently warm mineral oil kind of breaks it up a
(20:56):
little bit. Yeah, I used to. That's one of my
most pleasing memories as a kid, when I had ear aches.
As my mom would like heat up mineral oil and
put in my arrows. But that was nice, really nice.
It's very warm and when for some reason, I like
the feeling of water closing my ear, like when I
get into a pool. Oh yeah, but probably because of that,
(21:17):
yeah maybe, so I didn't think about that. Do you
like that or is it what I just you just
like crawling into the field. Why is chuck just floating
in the pool like the baby? Um? I know, I've
never had much of an affinity for water in my
ears because some people hate it. I don't hate it.
I don't like it, and like, you know, I'll bang
(21:38):
on the side of my head if it feels like
there's like a drop of water in there. Does that work? Uh?
It can not always? I think normally the water just
has to dry right. Sometimes I get dizzy in my head.
I used to see when I lifeguarded. I would see
swim team members do that, though, and I was always like,
I don't know if that just doesn't seem right. Once
in a while it does and it just goes and
(22:01):
all of a sudden you can hear normally again. Interesting.
I didn't see the reason for this though, But they
did UM in this one article I saw have caution
people against ear irrigation if you had diabetes. What? Yeah, why,
I have no idea. I meant to follow up on that.
(22:21):
So we don't know what drugs cause an increase in
ear wax build up, and we don't know why if
you have diabetes you shouldn't do your canal irrigation. I
don't know. They said not to use irrigation if you
have a perforated ear drum, get that tube in the
ear drum a weekend immune system or diabetes. Huh. I
(22:42):
have no idea. I don't have to follow up on
social media and let people know UM. But they do
say if you do want to clean your ear, it's
not like you can't clean your ears, but just wash
your external ear with a cloth. But you should never
stick something into your ear canal Right, it's just good.
But it's interesting that the cotton swab businesses huge. I mean,
(23:04):
they've made a if you think about it, they made
I don't want to say it's they shouldn't be selling
these things now, I know what you mean, though, you know. Yeah,
apparently that I couldn't find out how much UM people
spend on cotton swabs every year or how many are produced.
We couldn't find out that either, But for two thousand
and eleven, apparently Americans spent sixty three million dollars on
(23:28):
ear cleaning stuff, home ear cleaning stuff, and I imagine
a lot of that went to cotton swabs, but also
like home irrigation kits and stuff like that. Yeah, because
you can get those at the drug store, right, and
those are fine, I guess, Yeah, I don't know. I mean,
everything is upside down right now. Well, no, I think
the irrigation is fine if you don't fall into one
(23:49):
of those categories that I mentioned, because you're not sticking
an object in your ear that and then if you
don't do it too frequently to where you're stripping the
ear wax out of your ear, because it's not like
that thing just replenishes overnight. Guys, I know, and you know,
I used the cotton swabs, not a lot, but occasionally.
But I'm not gonna do it anymore. But it is,
(24:10):
like I said, it's it feels so good to get
a big hunk of that stuff out. Yeah, I've never
been into those. Yeah, I'm not gonna do it anymore.
I'm gonna tell the only two. I'm gonna burn all
that stuff. All I do is I take some soap
and lather at my hands, do the outside of my ears,
and then, like I guess, I just kind of follow
the contours the inside of my ears. And I'm trying
to remember, like do I go into my ear canals?
(24:32):
And I think I intuitively stop with your fingers, Yeah,
at about the outside, so I don't really go into
the ear canal. And then rinse it out and get
off and get out of the shower. And then now I, um,
I moisturized my ears afterward, is the last step. That's great. Um.
The other thing too, that they, of course, you should
(24:53):
never ever do like cotton swabs is one thing, but
like a car key or bobby pin or like a toothpick,
what is wrong with you? I don't know that you
should never ever stick something like that in your ear,
because you're just asking for trouble, big trouble. Um. All right, Well,
after this break, we are going to talk about ear candling.
(25:27):
All right, So, Chuck, you teased everybody with ear candling.
Why don't you tell everyone with that is it's hokem okay,
describe the HOKEM well ear candling, and a lot of
people don't know this. I think. I think a lot
of folks say, like, oh my gosh, it's the best
thing ever. Um. It is also known as auricular candling
or coning, and it is a procedure when you put
(25:48):
a cone shaped um waxy cone shaped device in the
ear canal um and it's got usually a plate underneath
it between the cone in your ear, and you light
it on fire air. And supposedly what it does is
that you stick the thing in your ear and then
light it on fire. Yeah. Supposedly, what it does is
(26:08):
it creates a vacuum to pull out um impurities, right
because the flame supposedly needs oxygen while the flame definitely
needs oxygen to burn, and it's getting its oxygen by
sucking it out of the ear canal through the cone,
hence creating a vacuum. And as it does, like you said,
it sucks out impurities and ear wax and supposedly also
(26:30):
clears your sinuses, UM, clears the the plaque out of
your um dendrites and all sorts of stuff like that. Yeah.
