Ep. 29 Earwax & Q-Tips

This week I look at earwax & Q-tips. I find out that Q-Tips used to go by another name. Come along for the ride this week as I ask, earwax & Q-tips, how did that happen? Q-Tips were created in 1923 by a Polish Jew named Leo Gerstenzang who said that after watching his wife, Ziuta, applying cotton to toothpicks to clean their babies ears he had the idea for Q-tips. In 1923 he released the first Q-Tips with his company Leo Gerstenzang Infant Novelty Company. The original name for Q-tips were baby gays.  They were marketed as such for about 3 years before Gerstenzang added the Q-tips to the name. They had a long name back then in 1926. Q-Tips Baby Gays. The Q stands for quality. I never got a square answer one what inspired the “gay” portion of the name but my guess is that the babies would be ecstatic in the aftermath of those supremely cleaned ear canals so their disposition could be nothing other than “gay”. There is always a weird name for these products before they become mainstream famous. As we remember from previous episodes, the first name for cotton candy was fairy floss. Most cotton swabs were made from plastic, but due to the fact that the majority of them get flushed in the toilet most countries and companies use a biodegradable product. The original stick was made from wood and then shifted to rolled paper. In 1958 Q-Tips bought an English company that made paper sticks for confectionery purposes and repurposed their sticks for their tips. So much imagery. According to Wikipedia, Q-tips have no accepted medical benefits. Which is interesting to hear because they are in so many hospitals and doctor’s offices.  Other uses for cotton swabs: -putting together model cars -cleaning small products in conjunction with rubbing alcohol -applying makeup -cleaning arts and crafts equipment The scientific term for ear wax is cerumen. Never in my life have I given thought to the scientific name for ear wax. This may be too much for some people, but I thought that if we are gonna talk about q-tips then we have to talk about their best friend, #1 fan, ear wax. If you look up info about q-tips, they bring it up like its nothing. Go to the wikipedia for q-tips right now and you will find a giant picture of a waxed up q-tip right there, like a used tampon. We get it. We all know what it does. Earwax is defined as a brown, red, orange, yellowish or gray waxy substance. It is made for the protection of the ear canal. It also provides protection from fungi, bacteria, insects and water.  It is very common for cotton swabs to create perforated eardrums. In the US between 1990 and 2010, an estimated 263,338 children went to hospital emergency rooms for cotton swab injuries, accounting for an estimated annual hospitalization of 13,167 children   Which is what I’ve always heard. I had a scare one time. I thought that this was gonna be me. Allow me to explain. To be honest, this was less than a year ago, but I was getting out of the shower and put what I thought was a fully functional q-tip in my ear. When I removed it, there was no Q, if you will, there was no cotton end. I lost my mind. And thought I had lost the end in my ear. I had no plan. Then I looked at it and had other people look in my ear, there was nothing. I then surmised that there must have never been a Q on the tip. And if you tell me different I’ll cup my ears and hum. There are two different types of earwax, wet which is dominant and dry which is recessive. Who knew that earwax was just like every other characteristic in our body, decided by genetics. East Asians, Southeast Asians and Native Americans are more likely to have the dry type of earwax (gray and flaky), while African and European people are more likely to have wet type earwax (honey-brown, dark orange to dark-brown and moist).  I didn’t know that earwax came as gray and flaky. I gotta get out more.