This one article by Lisa Roe uh Rosen, m D.
Said that she went to and this was in the nineties,
but she went to a Discovery expo in Atlanta and
said that they had ear candlers there and one of
the exhibitions and the lady said that ran the booth
(26:53):
quote it cleans the whole head, brains and all they're
all connected. You know is that quote in there? Oh? Yeah,
end quote? Um, And of course it was in Atlanta.
I'm like, oh great, Although that doesn't necessarily mean that
could be anyway, but um, there is. There are a
lot of people that think, you know, it's um, it's
a cleanse for your ear, and it does connect to
(27:15):
your brain, and it clears your head and it's a
spiritual thing and that you know. They don't know where
exactly it came from, but uh, China and ancient Tibet
and yeah, pre Columbian South America, Atlantis. Yeah, they all
are cited as places where it might have happened. Yeah,
no one has any idea where this stuff originated. Could
have been created in the US and the seventies for
(27:37):
all anybody knows. Should we read some of the things
that supposedly helps, Yeah, we should probably also say if
you haven't been able to tell by now, um science
is thoroughly debunked. Ear candling, that's right, um. And this
is from that article. There's something that Dr Rosen and
some of our colleagues got together and kind of step
by step took down the idea. Yeah, there's a list
(27:59):
of like forty things. We won't go to them all,
but release vertigo, clears the eyes, purifies the blood, UM,
aids sinusitis, relieves ear aches, opens and aligns your chakra,
releases blocked energy, reduces stress, intention stabilizes your emotions. Um.
(28:20):
It does none of that because it is it is
just been proven to be an outright not only fraud
but dangerous right. So, and here's why so. Um. The
first one is that you can't pass liquids and gases
through an ear drum that isn't perforated or ruptured. UM.
(28:41):
So it's not sucking anything out of your inner ear,
or your um lymph system, or your sinuses or your brain.
That's where your ears pop when you're in a plane. Right,
If if you could pass air through there, that wouldn't happen.
There would be no atmospheric pressure going on. Right. So
that means that thinking an ear candle in your outer
(29:01):
ear is not going to suck anything out because it
can't pass through. That's that's point one, right, that's point one.
Point two is oxygen. Uh, well, it will create that
vacuum and and suck out the impurities. Yeah, and that
is just not true. Yeah, apparently and tested it and yeah,
doing trials of ear candles, they weren't able to um
(29:23):
create a vacuum in any of them. So there's no
vacuum created, that's right. Uh, there's also the idea that
if a vacuum were created, it would suck impurities out.
Apparently after ear candling some of these at least one
of the same trials studied the stuff the residue that
(29:45):
was found afterwards, like I guess in the stump of
the ear candle. Well, yeah, and that's what people point
to because there's all this gunk and they're like, look
at all this stuff that came out of my ear.
Oh my god. Right, So what it turns out to
be is ash from the ear candle and left over
wax him that you're candled, but not just the ear candle,
not ear wax, just the candle residue. Yeah, Like they
(30:05):
tested the substance. It is not cerebum in any former fashion. Uh.
The what about the idea that it's safe and effective.
I think we took care of the effective part, but
the safe thing, apparently there's a lot of injuries you
can get from it. Um that you can be burned
is one thing. Um, you can perforate your ear drum,
(30:27):
you can get infections. Um, you can get built up
of the candle wax to replace whatever wax you think
you're getting out. Yeah, it could have the reverse effect exactly.
And then um, one woman actually died from a fire
that was caused two thousand five from ear candling. I
looked it up. She was doing it, I guess, by
herself on her bed and the ear candle fell out
(30:49):
of her ear and caught her bed sheets on fire.
And she made it out of her house fine, but
she was asthmatic and had an asthmatic reaction to the
smoke and died. How that happened that fast, I don't know.
I guess she had some bunch of bed sheets or something, right,
they were made out of like some flammable material. Um.
(31:10):
There is uh a company I won't name the company,
but one company that made it. And if you it
came with a seventy five page manual and a thirty
minute videotape. I guess this is a while ago. It
was a video tape and candles and plate guards and
flame retardant cloths and oil and an uh otoscope. And
(31:30):
if you read the flyer with this kit, it says, quote,
it supplies you with everything you need for a safe
and effective session of entertainment. Right for entertainment purposes only. Yeah,
because apparently I think it says that Canada regulates those things.
Are the US does those medical devices if they make
any health claims? Yeah, I think they're illegal in Canada outright. Um,
(31:52):
or at least they were. I'm not sure they still are,
but um, yeah, the f d A won't even I mean,
you can't make any kind of claim on the box
if you if you get an ear candle at your
little health food store, just read it carefully. They can't
make any claims for entertainment purposes because it's a hoot
to put a candle in your ear and light it
(32:13):
on fire. There was one other thing I came across
in the articles you sent me, um, And I don't
know if it's true, but it sounds fantastic that if
if you could create a vacuum with an ear candle,
the negative pressure created by the vacuum would rupture your
ear drum, right, which sounds pretty awesome. Yeah. I don't
(32:33):
know if it's true. It wasn't backed up with a
source or anything like that. I couldn't find it anywhere else,
but it's pretty hilarious. Yeah, so don't ear candle people.
And if you write in and say no, you should
see the stuff that comes out. It is not your
ear wax. You should put that stuff beneath the gas
chromatograph and see what you said. I mean, it's proven.
This is like what was we talked about recently the
(32:56):
drop circles. Oh man, we got heat from that. To
people like, no, it's not proven. What was it. I
think it was that o Glowa's crop circles. When we're like, no,
they've proven that. These guys came out and said we
made it up. No, I know what they were saying though,
Like it it's just like we were talking about with ESPs.
Because you can disprove right, right, some of it doesn't
(33:18):
mean that disproves all of it. Except with crop circles.
We should come up with the stuff. You should know
a T shirt. Friends, don't let friends at your candle.
That's a good Yeah. Yeah, I just love your ear wax. Yeah.
Let it fall out on your shoulder and let someone
point it out and you say that's nature baby. Yeah,
it's because I eat celery. Uh. If you want to
(33:39):
know more about ear wax, you can type the word
into the search bar at how stuff works dot com.
I think we have it done as one word maybe.
Uh yeah, uh and uh, I said search bar, which
means it's time for listening to mail. I'm gonna call
this ice cream follow up. We got a lot of
good stuff on ice cream. People really like that at
(34:00):
so Hey, guys, I'm a student at the University of
Minnesota Twin Cities. Started listening to your podcast just this
week and I'm officially hooked. I am listening to your
podcast on ice cream. It's really interesting because I've worked
in an ice cream parlor for the last five summers.
Wilson's opened in nineteen o six and is still going
strong today, one of the most famous restaurants in Wisconsin. Uh.
(34:21):
There are definitely different types of vanilla ice cream. We
use two types, French or deluxe vanilla and purple vanilla.
The label on this other vanilla is purple. We use
purple vanilla for shakes and malts because it's less rich
allows for the flavor of the shaker malt to be
more distinguished. You saw French vanilla and ice cream cone
Sundays and floats, and you mentioned having root beer floats.
(34:42):
Reminded me of an interesting thing that I've noticed. People
often get offended when they order a black cow and
we have to ask them what it is. That's because
almost everyone has a different idea of what a black
cow consists of. Some say that it's a root beer float.
Some say that it's a root beer flow with chocolate
ice cream. Some say it's a coke float, some say
(35:03):
it's a blended root beer float, etcetera, etcetera. Somehow they
all got labeled as black cow. Thanks for giving me
more ice cream knowledge. I'll actually be able to answer
customers now when they ask what the difference between ice
cream and frozen yogurt is. And that is from Andrea
Nelson and she says, ps. Those nasty cheap cones with
the flat bottoms are known as cake cones. Yeah, I
(35:25):
saw that afterwards, don't order them ever there. I mean,
if you had Jason's Delhi and that's all they got.
Oh they have the free ice cream, right huh yeah,
And that's how it was. Like the day that we
recorded ice cream and I couldn't remember the name of
the cone. I think I ended up going that night
and there was cake cone. I was like, yes, cake cone.
(35:49):
Somebody else called it a wafer cone, but I think
that's just wrong. I see where that would come from,
because it's wafer esque. Yeah, I mean it makes sense,
but I've never seen it called that before, and that's
too close to waffle right, you know, right, it makes
people confused. So thanks to Andrea Nelson for that one.
It thanks Andrea. If you want to get in touch
with us to say hi, or to tell us about
(36:10):
ice cream or anything like that, you can tweet to
us at s y s K podcast. You can join
us on Facebook dot com, slash Stuff you Should Know.
You can send us an email the Stuff podcast at
how Stuffworks dot com, and as always, you can join
us at our home on the web they Luxurious Stuff
you Should Know dot com. Stuff you Should Know is
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts. For
(36:32):
my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Stuff You Should Know News
Hosts And Creators
Chuck Bryant
Josh Clark
Show Links
AboutOrder Our BookStoreSYSK ArmyRSSPopular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.